58,000 Indian nationals left UK in 2024, largest group of foreigners to emigrate, migration data says

The UK’s tightening visa and immigration policies have led to significant changes in migration patterns of Indian nationals, latest statistics show.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) analysis for 2024, Indian nationals form the largest group of foreigners who have left the country (emigrated) over the past year.

Around 37,000 Indians who had come for study reasons have now left the UK. Another 18,000 who were in the country for work reasons have also departed. Additionally, 3,000 people who were in UK for other unspecified reasons have also emigrated.

Following Indian nationals, Chinese students and workers accounted for 45,000 departures. Other notable nationalities in emigration statistics included Nigerians (16,000), Pakistanis (12,000) , and Americans (8,000).

This substantial number of people leaving the UK has contributed to the overall net migration in the country dropping to 431,000 last year— almost half of the total from the year before that.

More from India

UK sees record surge in US applications for citizenship and residency, data shows UK and EU 'reset' relations after Brexit: How will it change work, trade and travel?

Study-related emigration was the primary reason for the departure of the five most frequent non-EU nationalities, with the increase in long-term emigration driven mainly by the high numbers of Indian and Chinese nationals leaving in 2024.

Mary Gregory, Director of Population Statistics at the ONS, indicated that the fall in migration numbers is largely due to fewer people coming to the UK for work and study, particularly student dependents.

“There has also been an increase in emigration over the 12 months to December 2024, especially people leaving who originally came on study visas once pandemic travel restrictions to the UK were eased,” she said.

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

'New dawn': PM Modi meets Manipur violence victims in first visit since 2023 unrest

CP Radhakrishnan takes oath as Vice President of India

Political and government response

The UK government welcomed the drop in net migration, a topic that has been at the forefront of the political agenda amid soaring figures and gains by the far-right anti-immigration Reform party in recent elections.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer emphasised the significance of the decline, pointing out that net migration had nearly reached 1 million under the previous administration. He assured the public that the government is taking control, as evidenced by the latest statistics showing a nearly 50 per cent reduction in net migration over the past year.

The dramatic fall in net migration is the largest ever recorded for a 12-month period and marks the most significant calendar-year decrease since the early stages of the COVID pandemic.

Long-term immigration and emigration

Long-term immigration to the UK fell below 1 million for the first time in around three years, with an estimated 948,000 immigrants in the year ending December 2024.

This represents a significant decrease from the previous year, which saw 1,326,000 immigrants, marking the first time the figure has been below a million since March 2022.

Concurrently, emigration rose by around 11 per cent, with an estimated 517,000 people leaving the country in the year to December, up from 466,000 the previous year.

Former Home Secretary James Cleverly, under the Opposition Conservative Party government led by Rishi Sunak, attributed the fall in net migration to policies he had enacted. He asserted that the drop was due to the visa rule changes implemented during his tenure, challenging the Labour administration’s claims.

With inputs from PTI