Net migration has decreased from 649,000 to 204,000 in the year to June 2025

[ILoveHotChocolates]

I guess this won’t be shouted about in the news. Such a good thing

No, they are coming in to UK as low skilled.
UK doctors are emigrating because they can't get jobs!

Anyone under 28 was born a British subject and I think it’s a convenient fallacy to suggest they didn't view themselves as British per se. They had a British governor, legal system, Queen on their currency, and many many ties with UK. Nothing to do with this thread really I just was wondering what the demographic of immigrants really was.

The Telegraph had a piece yesterday (archive link) which had a data point I found interesting.

Note: by the time you have ILR you have been here at least 5 years and can legally work any job you want.

"Five years down the line, the tax revenues look a little less positive than we’d hoped for, and welfare spending is curiously higher. To put things into perspective, there are somewhere in the region of 759,000 people with ILR (but not citizenship) living in the UK, and around 211,000 of them claim universal credit. That’s a whole population claim rate in the region of 28 per cent, compared to 12 per cent for GB as a whole."

We struggle enough with the benefits bill as it is - if productive people are leaving and the people entering are claiming benefits at 2-3x the normal rate as soon as they get the chance, that's a massive problem. Even if they are helping with wage suppression in the NHS...

This shows the demographic of emigration. Highest amongst the young, because they simply don't see a future in UK.
Young people with skills and energy and talent are seeing no future in a country that is in managed decline.

We should all be incredibly worried about this!

I’m a British citizen, I’m skilled/educated and I emigrated in that period. Along with a few colleagues (also British citizens). Main reason is stagnant wages. Absolutely love the UK and plan to return, but I can’t spend my prime career-building years in a low-wage low-growth economy.

You are being unreasonable as it’s widely reported (but not by the Guardian) that the majority of those who are leaving are net contributors, high earners, workers etc - basically we are losing the people we want to be keeping and taking in people who are often high need in their place. This is not good.

That's right. Most of them are engineers, surgeons and scientists. Hurrah!

Oh my goodness. I saw your post before you edited it. Uggh...I hope you edited your post because you realised how racist it was but is this really what people think? Eu Immigration ok- Non eu immigration not ok?

EU vs non-EU is a bit of a stupid measure imo because "non-EU" includes America, Canada, Australia etc.

With that said there are patterns in migration between different countries and very significant variation in both economic contribution and cultural similarity, and an immigration system that's wilfully blind to these patterns is what's got us into this.

I don't think it's a convenient fallacy at all- in fact to assume someone identifies as British because they were born a subject in a colonial regime is quite the leap. That aside, between 1997-2014, you had nearly 20 years where ethnically Chinese HK'ers cemented a HK specific identity as a semi-autonomous Chinese region- they got HK passports and the majority were very optimistic that HK would retain a high degree of autonomy from the mainland and saw a good future in that. They identified very strongly as different from mainland Chinese people, but at the same time their culture was and still is very Chinese-centric. They didnt move to the UK because they identified with the UK but because BNO passports gave them the option and they strongly identified against mainland integration. A lot also move to Canada.

This isn't an argument against HK migrants being allowed to come to UK btw (I'm in favour) but I think to say that HK Chinese identify as British is just incorrect. At best I'd say they have a cultural familiarisation that might facilitate integration.

The new immigration rules recently announced by Shabana Mahmood suggest extending time to get ILR from 5 years to 10 years for most, but reducing it to 3 years for high earners and keeping it at 5 for doctors and nurses.
So rules to attract the rich and high skilled are already in place.
It's another matter that few high earners will want to come here and give up most of their income in tax. And you can't stop people leaving.

According to some people we should stop low skilled people coming in to harvest crops and make single mothers on benefits do those jobs

No-one said single mothers did they? That's your twist.

The jobs ma be advertised but in reality they don't exist

I wonder if these figures include international students? I've read a couple of articles and haven't yet found that information.

I’m actively taking steps to emigrate because this country isn’t one I want my kids to grow up in anymore. The public sector is decimated, our once thriving city centre is a complete shithole and it feels like the whole country is full of small minded, isolationist racists. I’m trying to get out before it implodes, and we’re taking our tax payments with us.

You aren't the only one. I know a lot of higher income (low 6 figs) individuals and families ie the ones who pay highest level of income tax etc, who are actively looking to leave/already leaving.

They're fudging the figures to show how they're finally doing something and listening to the British public concerns. It's bs. High earners are emigrating and being replaced by deliveroo drivers, waiting staff and taxi drivers. Fabulous, just want the country needs! and the tired old trope that the nhs would collapse without immigration is of each successive governments making - increase the number of training places for newly qualified doctors and the problem would be solved, with no need to recruit foreign workers. Finally people are waking up to the propaganda that's been pushed upon us for decades. They really do think we're stupid.

Thank you for pointing this out. I used to work in this sector, and the low skilled jobs advertised are a ruse to build a bank of candidates just in case the agencies secure a contract and need people asap.

Really? Because a lot of non eu immigration is from ex British colonies so they usually speak English, have often gone through a schooling system similar to rhe uk, have learnt or been exposed to British culture and history and are even used to driving on the left side of the road.

In a lower skilled occupation does not necessarily mean they are lower skilled. You may have a Doctor or Engineer who is doing any job to keep body and soul together.

I hope everyone is prepared to take care of their own mums or dads in their homes. I am expecting to do that.

Yes but why couldn't single mothers on benefits do manual jobs? They can and do...

But the point is they won't be working in highly skilled jobs when they arrive. So we are losing higher rate taxpayers in return for low rate taxpayers. You can try to argue it however you want but the data is the data and it specifically says "lower skilled immigrant workers"

That is true and they should, as should anyone who is capable of working