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Office of National Statistics finds net migration has significantly lowered

Summary
Latest ONS data shows net flow of 153,000 migrants, the lowest figures in a decade, according to the Migration Observatory
By EIN
Date of Publication:

The latest Migration Statistics Quarterly Report from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) finds that net migration continues to drop.

The University of Oxford's Migration Observatory noted on Twitter that the ONS report reveals net migration has reached its lowest level for a decade.

You can read the full ONS report here and you can read the key finding from the report below.

Latest provisional data show that there was a net flow of 153,000 migrants to the UK in the year ending September 2012, which is significantly lower than the net flow of 242,000 in the year ending September 2011.

500,000 people immigrated to the UK in the year ending September 2012, which is significantly lower than the 581,000 who migrated the previous year. This decrease has caused the fall in net migration.

347,000 emigrants left the UK in the year ending September 2012, similar to the estimate of 339,000 in the year to September 2011.

There was a decrease in the number of citizens immigrating to the UK from New Commonwealth countries. 105,000 citizens of New Commonwealth countries immigrated to the UK in the year ending September 2012; significantly lower than 166,000 the previous year.

190,000 migrants arrived to study in the year to September 2012, which is significantly lower than 246,000 in the previous year. Study remains the most common reason stated for migrating to the UK.

There was a significant decrease in the number of migrants arriving whose main reason was to accompany or join others. This fell to 62,000 in the year ending September 2012, from 80,000 in the year ending September 2011.

Excluding visitor and transit visas, the number of visas issued fell 6% to 499,780 in the year ending March 2013 (compared with 529,905 in the previous 12 months), the lowest 12-monthly total recorded using comparable data available from 2005.

In the year to March 2013, there were 206,814 visas issued for the purpose of study (excluding student visitors), a fall of 9% compared with the previous 12 months.

Sponsored student visas applications fell 10% in the year ending March 2013. This change was not uniform, with a 5% increase for the university sector and falls of 46%, 46% and 7% for further education, English language schools and independent schools, respectively.