Migration Statistics Quarterly Report - August 2012

•Estimated total long-term immigration to the UK in the year to December 2011 was 566,000. This compares to 591,000 in the year to December 2010 and has remained broadly at a similar level since 2004.

•Estimated total long-term emigration from the UK in the year to December 2011 was 350,000. This compares to 339,000 in the year to December 2010.

•Estimated net migration was 216,000 in the year to December 2011. This is lower, but is not a statistically significant difference, from 252,000 in the year to December 2010.

•Study remains the most common reason for migrating to the UK estimated at 232,000 in the year to December 2011. This is similar to 238,000 in the year to December 2010.

•In the year to June 2012 there were 282,833 visas issued for the purpose of study (including student visitors), a fall of 21% compared with the previous 12 months.

•601,000 National Insurance numbers (NINos) were allocated to non-UK nationals in the year to March 2012, a decrease of 15 per cent on the year to March 2011.

•147,385 work-related visas were issued in the year to June 2012, a fall of 7 per cent compared to the previous 12 months.

•Excluding visitor and transit visas, the number of visas issued fell 16% to 519,730 in the year ending June 2012 (compared with 616,184 in the previous 12 months), to the lowest 12-monthly total recorded using comparable data available from 2005.

A reduction in net immigration due to lack of employment, note how emigration increased by 11,000 in the year Dec 2010 - Dec 2011.

I downloaded the report a few days ago and will go through it.

The problem in broad terms is the inclusion of students as long-term migrants. Some do stay legally for a couple of years after graduating - after all they paid fat fees as non-EU students and in order to extract that cash the Government needs to give something in return. What's lacking is any figure for how many stay - and I'm unclear whether, if they do stay they are then included in the work migration in which case they are counted twice!

I will try to make sense of it.

What annoys me Alan is the fact that the government are not being honest with the public, if this is about immigration figures, then why not just stop everyone (including the rich) from bringing in their non-EU spouse, instead of bullying the low earners. The government have to make a decision, are they concerned about the taxpayer or about immigration figures?
I am absolutely confused, correct me if I'm wrong, but the general public are more bothered about EU citizens than they are about non-EU. For my next video I want to outline the advantages and disadvantages of both EU and non-EU citizens.
The general public want this country to blossom, they want a strong economy and a system that is fair for all, they want the gap bridged between the rich and the poor.

I am aware that the welfare system is under alot of pressure due to the rise in unemployment, but the actions they are taking is damaging our economy and our relationship with the rest of the world. I want to be part of a country that strengthens its relationship with China, India, USA etc.

The public are being brainwashed into thinking non-EU citizens are bad for this country. If they had all the statistics in front of them, I'm sure they would realise what the government are doing. All of my non-EU friends, come here to work, to pay taxes, to contribute to society, they work every hour god sends, they go to college, they develop their level of english.

Totally. If bringing a non-EU spouse here puts a burden on the taxpayer then so does bringing one from the EU. Problem is they can't change EU rules. The British citizen/resident is being discriminated against pure and simple. For the purposes of the immigration rules UK citizens are not EEA citizens. That has to be wrong. All EEA citizens should be treated equally.