Understanding Immigration in London

A Special Newsletter

March 2015   

Having taken a courtesy quick look at a number of London borough websites, it is clear to see that a large number think this will mean business as usual. There are no public statements from any local authority on how they are going to manage this or the number of complaints that arise from mistaken reporting to Immigration Enforcement.

Also for those registrar offices like Newham, who also house immigration enforcement teams, the reputational impact of being complicit with the Home Office may have consequences for standards of customer care, and public confidence in registrar services. Let us also not forget there are also certain communities where ‘community’ based midwives supporting mothers to give birth at home, means that some births also go unregistered. It is rare, but does happen, and causes a barrage of safeguarding and legal complications for families.

Interestingly,  the new emphasis on ‘sham marriages comes at a time when the Home Office have also been forced to abandon a number of high profile cases accusing ministers of religion of engaging in sham marriages. In October 2014, an Imam from north west London’ was put on trial for allegedly facilitating 580 sham marriages. The case collapsed because the Home Office failed to present any evidence. At the same time a vicar in Croydon was also subject to investigation and a criminal trial accused of enabling sham marriages. His trial also collapsed when officers from the Home Office were accused of fabricating evidence. Earlier in January 2015 this year the police acting on behalf of Immigration Enforcement were forced to pay out £21,000 to a couple wrongly accused of engaging in a sham marriage. And so the list goes on….

How long before such liability is passed down to local authorities? Just a  thought for all you councillors out there, and with dual heritage relationships the norm in London  it’s highly unlikely any local authority will come out of this unscathed.

• 624,000 people immigrated to the UK in the year ending September 2014, a statistically significant increase from 530,000 in the previous 12 months. There were statistically significant increases for immigration of non-EU citizens (up 49,000 to 292,000) and EU (non-British) citizens (up 43,000 to 251,000). Immigration of British citizens increased by 4,000 to 82,000, but this change was not statistically significant.

• An estimated 327,000 people emigrated from the UK in the year ending September 2014. Overall emigration levels have been relatively stable since 2010.

• 271,000 people immigrated for work in the year ending September 2014, a statistically significant increase of 54,000 compared with a year earlier. This continues the rise since the year ending June 2012. The increase over the past year applied to both non-EU and EU (non-British) citizens, as well as British citizens. However, only the increase for non-EU citizens was statistically significant.

• Latest employment statistics show estimated employment of EU nationals (excluding British) living in the UK was 269,000 higher in October to December 2014 compared with a year earlier. Over the same period, British nationals in employment also increased (by 375,000) while non-EU nationals in employment fell by 29,000.

• In the year ending September 2014, work-related visas granted (main applicants) rose 8,833 (or 8%) to 115,680, largely reflecting a 6,142 (or 14%) increase for skilled work.

• National Insurance number (NINo) registrations to adult overseas nationals increased by 24% to 768,000 in the year ending December 2014, when compared with the previous year.

• 37,000 Romanian and Bulgarian (EU2) citizens immigrated to the UK in the year ending September 2014, a statistically significant increase from 24,000 in the previous 12 months. Of these, 27,000 were coming for work, a rise of 10,000 on year ending September 2013, but this increase itself was not statistically significant.

• Immigration for study increased from 175,000 to 192,000 in the year ending September 2014, but this change was not statistically significant. Over the same period, visa applications to study at a UK university (main applicants) rose 2% to 171,065.

• The number of immigrants arriving to accompany or join others showed a statistically significant increase, from 66,000 to 90,000 in the year ending September 2014.

• There were 24,914 asylum applications (main applicants) in 2014, an increase of 6% compared with 23,584 in 2013, but low relative to the peak of 84,132 in 2002. The largest number of asylum applications in 2014 came from Eritrea (3,239), Pakistan (2,711), Syria (2,081) and Iran (2,011).

• The UK had the 5^th highest number of asylum applications within the EU, (with German Sweden, France and Italy, all receiving more asylum applications)

• There were 13,311 enforced removals from the UK

• There were 24,001 voluntary departures

• 15,943 individuals were refused entry at the port

All of which leads to the conclusion that Net long-term migration to the UK was estimated to be 298,000 in the year ending September 2014, a statistically significant increase from 210,000 in the previous 12 months, but below the peak of 320,000 in the year ending June 2005.

Whilst the debates about immigration caps, and the net migration figure rages, what the data also shows is that whilst there has been some increase in the number of people coming to settle, work and study in the UK, immigration is in no way comparable to peak periods around 2005 and that far from non British  workers taking British jobs, unemployment amongst non British citizens actually fell… and before anyone says it, in most cases they would not be able to claim benefits either. What the figures also confirm is that for those who hide behind the relatively safe cloak of asylum as acceptable immigration, asylum is statistically a very small part of the immigration story, we have to get a better understanding of the diversity of immigration routes to the UK.