Immigration In UK Sees Biggest Fall In 20 Years

01 Dec 2012

Migration into Britain has seen the biggest fall in 20 years, official figures have revealed. A total of 536,000 foreigners came to live here in 2011, 42,000 fewer than the year before, according to the figures released.

According to The Daily Mail, the drop was the biggest since immigration went down by 61,000 during the 1991 recession. The numbers entering Britain were the lowest since 2004, when hundreds of thousands of Eastern European workers were allowed in. The main reason for the cut in numbers was a dramatic reduction in those arriving on student visas.

Ministers hailed the figures as a major step towards achieving the government's aim of reducing immigration to the levels of the 1990s.

The key net migration figure dropped by 25% from 242,000 to 183,000. Students coming in to join courses at colleges went down by 67%, while those going to English language schools fell by 76%. However, the number of foreign students going to UK varsities went up by 1%.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/Immigration-in-UK-sees-biggest-fall-in-20-years/articleshow/17435066.cms