Migration to UK hits new record as visas issued in a year top one million

Migration to the UK has surpassed one million in a year amid calls for a stricter border control system.

According to Home Office data, 1.12 million visas were issued to workers, students, family relatives and other foreign nationals in a year, registering an 83 per cent increase.

The figure is the highest on record.

Migration from European Union countries has declined sharply following Brexit but this was offset by students, workers and their families arriving in the UK from outside the 27-nation bloc, the data showed.

Ukrainians fleeing the ongoing invasion by Russia also contributed to the migration numbers, even as other visas issued in relation to world events rose from 95,264 to 250,258 in a year.

The surge in immigration comes at a time when the number of illegal migrants crossing the English Channel has continued to increase. Data showed that 22,670 people have already crossed the Channel illegally this year and the number is estimated to cross 60,000 by the end of 2022.

The rise in both legal and illegal migration has led to the concern that it is straining housing and public services in the UK, while senior functionaries of the ruling Conservative party said the government should deliver on its pledge to take control of the borders.

Former Home Office minister Sir John Hayes told The Telegraph: “We promised at the last election to take back control of our borders. That includes dealing with illegal migration which is a festering sore that never seems to heal but also stemming the tide of legal migrants entering the country”.

The think-tank and campaign group Migration Watch UK said the rise in the migration number pointed to an “absence of immigration control.”

“A record 1.1 million visas to come and live in the UK makes it ever clearer the government had no intention of delivering on their promise to control and reduce immigration,” its chairman Alp Mehmet told the newspaper.