Despite a small increase over the
quarter, these latest figures show that government policy is succeeding in reducing
inflows from outside the EU – by 50,000 over the year. Future reductions
in net migration will depend on ensuring that people leave when they should. In
this connection the student figures are striking. Over the past five
years the average inflow of non-EU students has been 136,000 a year. But this
year, for the first time, we have the number of those who came originally as
students and who departed in 2012; that number is only 49,000 or about a third
of the volume of arrivals. This points clearly to the student route as a very
significant part of net migration.
Commenting, Sir Andrew Green, said:
"It is far too early on the
basis of one quarter's figures to call this a setback to the government's
policy. Student interviews and measures to ensure that students leave
when they should will make a substantial difference."
Note: until 2012 the IPS
was unable to break down the statistics of those leaving by the original
purpose of their arrival, that has now been corrected and shows clearly that
claims that nearly all students leave after their studies simply cannot be
true.
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