‘UK Immigration from the EU’ – A Brexit Facts4EU Special Report

Finally revealed: EU’s responsibility for 2/3rds of UK’s population explosion in last 20 years

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2025

Part I : 8.2 MILLION settlement applications processed in UK under ‘EU Settlement Scheme’

In the 20 years from 2003 to 2023, the UK’s official population count increased by 8.6 million – a rise of 14.5%, or nearly one-seventh. Where there were six people in a doctor’s waiting room in 2003, by 2023 there were seven.

The EU has been responsible for a staggering 2/3rds of this uncontrolled growth.

Today the Facts4EU think-tank starts to expose this, publishing the shocking details of the EU’s impact in the last 20 years on UK immigration and on the UK’s consequent population explosion. And this EU effect on UK population growth is still happening today, over eight years after the British people voted to leave the EU.

The big question when looking at UK population growth is “What caused this?”

The simple answer, as the public has known for years, is the massive rise in net immigration.

With falling birth rates, the reason behind the surge in the population is the increasing numbers of people entering the country to live, whether legally, or by illegal methods, such as the one used by 150,000 illegal boat migrants who have entered since 2018.

The EU accounts for two-thirds of the UK’s population explosion of the last 20 years

There is one single factor within the overall immigration numbers which lies at the heart of the United Kingdom’s population growth in the last 20 years. That single factor was the UK’s membership of the European Union.

All other charts in this report relate to applications. The chart below relates to approvals. It shows the proportion of the UK's population explosion in the last 20 years (2003-2023 - latest data available) which is accounted for by those approved under the EU Settlement Scheme.

© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2025 - click to enlarge

We have a lot more to say about approvals, but this is a story unto itself. In the subsequent reports on the EUSS we will publish some shocking revelations the Facts4EU.Org team has uncovered from all the difficult-to-source details of this EU scheme, as recorded by the UK Home Office

More than half of all applications from EU nationals came from just three EU countries

The country whose nationals top our table is Romania, with a total of almost 1.8 million (1,797,484). Below are some more details about which countries’ nationals have been most likely to decide to make their home in the United Kingdom. We have grouped these below.

• Top 3 – 51% : Romania, Poland, Italy
• Top 5 – 65% : Top 3 + Portugal, Bulgaria
• Top 10 – 84% : Top 5 + Spain, Lithuania, France, Germany, Hungary

It is perhaps not surprising that nationals from EU countries with high unemployment are well-represented in our list above. Nationals from the EU’s Top 3 economies also feature strongly: Italy, France and Germany, although of course these countries have higher populations than many.

The logistics and workload imposed on the UK by the EU were of enormous proportions

As might be expected, when the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) was first opened, the demand from EU natonals resident in the UK was not slow in coming.

In the first nine months from when the scheme officially launched, (30 March 2019), the numbers from the Home Office show that more than 2.5 million (2,531,542) applications had been received. This works out to around 13,000 applications per working day. Below we look at the full workload over time. The chart below excludes the 'Testing Phase' before the Scheme was officially launched to the public.

In the Scheme's second year (2020), as the end of the UK’s ‘EU Transition Period’ approached at the end of the year, another peak was experienced by the Home Office, when a further 854,326 applications were received in the last quarter. Finally, with the 30 June 2021 deadline approaching, in the second quarter of that year application numbers rose again, to hit 745,163.

The grand total of applications - at midnight on 30 June 2021 when the deadline struck - then stood at just over six million (6,046,665) – around double the number which Remainers had told the public were in the country.

And then the applications just kept on coming. And coming.... And coming.... More about this in Part IV of this series on ‘UK Immigration from the EU’.

We contacted the Home Office for comment

Given the extraordinary numbers of applications to the EUSS that the Home Office had to cope with in a relatively short space of time, we asked them how they managed. What resources did they have to put onto the enormous task of processing 8.2 million applications of all different types?

Here is what a spokesperson told us :-

Nothing.

Despite repeated attempts and promises made, the Home Office was not able to comment. Should we receive anything today we will of course add this.

Coming up….

“Apart from EU nationals residing in UK, others could apply from all over – A very large number DID”

Within all the 8.2 million applications to the EUSS which have been outlined above, there are significant areas which have never seen the light of day in the media – until now.

In the next part in this series on ‘UK Immigration from the EU’ within our wider ‘Immigration and Population Explosion’ series, Brexit Facts4EU will reveal the number of applicants who have rights to apply under the scheme but who are not EU nationals at all, as well as the large number who have applied under the family joiner scheme.

If readers want to understand more about the full picture, this next part in the story really is not to be missed.

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

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Wed 19 Feb 2025

Click here to go to our news headlines

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

Any credit card user

Quick One-off

From £5 - £1,000

Monthly

From £3 per month