Annual net migration has halved from 2023 levels, falling to 431,000 in 2024, new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show today. This is the biggest numerical decline on record in absolute terms, including the pandemic period – and was made possible by unusually high migration post-Brexit, the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford said today.
The declines reflect a period of policy liberalisation post-Brexit which saw net migration reach a record 906,000 in the year to June 2023, followed by restrictions in early 2024, both under the previous government. These restrictions included higher salary thresholds for work visas and a ban on care workers and most students bringing their partners or children to the UK. So far, Labour has maintained the previous government’s visa measures and announced further restrictions in the Immigration White Paper last week.
The number of non-EU citizens moving to the UK for work fell by 108,000 and 81,000 dependants, with total non-EU work immigration for 2024 standing at 262,000 (including dependants). The number of people moving to the UK to study fell by 53,000, and 104,000 dependants, following the ban on most students’ partners and children. Total study migration for 2024 was 266,000, including dependants. Rising emigration also contributed to the decline in net migration: a total of 517,000 people left the UK long term, up by 51,000 since the previous year. This was driven by more people on study visas emigrating, although students continue to stay in the UK at higher rates than before Brexit.
Despite the sharp decline, net migration remained well above pre-Brexit peak of roughly 300,000.
Dr Madeleine Sumption, Director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford said: “This record-breaking decline in net migration was possible primarily because numbers had previously been so high. UK migration patterns in 2023 were very unusual, with unexpectedly large numbers of visas for care workers, international students, and their family members. This made it easier for the government at that time to bring down the numbers.
“The economic impact of this decline is actually likely to be relatively small. That’s because the groups that have driven the decline, such as study and work dependants, are neither the highest skilled, highest-paid migrants who make substantial contributions to tax revenues, nor the most disadvantaged groups that require substantial support.”
In percentage terms the decline in net migration was 50%, comparable to the 49% decline seen between 2019 and 2020 during Covid-19 pandemic. The fall was bigger than in the year after the EU referendum, when EU migration fell sharply and non-EU migration had not yet started its rapid rise. From the year ending June 2016 to the year ending June 2017, net migration fell from 321,000 to 200,000—a decline of 121,000 or 38%.
Home Office data also released today suggest that the total number of residence visas has continued to fall since the period the net migration statistics cover. Total visa grants were 870,000 in the year ending March 2025, compared to 951,000 in the year ending December 2024.
Dr Ben Brindle, researcher at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said: “Unless something surprising happens, net migration still has further to fall. The previous government’s restrictions are not yet fully visible in the data. And last week’s policy proposals should reduce migration further, though by a small amount. But these declines will not necessarily take us to particularly low levels, by historical standards”.
Some of the measures put forward in the Immigration White Paper include ending overseas recruitment of social care workers, restricting work visas for middle-skilled jobs (such as skilled trades), and charging universities a levy on international students. The EU and UK are negotiating a future Youth Mobility Scheme between the UK and the bloc, though the details of the scheme are not yet known.
Additional migration data released today by the Home Office also showed that around 6,600 people arrived in the UK on small boats in the first quarter of 2025, 22% more than in the same period of 2024. For the first time, the most common nationality of small boat arrivals was Eritrean, followed by Afghan, and Sudanese.
Asylum applications rose by 5% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year, from 22,000 to 23,000 applications. Decision-making on asylum applications increased, with substantive decisions up by 10% in the first quarter compared to the last quarter of 2024.
The asylum backlog declined 13% compared to the end of 2024, reaching 79,000 applications. There was also a 15% decrease in the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels, down to 32,000 at the end of March 2025.
Mihnea Cuibus, Researcher at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said: “Labour’s pledge to end hotel accommodation for asylum seekers has been a tough nut for them to crack. The government is now making more asylum decisions, but the backlog of asylum appeals remains stubbornly high. This means that many asylum seekers are still in government accommodation, so ending the use of asylum hotels still seems a fair way off.”
The number of people returned from the UK increased, continuing a trend of quarterly rises since the end of the pandemic. The 35,000 people returned in the year ending March 2025 represented the highest number of returns since 2017.
