Britain’s immigration surge ‘bigger than all other rich nations’

More than 700,000 ‘permanent migrants’ moved to the UK last year, OECD says

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Britain experienced the biggest surge in immigration of any rich country last year, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
A total of 746,900 new “permanent-type” migrants moved to the UK last year, the OECD said, up from 488,400 in 2022.
The 52.9pc year-on-year rise in new arrivals outpaced all other OECD members. Of the wealthy nations that make up the OECD club, only South Korea had an increase anywhere near the UK’s level. Immigration there rose by 50.9pc to 87,100 last year.
Britain also reported the second-highest number of immigrants by raw numbers of arrivals. Only the US welcomed more people than Britain last year, with 1.2m people moving to America.
The analysis will pile more pressure on Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, to make good on his promise to get a grip on immigration. Labour said in its manifesto: “The overall level must be properly controlled and managed.”
Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, said the “exploding population” was putting more strain on the country than anything else. 
He said: “In six of the last eight quarters, where levels of legal migration were [at] record [levels] in the history of these islands, GDP per capita went down. Mass immigration is making us poorer.
“If you are a large employer, a big multinational, that is great. For everybody else, that is not working at any level.”
The flow of immigrants to Britain has more than doubled compared to pre-Covid levels, the OECD analysis shows, rising by 110pc between 2019 and 2023.
Only New Zealand – where the number of arrivals more than tripled over the same period to 119,300 – Lithuania and Poland had sharper jumps from pre-Covid levels.
The OECD’s definition of “permanent-type” immigration typically includes workers and their relatives, but not students or refugees from Ukraine, who are considered temporary residents.
In the UK’s case, the OECD said “family migration soared, with 373,000 new family migrants in 2023, a 60pc increase compared to 2022. Seventy per cent of family migrants in the United Kingdom were accompanying family members of labour migrants. The health and care visa for accompanying family members accounted for the bulk of the increase.”
New care workers using this visa can no longer bring relatives, as of March this year.
The change to family rule was introduced as part of a package designed to reduce immigration numbers. Other changes included increasing the salary threshold to qualify for a skilled worker visa from £26,200 to £38,700 per year.
However, the threshold can be as low as £23,200 for those employed in jobs where the UK has a shortage of candidates, including care workers.
Indians were the most common nationality among foreign-born people moving permanently to the UK in 2022, the OECD said. They were followed by Nigerians and Chinese.
Separate figures published earlier this week showed that 7m foreign-born workers were now employed in the UK, a record high. Conversely, the number of British-born people in work is still more than 800,000 below its pre-Covid level.
The sharp rise in the number of people coming to the UK comes as immigration across the rich world reaches record highs, the OECD said, with sweeping political ramifications. The think tank said 6.5m people moved permanently to the OECD’s 38 nations last year, a figure that does not include asylum seekers and temporary migrants.
“Not only have 6.5m permanent migrants arrived in the last year, but the number of temporary migrants and asylum seekers has skyrocketed,” the think tank said.
“These high flows have fuelled widespread concern about migrants’ impact on receiving countries’ economies and societies, putting migration management and border control at the top of political agendas and the centre of voters’ interests in 2024 elections.”
Mr Farage called on the Government to bring net migration to zero, meaning inflows would match outflows.
He said: “You have to aim for net zero – net zero migration over the course of the next few years. Basically we have to stop population growth through immigration.” 
The MP for Clacton added: “I thought Blair was bad but the Conservatives were even worse.”
Britain also issued more student visas than any other OECD nation, approving almost 450,000 applications last year. That was up by almost one fifth from 2019’s figure, though down by 6pc from 2022’s level.
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