38, 517 PEOPLE APPLIED FOR ASYLUM IN UK

LONDON, United Kingdom – At least 38, 517 people applied for asylum in the United Kingdom in the year 2016, the Office for National Statistics, ONS has said.

The number includes dependant and that the figure was 1, 451 lower than the figures for 2015.
“There were 38,517 asylum applications (including dependants) in 2016, a decrease of 1,451 from 2015 (4%) and the first annual fall since 2010; in addition, a further 4,369 people were granted humanitarian protection under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme in 2016”, the ONS said.

The office added that Net long-term international migration was estimated to be +273,000 in Year Ending (YE) Sept 2016 (down 49,000 from YE Sept 2015; comprising +165,000 EU citizens, +164,000 non-EU citizens and -56,000 British citizens.
Immigration was estimated to be 596,000 in YE Sept 2016, (down 23,000 from YE Sept 2015); comprising 268,000 EU citizens, 257,000 non-EU citizens and 71,000 British citizens.

Emigration was estimated to be 323,000 in YE Sept 2016 (up 26,000, from YE Sept 2015); comprising 103,000 EU citizens, 93,000 non-EU citizens and 128,000 British citizens.

EU immigration included a statistically significant increase for EU2 citizens (up 19,000 to 74,000 – highest estimate recorded); partially offset by a not statistically significant decrease for EU8 citizens (down 10,000 to 58,000); immigration for EU15 citizens was flat.

The increase in emigration includes statistically significant increases for EU8 citizens, up 12,000 to 39,000, and non-EU citizens from the group Africa, the Americas and Oceania, up 11,000 to 39,000.

Long-term immigration to study (134,000) saw a statistically significant decrease of 41,000 from YE Sept 2015, the majority of which were non-EU (87,000 – down 31,000); however, the number of visas issued over the same period to non-EU students for 12 months or more was 141,286, up 2%.




In YE Sept 2016, 294,000 people immigrated to work, similar to the previous year; of these 190,000 (65%) had a definite job to go to compared with 169,000 in YE Sept 2015 and 104,000 arrived looking for work compared with 120,000 the previous year; however, neither change was statistically significant.

In 2016, there were 626,000 NINo registrations by EU nationals (down 1% on the previous year) and 198,000 by non-EU nationals (up 1% on the previous year).

In YE Sept 2016, 180,000 EU citizens arrived for work compared with 164,000 the previous year (not statistically significant); of these 113,000 had a definite job to go to, up 18,000 compared with the previous year.