A BRIEF BREAKDOWN OF BRITAIN'S RECORD MILLION+ "MIGRANTS" IN A YEAR

The headline figure is that 1.1 million legal migrants came to Britain in the last year, a massive rise and an all-time record. What makes this more surprising is that it is happening post-Brexit, when the UK has supposedly taken back control of its borders. But what exactly is driving this massive surge in the raw immigration numbers?

But is the number actually accurate? Is the term even accurate? Breakdowns vary, as does terminology. The Daily Mail gives the following numbers, using the term "long-stay visa holders" instead of "migrants":

331,000 work visas

487,000 longer term student visas

82,000 family visas 

230,000 resettlement schemes

TOTAL 1,130,000

While the Home Office has these categories and numbers:

277,069 work-related visas
466,611 Sponsored study visas granted (to both main applicants and their dependants)
301,830 visas and permits granted for family reasons
111,760 decisions on applications for settlement

TOTAL 1,157,000

The higher Daily Mail figures for work and student visas (74,320) must include dependents of those workers and students; while the higher number in resettlement schemes is also buried in the Home Office's 301,830 visas and permits granted for family reasons

But why are the figures sharply up?

Some of these figures are bloated by bottleneck effects caused by Covid and the lockdown. The Daily Mail reports that the work visa number is 72% higher than pre-pandemic and the student visa number is 71% higher. This reflects employers being allowed to bring in skilled and agricultural foreign workers, and universities attracting paying students from abroad, after two years of lockdown.

As for the student visas, these represent large numbers of Indians and Chinese. The Daily Mail reports:

Indians made up the largest nationality among students at almost 118,000 – more than triple the number seen in 2019. They overtook Chinese students, on 115,000.

Meanwhile the Home Office's page claims:

Chinese nationals were the most common nationality granted Sponsored study visas in the year ending March 2022, with 116,967 visas granted, similar to the number seen in the year ending March 2020 (118,291).

The real surge is in the rise of Nigerian students:

Nigerian nationals saw the largest percentage increase in Sponsored Study grants compared with the year ending March 2020, increasing by 49,532 (+529%) to a record high of 58,887, making them the third largest nationality group in the last year.

Suffice to say, it is not really clear what is happening with British immigration, but the signs are not good. Right now, however, there seems to be something of a blip, which will have a downslope. This should enable the government to falsely claim that it is bringing down immigration in time for the next general election.