ONS confirmed that net migration to UK fell 10% last year

Net migration to the UK fell 10% last year after hitting a record high in 2022, official figures show.

The number – the difference between the number of people arriving in the UK and leaving – was 685,000 in the year to December 2023, says the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This represents a fall from 764,000 for the year to December 2022 - a figure revised upwards by 19,000 from an initial estimate now more complete data for the year is available.

The ONS said it is “too early to say if this is the start of a new downward trend”.

Despite the fall, net migration is more than three times higher than at the 2019 election when the Conservatives promised to cut overall numbers in their manifesto.

Home Secretary James Cleverly said the drop in net migration, as well as visa applications being down 25% so far in 2024, shows Mr Sunak’s plan was working but “there is more to do”.

The Home Office said the net migration figures "do not take into account the major package of measures announced in December which have already started to have an effect".

These rules, which took effect last month, included increasing the minimum salary needed for skilled overseas workers.

The ONS figures show the number of people coming to the UK for humanitarian reasons – such as from Ukraine and Hong Kong – fell by more than 100,000 last year.

The data estimates about 1.22 million people came to the UK in 2023, and some 532,000 likely departed. The total arrivals is only slightly lower than the 1.26 million in 2022.

The biggest driver of migration last year was work. There was also an increase in the number of people arriving from outside the European Union on work visas, the figures suggest.

Non-EU immigration for work reasons went up from 277,000 in the year to December 2022 to 423,000 in the year to December 2023, according to the ONS.

More than four out of 10 people moving to the UK for work-related reasons last year came from India or Nigeria, most commonly in the health and social care sector.

Despite this, data from the Home Office published on Wednesday showed a big fall in visas issued to health and care workers in the first part of 2024 but that is not included in the ONS estimates.

Non-EU nationals arriving as dependants of those on long-term work visas rose slightly in 2023 to 219,000 from 204,000 in 2022.

The ONS says the fall in net migration is also driven by non-EU foreign students who flocked to UK universities after Covid but have now finished their courses and returned home.

Work-related non-EU immigration was at record levels last year, with fewer visas being issued by the government to workers than the family members they brought with them.