More than one million UK visas issued in a year as migration hits new high

Migration has hit a new high as more than one million foreign nationals have been allowed to live in the UK in a year for the first time.

Home Office data showed that the number of visas handed to workers, students, family relatives and other foreign nationals rose by 83 per cent in a year to 1.12 million, the highest on record, and up 70 per cent on pre-Brexit, pre-pandemic levels.

It comes on top of a surge in illegal migrants crossing the Channel which have doubled to 24,000 in a year and a near 80 per cent rise in asylum applications since 2019 to 63,100, its highest level for two decades. The cost of Britain’s asylum system has surged past £2 billion for the first time.

Senior Tories warned that the next prime minister needed to rein in both legal and illegal migration to make good on the Government’s manifesto pledge to take control of Britain’s borders.

Sir John Hayes, a former Home Office minister and chair of the Common Sense group of MPs, said increased migration was putting pressure on housing and public services, being used as a way of avoiding boosting the skills of UK workers and making it harder for UK students to get into university.

“We promised at the last election to take back control of our borders. That includes dealing with illegal migration which is festering sore that never seems to heal but also stemming the tide of legal migrants entering the country,” said Sir John.

‘Absence of immigration control’

Alp Mehmet, the chairman of think tank Migration Watch UK, said it showed an “absence of immigration control.”

“A record 1.1 million visas to come and live in the UK makes it ever clearer the government had no intention of delivering on their promise to control and reduce immigration,” he said.

The figures show that while EU migration has collapsed with the end of freedom of movement, it has been counterbalanced by a sharp rise in work and study visas for non-EU nationals and their families.

It has also been fuelled by a dramatic increase in “other visas” driven by world events including the arrival of Ukrainians, Hong Kongers and relatives of EU citizens living in the UK. Their numbers have more than doubled from 95,264 to 250,258 in a year.

Spending on asylum has jumped by £756 million or 56 per cent to £2.1 billion in a year as officials have warned they “can’t keep up” with the soaring number of asylum claims, partly fuelled by illegal small boat crossings of the Channel.

Officials revealed a 100-fold increase in Albanians in a year had helped boost the number Channel migrants, accounting for 6,000 of the 24,000 this year.

Immigration minister Kevin Foster, said: “The government has delivered on its promise to the British people to take back control of our immigration system and bring the brightest and best skilled workers to grow our economy.     

“Unemployment is at record lows and it’s vital we continue to bring in excellent key workers the UK needs including thousands of NHS doctors and nurses through the Health and Care visa.    

"We have also helped over 330,000 people through our generous Safe and Legal routes including those fleeing Putin’s war in Ukraine, refugees from Afghanistan and our BN(O) Hong Kong route.”