Latest news with #UKimmigration
The Independent
22-07-2025
- The Independent
What is an ETA and how can European visitors to the UK apply for the new visa?
The vast majority of overseas visitors to the United Kingdom must now obtain an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) in advance. The Home Office says it is creating 'a more streamlined, digital immigration system which will be quicker and more secure for the millions of people who pass through the UK border each year". The government says: 'Everyone wishing to travel to the UK – except British and Irish citizens – will need permission to travel in advance of coming here. This can be either through an Electronic Travel Authorisation or an eVisa.' Most leisure and business travellers to the UK do not need a visa. But starting from 2 April 2025, almost all these overseas visitors, are now required to have an ETA. (Non-Europeans already needed the permit, but a large majority of visitors to the UK are from the EU.) The exceptions are Irish citizens, and people who 'have permission to live, work or study in the UK (including settled or pre-settled status or right of abode)'. Ministers say rolling out the scheme worldwide will 'prevent abuse of our immigration system'. But under pressure from London Heathrow airport, they have dropped the bizarre requirement for passengers merely in 'airside' transit for a couple of hours to obtain an ETA. These are the key questions and answers. What is the ETA? The United Kingdom, in common with many other countries, is demanding more information in advance from prospective visitors before they board planes, ships or trains to Britain – or drive across the border from Ireland to Northern Ireland. The government says: 'This will ensure we have information on those seeking to come to the UK helping to prevent dangerous individuals, such as criminals, entering the UK.' The starting point of the journey to the UK is not relevant; what counts is the traveller's nationality. At present a relatively small number of arrivals do not qualify for 'visa-free' status. They must go through the complex and expensive business of applying for an eVisa. Until the Electronic Travel Authorisation was launched, everyone else just turned up. But now almost every foreign visitor must obtain the ETA, with the exception of Irish citizens. As with the US Esta scheme, and similar systems used by Canada and Australia, applications must be made online in one of two ways: Via the app: search for 'UK eta ' on the Apple app store or Google Play. Through the official website. Applicants must supply a photograph and answer a set of questions on 'suitability and criminality'. The ETA is linked to the traveller's passport. The cost is £16 payable by Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB, Apple Pay or Google Pay. The permit is valid for repeated stays of up to six months at a time within two years or until the passport expires, whichever is sooner. How long does an ETA take to issue? The Home Office says: 'You will usually get a decision within three working days. Most people get a much quicker decision. Occasionally, it may take longer than three working days.' In practice, as with Australian and Canadian permits, most decisions will be made and the permit issued within minutes. Surprisingly, you need not have been issued with the pass at the time you start a journey to the UK. The Home Office says: 'You must apply for an ETA before you travel to the UK. You can travel to the UK while waiting for a decision.' This loophole could be extremely helpful to passengers who do not realise they need an ETA when they turn up at an airport, seaport or international rail terminal to travel to the UK. They can make an application on the spot, which will enable them meet the condition for continuing their journey. What if an ETA is declined? It depends why the application was turned down. If a person's ETA application is rejected because of an error they made, they will be told the reason and can apply again. If a person's ETA application is refused because they are regarded as unsuitable, they cannot appeal. People who have a criminal record or were previously refused entry into the UK are advised to apply for a standard visitor visa instead. Who checks the traveller has the ETA? For the majority of travellers, airlines and ferry companies are expected to verify the ETA status before the passenger boards a flight or ship to the UK. They will be penalised if they fail to check. The government says: 'Where an inadequately documented arrival (IDA) is brought to the UK, the carrier may be liable for a fine of up to £2,000.' Ferries from France to Dover, Eurostar trains to London, and Eurotunnel shuttles to Folkestone have 'juxtaposed controls' and UK Border Force staff will check the permit while the traveller is in Continental Europe. The glaring gap in the UK Border is Northern Ireland. A tourist to the Republic of Ireland who inadvertently or deliberately strays into Northern Ireland is legally obliged to have an ETA, but there is no indication how their status will be checked. Does the ETA guarantee entry to the UK? No. The Home Office says: 'An ETA does not guarantee entry to the UK. You still need to either: see a Border Force officer. use an ePassport gate.' How does the cost compare with other countries? The £16 fee is mid-range, and the same as a US Esta currently. In ascending order of cost: Australia issues free eVisitor permits. Canada's eta costs C$7 (£4) and is valid for up to five years. The US Esta costs $21 (£16) for up to two years, but is reported to be rising soon to $40 (£30). Europe's much-delayed Etias scheme is set to cost €20 (£17) for up to three years. New Zealand's NZeTA is NZ$17 (£8) for up to two years. But it requires a further payment of NZ$100 (£44) as the International Visitor Levy (NZ$6 more if you apply on the website rather than the app). Commercial sites that pay search engines to rank ahead of the official site have already appeared. They include one called which appears to be based in Florida, and charges up to $99.99 (£78) on top of the fee. Do transit passengers need an ETA? Not if they are remaining 'airside', ie not going through the UK Border and remaining in the transit area at London Heathrow or Manchester airport. But anyone going through passport control – for example, landing at Gatwick and later flying out from Luton – will need one. Common Travel Agreement.
The Independent
10-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
The reasons why experts are predicting a further plunge in migration
Net migration to the UK has fallen from 860,000 to 431,000 in the year up to December 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics. The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) expects net migration to halve again to 200,000 in the next year due to a weakening job market. MAC chairman Professor Brian Bell attributes the fall to a decline in non-EU workers and students, and anticipates a further drop in work visas. ONS data indicates a decrease in available jobs and a rise in unemployment, suggesting firms are hesitant to recruit. MAC says that changes in Labour 's immigration policies, including raising the skills threshold for work visas, will likely impact the hospitality and retail sectors, while a ban on care workers bringing family members into the country is reducing health and care worker visas.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Net migration to UK down by half in 2024 compared with year before
Net migration to the UK has nearly halved over the year to 431,000, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said, publishing figures that will bring some relief to Keir Starmer. The drop from 860,000 in the year to December 2024 follows a series of policies implemented by the last Conservative government that have been continued by the present Labour government. It is the biggest calendar-year drop since the early stages of the Covid pandemic, when net migration fell from 184,000 in the year ending December 2019 to 93,000 in the year ending December 2020. It is also the largest numerical drop for any 12-month period. The ONS said the sharp decline was caused by reduced immigration from non-EU countries for work and study visas and by an increase in emigration from the UK. A large number of international students who originally came before the Covid-19 travel restrictions to the UK were eased had also left, the ONS said. In June 2023, net migration hit a record high of 906,000 and it stood at 728,000 in the year to June 2024, shortly before Labour took over from the previous Conservative government. The issue of net migration has become a key electoral battleground, with deepening concern among voters about the NHS, housing and the small boats crisis in the Channel. With the challenge from Nigel Farage's Reform UK focused on immigration, the figures will be claimed as a boost to Starmer, who has pledged to reduce them before the next election. The fall in numbers has also been caused by a series of restrictions introduced by the Conservative government in the year before July's general election. Related: Skilled visa rules, deportations and higher fees: what's in the immigration white paper These included a ban on foreign students and care workers bringing dependants with them to the UK, a doubling in the minimum salary threshold needed for work visas to £38,700 and the minimum income needed for British residents to bring family members to join them to £29,000. The figure for 2024 was calculated by taking the number of people immigrating, and subtracting the number of people emigrating. Data shows that 948,000 people came to Britain in 2024, and 517,000 left. Immigration was down by almost a third, from 1,326,000 in the previous 12 months, and below 1 million for the first time since the 12 months to March 2022. Emigration was up by about 11%, from 466,000 in the previous year. The number of people leaving the UK has returned to a similar level as in the year ending June 2017. After Reform UK's success in May's local elections and the Runcorn byelection, Labour has hardened its position on immigration. Starmer was criticised last week when he said the UK risked becoming an 'island of strangers' without tough new policies. Some politicians said his words echoed Powell's notorious 'rivers of blood' speech, which imagined a future multicultural Britain where the white population 'found themselves made strangers in their own country'. The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said: 'The 300,000 drop in net migration since the election is important and welcome after the figures quadrupled to nearly a million in the last parliament.' The former Conservative home secretary James Cleverly said: 'This drop is because of the visa rule changes that I put in place.' Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said the record fall in net migration was made possible by unusually high migration after Brexit and predicted the economic impact of the decline would be negligible. She said: 'This record-breaking decline in net migration was possible primarily because numbers had previously been so high. UK migration patterns in 2023 were very unusual, with unexpectedly large numbers of visas for care workers, international students, and their family members. This made it easier for the government at that time to bring down the numbers. 'The economic impact of this decline is actually likely to be relatively small. That's because the groups that have driven the decline, such as study and work dependants, are neither the highest skilled, highest-paid migrants who make substantial contributions to tax revenues, nor the most disadvantaged groups that require substantial support.'
The National
22-05-2025
- Business
- The National
Net migration to UK halves under tougher rules on work and study
Net migration to Britain halved in 2024, official data showed on Thursday, driven by fewer people coming to work and study in the UK. Conservative politicians attributed the drop in numbers to the reforms they introduced on visa rules and the rights of migrants to bring their families into the country, while Labour sought to clamp down on the exploitation of care workers after coming to power last summer. The figure stood at an estimated 431,000 in the year ending December 2024, down 49.9 per cent from 860,000 a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said. Net migration – an estimate of the number of people migrating to Britain minus those – reached a record high of 906,000 in the year to June 2023. This is the biggest calendar-year drop since the early stages of the pandemic and the largest numerical drop for any 12-month period. Long-term immigration fell below one million for the first time in around three years under the impact of visa rule changes intended to cut the number of arrivals. That was estimated to be 948,000 in the year ending December 2024, down by almost a third from 1,326,000 in the previous 12 months and below a million for the first time since the 12 months to March 2022. The data will offer some relief to Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who earlier this month promised to reduce migration significantly over the next four years. He is under pressure from Nigel Farage's right-wing, anti-immigration Reform UK party. In August, weeks after the Labour government took office, the country was convulsed by anti-immigration riots in which mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers were attacked. This month, Mr Starmer said the country risks becoming an 'island of strangers' without better integration, and said he wanted net migration to have fallen 'significantly' by the next general election, but without giving a specific target. His plan includes reforming work and study visas and requiring a higher level of English across all immigration routes. Experts think that could reduce the number by a further 100,000 a year. In 2023, the Conservative government raised the minimum salary threshold for foreign skilled workers and made it harder for workers and students to bring their families with them. Thursday's number showed an 81 per cent drop in the number of dependents brought to the UK by students, and a 35 per cent drop in the number brought by workers. The ONS noted that international students who came to Britain in large numbers when Covid-19 travel restrictions were lifted were now leaving the country as their visas had expired. It said the change was driven by lower immigration from countries outside the European Union, which in recent years has included high numbers of people from India, Nigeria and Pakistan. A rise in the number of people leaving the country also helped to lower the net migration figure, as 517,000 emigrated, up 11 per cent on a year earlier. Mary Gregory, director of population statistics at the ONS, said this trend was driven by people who had originally come on study visas when pandemic travel restrictions were eased. The figures released on Thursday do not include those arriving in the UK by unauthorised means to seek asylum, many in flimsy, small boats across the English Channel. Although that number is far lower – some 37,000 people crossed the English Channel on small boats last year – it has amplified the debate. Marley Morris, associate director for migration, trade and communities at the Institute for Public Policy and Research think tank, warned the government needed to be careful to 'balance managing overall levels of migration with its ambitions to grow the economy and repair public services'. Economists at Pantheon Macroeconomcs said Mr Starmer's new immigration controls, forecast by the government to reduce net migration by a further 98,000 each year, would slice 0.1 per cent off the UK's potential growth. 'With the fall in numbers in part driven by a sharp drop in social care visas, it will have to be particularly cautious that further restrictions to this route do not exacerbate the current workforce crisis in the care sector,' Mr Morris said. But Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said the economic impact of this decline would be 'relatively small'. 'That's because the groups that have driven the decline, such as study and work dependants, are neither the highest skilled, highest-paid migrants who make substantial contributions to tax revenue, nor the most disadvantaged groups that require substantial support,' she said.
Reuters
22-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
UK net migration falls sharply in 2024
LONDON, May 22 (Reuters) - Long-term net migration to Britain fell by almost a half in 2024 compared to a year earlier, official data showed on Thursday, as fewer people arrived on work and study visas following rule changes aimed at cutting the number of arrivals. The Office for National Statistics said data showed net migration - an estimate of the number of people migrating to Britain minus those leaving - had fallen to 431,000 compared to 860,000 in the year to December 2023. The data will offer some relief to Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who earlier in May promised to reduce migration significantly over the next four years, under pressure from Nigel Farage's right-wing, anti-immigration Reform UK party. Starmer became prime minister in July 2024. The Conservative Party, in government prior to Starmer's election, said the decrease reflected changes to visa rules they brought in. The ONS said the change was driven by a decrease in immigration from non-EU+ nationals. "We are seeing reductions in people arriving on work- and study-related visas, and 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," the ONS said in a statement. The term 'Non-EU+' refers to those arriving from countries not in the EU or from Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. In recent years the non-EU+ group has included high numbers of people from India, Nigeria and Pakistan. Net migration reached a record high 906,000 in the year to June 2023, according to comparable data released last year.
