UK Let in a Million Foreign Nationals in a Year for the First Time in Recorded History

The British government is facing criticism over record-high rates of immigration as well as successful asylum applications, since it left the European Union, ended free movement, and introduced a new points-based system.

One million foreign nationals were let in to live in the UK last year for the first time in recorded history, according to new government statistics, including workers, students, and family members.

Home Office numbers released on Thursday suggest that just over a million people were granted entry to live in the UK in the twelve months leading up to March 2022 as a total of 1.6 million visas and permits were granted, of which just over 600,000 were visitor visas.

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There were 55,146 asylum applications (main applicants only) in the UK in the year ending March 2022, 56 percent more than in the year ending March 2020. {snip}

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Of the top ten nationalities applying for asylum, half have a grant rate above 80 percent (Iran 88 percent, Eritrea 97 percent, Syria 98 percent, Afghanistan 91 percent, and Sudan 95 percent).

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Immigration was a hot topic throughout 2016’s Brexit vote, with “Take back control” a prominent slogan with voters. In 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government ended free movement with the E.U. on a manifesto that had a commitment “to restore faith in the immigration system.”

Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, told The Epoch Times by email that “illegal immigration via the Channel is out of control and the present rate of three times that of 2021 for the same period, if it continues, could mean around 85,000 by year’s end.”

He added that he believed that the points-based system, introduced at the start of 2021, lowered the qualification and pay levels, removed caps, and abandoned the requirement to look to recruit locally first.

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