Immigration down on last year, new stats show - but figures are still DOUBLE 2019 level
The Home Office data was released on Thursday
PA
The UK has welcomed almost 300,000 foreign workers in the last year, the Home Office has announced - a drop of 11 per cent since 2023.
Britain granted 286,382 visas to immigrants seeking employment in the year ending June 2024, according to new figures, marking a decrease on last year's data, but more than double 2019 levels.
Of that number, the Home Office dished out nearly 90,000 "Health and Care Worker" visas - again, a decrease on last year, with a notable drop-off between April and June 2024 after a Tory Government clamp-down.
The much-maligned health worker visas have prompted warnings in the past from migration analysts over their role in undercutting wages and encouraging foreign workers to bring their wives and children to the UK, exacerbating the housing crisis.
Figures shown to GB News reveal that the number of visas issued to work dependants was down 50 per cent between April and June 2024 compared to the previous three months.
A further 35,603 work dependant visas were handed out in the last quarter compared to 71,583 between January and March this year marking a fall of 35,980.
Small boat arrivals have increased quarter-on-quarter - and are very slightly down on this time last year
UK Government
Approximately 31,000 people came to Britain on small boats over the last year
PA
In the latest figures, the Home Office confirmed it handed more than 260,000 visas to work dependants or family members - with "Health and Care Worker" dependants alone accounting for 69 per cent of that number.
Graphs from the home office group foreign workers and dependants into one category, leaving the total number of "work" visas granted at 547,000.
That number sits alongside 530,000 study visas and 84,000 family visas - meaning some 1.2 million people have entered the UK via legal means in the last year.
But alongside the legal figures, Britain has taken on some 38,784 "detected irregular arrivals", a 26 per cent decrease since the year ending June 2023.
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The Government released a graphic of the arrivals and internal figures over the last year
PA
Around one-sixth (16 per cent) of detected irregular arrivals in the year ending June 2024 were Afghans, with Iranian, Vietnamese, Turkish and Syrian nationals rounding out the top five.
Of the total number of illegal arrivals, approximately 31,000 people came to Britain on small boats.
The news comes just days after the amount of small boat migrants was confirmed to have crossed the 19,000 mark in 2024 alone.
One stark trend which shows little sign of slowing is the increasing numbers of Vietnamese arrivals in the UK by small boat.
Afghans and Iranian, Vietnamese, Turkish and Syrian nationals were the top five most represented groups of illegal migrants
PA
Of the thousands of small boats arrivals, just a few hundred were returned to their home countries
UK Government
The Government data release detailed how "arrivals by Vietnamese nationals in January to June 2024 (2,248 arrivals) were more than 4 times higher than in the same period of 2023 (523 arrivals)".
They were the most common nationality detected arriving by small boat in January to June 2024, at 17 per cent of total small boat arrivals.
But of the thousands of small boat arrivals, just a few hundred were returned to their home countries - the vast majority to Albania, with which the UK has a returns agreement.
But between 2018 and June 2024, there were 3,788 returns of small boat migrants - a meagre 3 per cent of the total arrivals.