Fall in net migration driven by plummeting student dependant figures, ONS reveals

A recent report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed that net migration to the UK fell to 431,000 in 2024, nearly half that of the previous year, largely due to a significant decrease in non-EU work and study-related visas.   

The ONS report, published on 22 May, indicated an 85% reduction in study dependants immigrating to England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

When studying in the UK, students’ partners or children under the age of 18 are eligible to apply for a student dependant visa. The net number of these dependants fell by 105,000 last year.   

The report also found that the number of visas for main applicants, student visas, dropped 17%, reflective of the wider 15.5% decrease in international student recruitment in 2023/24.   

Rapidly decreasing rates of migration have been primarily driven by a sharp drop in immigration from non-EU nationals

Rapidly decreasing rates of migration have been primarily driven by a sharp drop in immigration from non-EU nationals. The ONS suggested that 108,000 fewer non-EU nationals held work visas for the UK last year.  

Policies introduced by former Conservative Home Secretaries Suella Braverman and James Cleverly have been credited with causing the sharp drop in migration. These measures included increasing the salary requirement for skilled worker and family visas, as well as stripping many students’ right to bring a study dependant.

Yvette Cooper, the current Home Secretary, commented that the fall in migration was “welcome after the figures quadrupled to nearly a million in the last parliament”.  

Prior to the 2024 General Election, the Labour Party’s manifesto pledged to ensure net levels of migration into the UK were “properly controlled and managed”. The recent ONS report provides the Party grounds to argue it has produced in achieving this goal, while it pursues additional measures to further limit immigration levels.

James Cleverly, who many expected to become leader of the Conservative Party in the 2024 leadership election, took to X to claim credit for the sharp drop in annual net migration. 

He stated that “this drop is because of the visa rule change that I put in place”, adding that Labour would take credit for the figures despite having “failed to fully implement [his] changes”.