Immigration revealed: ‘Open Doors’ Britain let in 1.6m people in last 12 months

The UK’s permanent population increased by almost ¼ million in 2021

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2022

A summary by the Facts4EU.Org team of the extraordinary immigration figures just released

The latest figures published on Thursday (26 May 2022) by the Home Office and by the Office for National Statistics make for breathtaking reading.

The Facts4EU.Org team has spent considerable time analysing the wealth of data, some of which is labelled ‘provisional’ or ‘experimental’. Today we can bring readers a summary of the key information they might wish to know about immigration in the United Kingdom.

Below we summarise UK immigration overall. In our next report we will reveal the truth about immigration of EU nationals into the UK.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

1. Net increase in UK permanent population

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) Centre for International Migration uses the UN-recommended definition of a long-term international migrant: “A person who moves to a country other than that of his or her usual residence for a period of at least a year (12 months), so that the country of destination effectively becomes his or her new country of usual residence.”

On Thursday the Office for National Statistics said this:

“In the year ending June 2021, we can be confident that long-term international migration continued to add to the UK population.
“Our experimental and provisional estimates suggest that around 239,000 more people moved to the UK than left in the year ending June 2021 (net migration).”
- Office for National Statistics, 26 May 2022

2. Visas and permits to enter the UK

There were 1,618,367 visas and permits to enter the UK granted in the year ending March 2022. Of the visas granted in the latest 12 months, 38% were to visit, 29% were to study, 17% were to work, 3% were for family reasons, and 13% for other reasons.

3. Work-related visas

There were 277,069 work-related visas granted in the year ending March 2022 (including dependants). This was a 129% increase on the year ending March 2021 and is 50% higher than in the pre-COVID, pre-Brexit year ending March 2020.

‘Seasonal Workers’ made up over half (53%) of all Temporary Work grants, and saw a large increase, up from 10,656 in the previous year to 32,005 (+200%).

4. Entry visas for study purposes

In the year ending March 2022, there were 466,611 Sponsored Study visas granted (to both main applicants and their dependants), 58% (+170,368) more than the pre-COVID, pre-Brexit year ending March 2020.

Chinese nationals were the most common nationality granted Sponsored Study visas in the year ending March 2022, with 116,967 visas granted.

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.

5. Family visas

There were 301,830 visas and permits granted for family reasons in the year ending March 2022.

There were 51,148 EUSS family permits issued in the year ending March 2022 to family members of people from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, or Liechtenstein granted or eligible for settled or pre-settled status through the EU Settlement Scheme.

6. Asylum applications

There were 55,146 asylum applications (main applicants only) in the UK in the year ending March 2022. This is 56% more than in the pre-COVID, pre-Brexit year ending March 2020 and is higher than at the peak of the European Migration crisis (36,546 in year ending June 2016).

It represents the highest number of asylum applications for almost two decades, since 2003.

7. Extensions to visas already granted

Excluding extensions granted to individuals who were unable to leave the UK because of COVID-19, there were 401,963 decisions on applications to extend a person’s stay in the UK (including dependants) in the year ending March 2022.

This is 57% more than a year earlier and 33% more than in the pre-COVID, pre-Brexit year ending March 2020.

8. Rights granted to settle in the UK

There were 111,760 decisions on applications for settlement in the UK in 2021, a 20% increase on the previous year and 18% more than in the pre-Brexit year ending March 2020. Of these, 110,145 (99%) resulted in a grant.

9. UK citizenships granted

There were 196,085 grants of British citizenship in the year ending March 2022, 20% more than in the pre-Brexit year ending March 2020.

10. Immigration detentions and returns

25,282 people entered immigration detention in the year ending March 2022, almost double the previous year (when there was a large fall following the COVID-19 outbreak) and 9% higher than pre-pandemic levels in the year ending March 2020 (23,118).

In 2021, enforced returns from the UK decreased to 2,761, 18% fewer than the previous year and 62% fewer than in 2019. The vast majority of enforced returns in the latest year were of Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) and a majority were EU nationals.

Observations

Fundamental questions

The first question that must surely be asked when looking at the latest official figures which we’ve summarised for readers above is: “Controlling immigration? What control of immigration?”

If the Office for National Statistics “is confident” in saying the UK population increased by almost 240,000 in the year to June 2021, we can be certain the figure is in fact much higher.

To give but one example, in all the years when the Government (and the EU Commission) were saying that “only” three million EU nationals had moved to the UK, Facts4EU.Org very conservatively estimated the figure to be at least five million. We did so based on our analysis of HMRC National Insurance numbers and other information.

As we shall show in our next report, our analysis has been more than vindicated.

Immigration matters to voters

Across the length and breadth of the United Kingdom, voters have consistently expressed their deep concerns about the levels of net immigration into the UK. They have been doing so for years.

People have been patient. They knew that proper control of our borders would involve legislation and would take time. Brexit opened up the possibility of change. Now, we sense that people’s patience is running out.

It simply is not possible to allow the population of the United Kingdom to grow by so much each year without investing significantly in new housing, healthcare, schools, social services, and all the other services which an expanded population needs.

Government action

The Government can talk about “levelling up” as much as it wants. It can throw more printed money at the cost of living crisis (thereby fuelling even more inflation), but none of this alters the basic fact that successive governments have allowed the UK’s population to grow massively this century. And yet our infrastructure is only fit for a population of some 15 million less than it is now.

Surely the time for talking is over. There is a limit. Ordinary people up and down the country are experiencing a steadily decreasing quality of life. Now is the time for true leadership and action.

Facts4EU.Org needs you today

We are a 'not for profit' team (we make a loss) and any donation goes towards the actual work, not plush London offices, lunch or taxi expenses, or other luxuries of some organisations.

We badly need more of our thousands of readers to donate. Could this be you, today? Maybe you've been thinking about it, but just haven't got around to doing it? If so, let us reassure you. It's quick and easy and we use two highly secure payment providers. And we do NOT ask you for further donations if you donate once - we just hope that you keep supporting us. Your donation stays anonymous unless you tell us otherwise.

Please don't assume that other people will keep us going - we don't receive enough to survive and we need your help today. Could you help us?

Most of our readers are well-informed and appreciate our fact-based articles, presented in a way you won't see anywhere else. If you value reports like the one above, please help our work with a donation. We have far more to do in researching, publishing, campaigning and lobbying Parliament than we have in terms of the financial resources to fulfil these tasks. We badly need funding to continue - we rely 100% on public donations from readers like you.

If you believe in a fully-free, independent, and sovereign United Kingdom, please make a donation now. It’s quick, secure, and confidential, and you can use one of the links below or you can use our Donations page here. You will receive a personal, friendly ‘thank you’ from a member of our team within 24 hours. Thank you for reading this.

[ Sources: UK Home Office | Office for National Statistics ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Sat 28 May 2022

Click here to go to our news headlines

Please scroll down to COMMENT on the above article.
And don't forget to actually post your message after you have previewed it!

Something to say about this? Scroll down for reader comments

Since before the EU Referendum, Brexit Facts4EU.Org
has been the most prolific researcher and publisher of Brexit facts in the world.

Supported by MPs, MEPs, & other groups, our work has impact.

We think facts matter. Please donate today, so that we can continue to ensure a clean Brexit is finally delivered.

Any credit card user

Quick One-off

From £5 - £1,000

Monthly

From £3 per month

Paypal Users Only - Choose amount first

Quick One-off

Monthly

PLEASE NOTE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO COMMENT : You can write your comment under any existing comments below. After you have clicked to preview your comment, you MUST then click on the CAPTCHA system and send you comment, for it to be published. Thank you!

Reader Comments 10

1. Ashley Great Britain , Saturday, May 28, 2022, 06:59:

Maybe a lot of them can put up tents along the side of the m25. Traffic won't really be flowing there anyway.
It's insane to take so many extra people in a country already failing on many fronts with high population.
We can't even make the roads smooth to drive on.
We spend more time avoiding holes and cracks on the road than real safe driving.
No police around, crime and anti social behaviour rampant.
Struggle to get a hospital or doctors appointment.
Can't drive from A to B quickly.
Fewer houses to live in with extortionate prices for them.
Everywhere you look society is breaking.
It's a sad fact of ineptitude and constant human expansion.
The kids of today have little hope in a crumbling future.
I hate to be so pessimistic but the evidence is all around us.

2. KB , Saturday, May 28, 2022, 11:49:

The ONS has changed the way they estimate the immigration stats. They tell us these recent figures are therefore not directly comparable with previous years.
To me, that amounts to an admission that previous years' immigration stats were significantly in error !

3. KB , Saturday, May 28, 2022, 11:54:

I'm afraid this news is what the remoaners predicted. They said that EU immigration would be replaced with immigration from around the world, and this seems to be exactly what is happening.
There are about half a million NEETS in this country, yet we are still importing thousands of temporary agricultural workers. Why are these young people being left on the scrapheap when jobs are available ?
This is not what we voted for is it?

4. jon livesey , Saturday, May 28, 2022, 16:10:

3. KB I don't completely agree. This is not a knock on Brexit, but confirmation that the UK remains just as attractive a destination despite the hysterical predictions of the Remainers. If what the Remainers predicted had come true then no-one would *want* to come to the UK.
But I think you have a point when you connect immigration with the high number of NEETs. If our education system continues to churn out high numbers of unmotivated, self entitled kids with no qualifications, then we simply have to admit immigrants to keep the economy going. Someone has to go to work and pay taxes.
The immigration "debate" is a bit dumb. People talk as if they are arguing over whether immigrants use up local resources, or whether the economy needs immigrants. In fact, both can be true at the same time.

5. jon livesey , Saturday, May 28, 2022, 16:35:

Off topic, but Sweden may be a factor to watch. First they co-develop the AZ vaccine with the UK, then join the Tempest Fighter Programme, then they apply to join NATO, and this week Sweden and the UK sign a Life Sciences cooperation agreement. My impression is that they have a highly effective education system and they know what they are doing.

6. jon livesey , Saturday, May 28, 2022, 17:09:

More off-topic, but I think we should seriously consider the possibility of a general war between part of NATO and Russia this Fall. The argument against is that NATO has to avoid WWIII and the potential use of nuclear weapons at all costs, but I don't think that argument works, because WWIII is a matter of definition - there is a lot of ground between the current situation and a nuclear holocaust - and because Russia can use or not use nuclear weapons no matter what the US and UK decide to do.
If Russia commits more and more of its military to Ukraine, and if it appears to be gradually winning on the ground, then the argument to put significant Western troops and air power into Ukraine, and finally put an end to Russia as a military power will become very strong.
And Germany may possibly go along with this, because although one way of dealing with its energy dependence on Russia is its current appeasement, another way to deal with it is just to turn Russia into part of the West's energy market. And maybe we have to establish control over Russian energy in order to confront China sooner or later anyway.
If this is anything like plausible, it will be interesting to see the EU dealing with the decisions they will have to take.

7. Adam , Saturday, May 28, 2022, 18:15:

There will not be any War I can see Putin being removed by his military commanders Putin is unlikely to fear Johnson Biden or Macron. And if Johnson was serious about controlling immigration He would remove the utterly Clueless Priti Useless Patel withdraw from the UN and ECHR so We can decide who enters Our Country and not some foreign bureaucracy

8. Austen Turner , Saturday, May 28, 2022, 19:05:

Unfortunately increasing population means more homes need building and in turn these will most likely be build on land that could better be used for farming or industry , less farming or industry makes us more reliant upon imports from other countries. We need to be far more self sufficient

9. jon livesey , Saturday, May 28, 2022, 23:12:

7. Adam "There will not be any War " Not to point out the obvious, or anything, but there already is a war and Russia has to date lost 25,000 men, 3000 tanks, ten warships, over a hundred aircraft and so on. There already is a war and we in the UK are more involved it it than most.
There is absolutely no question about there being a war - all you can really debate is what it turns into. This is like Saddam's attack on Kuwait; once it began the only question was whether it remained localised or if the US and UK would get involved.
When local wars begin you can imagine that you can contain them, but the real issue is that if you begin a local war it is entirely up to other countries how far they get involved, and whether it is in their interest do so. Putin cannot say "This is my war, and you can't join in."
Putin has made many errors, but to me the biggest is to commit so many Russian troops *outside* Russia where we can decide to destroy them without actually invading Russia. Other leaders have made similar errors in the past, and it's a very significant error.

10. LuxuryBalloon , Sunday, May 29, 2022, 13:03:

3. KB … well said.

Add comment:

Please note: Your email address is never published unless you choose to enter it.