London : Net migration from outside the EU has hit the highest level in nearly 15 years, as a post-Brexit plunge in arrivals from the bloc continued, new figures reveal.

Overall, the balance between the numbers arriving in and leaving the UK remained above 250,000 – nearly three times the Government’s target level of below 100,000.

Office for National Statistics data showed that 261,000 more non-EU citizens came to the country than left in the year ending September 2018.

This was the highest estimate since 2004. 

Accordning ho ONS :

• non-EU net migration was the highest since 2004; this follows a gradual increase in immigration of non-EU citizens over the past five years for both work and study
• the number of EU citizens coming to the UK continues to add to the population; however, EU net migration has fallen to a level last seen in 2009 due mainly to a decrease in EU immigration
• more EU8 citizens, those from the Central and Eastern European countries, left the UK than arrived, as the numbers arriving fell and the numbers leaving increased; this recent pattern for EU8 citizens differs to those from all other EU countries, where we have continued to see more people arriving than leaving
• immigration to the UK for work has fallen to its lowest level since 2014; this follows a fall in the number of EU citizens arriving to work
• the overall number of people arriving in the UK to study has increased, with non-EU student immigration at its highest level since 2011