Summary
Published 26 November 2015
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-july-to-september-2015/summary
Valid: 26 November 2015 to 24 February 2016
Data relate to the year ending September 2015 and all comparisons are with the year ending September 2014, unless indicated otherwise.
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This release presents the latest immigration statistics from Home Office administrative sources, covering the period up to year ending September 2015.
Estimates of the numbers of non-EU nationals migrating long-term to the UK, by reason for migration, are published by the Office for National Statistics, and available on their website, International Migration.
Key facts
Work
There were 168,447 work-related visas granted in the year ending September 2015, up 4% (+6,957), largely due to increases in Tier 2 skilled work (+6,088) and in Tier 5 Youth mobility (+3,192, main applicants). These were partially offset by falls in Tier 5 Creative and Sporting visa grants (-1,312, main applicants) as well as fewer grants to dependants in routes now closed to new applicants (Tier 1 General -1,551; Tier 1 Post Study -670). Of the 180,523 decisions in the same period, 6% (11,260) were refused.
In the year ending June 2015, the ONS estimate that there were 67,000 non-EU long-term immigrants for work, a non-statistically significant increase of 22% (+12,000) compared with the previous 12 months. Over the same period, long-term (1 year or more) work-related visas granted to main applicants also rose, by 20% to 74,388 in the year ending June 2015. There are a range of potential reasons why long-term immigration estimates, which include considerable sampling variation, and visas data, may show different trends; details are given in the Work topic.
Study
Study-related visas (excluding the ‘short term student’ category previously referred to as ‘Student visitors’) granted fell by 4% to 213,560 in the year ending September 2015 (-9,280). Over the same period, the number of university-sponsored study visa applications (main applicants) fell slightly (-2% to 168,229). There were falls for other sectors, notably a 19% fall for the further education sector to 16,191. Most of the fall in the Further Education (FE) sector’s sponsored visa applications since the peak in mid-2011 was accounted for by licenses which have since been revoked.
In the year ending June 2015, the ONS estimates that there were 131,000 non-EU long-term immigrants coming to study and who had an intention to remain a year or more, a 9% (+11,000) increase, though not statistically significant. Over the same period, the number of long-term (1 year or more) study-related visas granted (main applicants) was 1% lower at 139,903.
Family
In the year ending September 2015, 36,724 family-related visas were granted. This is an increase of 6% compared with the year ending September 2014 (34,598). There was a 5% decrease in the number of visas granted to all other dependants (excluding visitor visas) joining or accompanying migrants in the UK (72,686) compared with the previous 12 months (76,585).
In the year ending June 2015 (the latest provisional data available), the International Passenger Survey (IPS) estimated that 45,000 non-EU nationals immigrated long-term to the UK to accompany or join others, that is with the intention of staying for a year or more. This is a decrease in comparison to 53,000 in the year ending June 2014. Those arriving to accompany or join are not directly comparable with visa categories as explained in the Family topic.
Asylum
Asylum applications from main applicants increased by 19% to 29,024 in the year ending September 2015, the highest number of applications since the year ending June 2005 (30,314). The largest number of applications for asylum came from nationals of Eritrea (3,726), followed by Sudan (2,842), Iran (2,407) and Syria (2,402). Grant rates vary between nationalities; for example, at initial decision, the grant rate for nationals of Sudan was 84%, compared with 21% for Pakistani nationals.
In addition, a total of 776 people were resettled in the UK in the year ending September 2015. Of these, 162 (252 since the scheme began) were granted humanitarian protection under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme. On 7 September, the Prime Minister announced an expansion to the existing Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme. Through this expansion, it is expected that 20,000 Syrians in need of protection will be resettled in the UK by 2020.
Estimated figures show the UK had the seventh highest number (36,000) of asylum applications within the EU in the year ending September 2015, including dependants. Germany (318,000), Hungary (190,000) and Sweden (94,000) were the top 3 receiving EU countries.
Admissions
The total number of journeys increased by 6% to a record 122.3 million in the year ending September 2015 (+7.0 million). This increase was accounted for by 6.7 million more journeys by British, other EEA and Swiss nationals (up 7%) and 0.3 million more journeys by non-EEA nationals (up 2%), compared with the year ending September 2014.
Removals
Enforced removals from the UK decreased by 3% to 12,275 in the year ending September 2015 compared with the previous year (12,627). This is the lowest level since the series began in 2004.
The number of passengers refused entry at port and who subsequently departed has increased by 9% in the year ending September 2015, to 16,575 from 15,276 for the previous year. While the figure is lower than that in 2004 (36,167), the number refused entry at port and subsequently departing has been increasing slowly since 2012.
In the year ending September 2015, provisional data show that 5,591 foreign national offenders (FNOs) were removed from the UK, using enforcement powers or via deportation. This was a 9% increase on the previous year (5,145) and the highest number since the series began in 2009.
Visitor visas
There were 30,451 (+2%) more visitor visas granted at around 1.9 million, after excluding Omani, Qatari and United Arab Emirates (UAE) nationals (who were able to visit the UK without a visa from 1 January 2014, following the introduction of the Electronic Visa Waiver scheme). Including these nationals, the number of visitor visas granted was up 22,208 (+1%).
There were notable increases in visitor visa grants for Chinese (up 23% to 393,396), excluding Hong Kong, and Indian, (up 16% to 363,543) nationals. By contrast there were large falls in visitor visa grants for Russian (to 117,774) nationals, down 37%.