Immigration Solicitors

The Office for National Statistics has said that net migration to the UK has reached an all-time high, reaching 330,000 in the year to March.

The figure - which is the difference between the number of people entering the country and those leaving - is more than three times higher that the government’s target.

In 2014, 13% of people in the UK were born abroad, taking the foreign-born population to 8.3m.

Immigration Minister James Brokenshire has said it was "deeply disappointing".

It is the fifth consecutive quarterly rise in the net migration figure, which the ONS says is caused by an increase in the number of EU citizens migrating to the UK.
Net migration of EU citizens was 183,000, up 53,000 from the year end to March 2014.

The number of those arriving from countries outside the EU was still larger, with net migration measured at 196,000. But the year-on-year increase was smaller at 39,000.

In 2011, Prime Minister David Cameron delivered a speech in which he stated that he was giving a "no ifs, no buts" promise that he would bring immigration numbers down to "levels our country can manage"

After the release of the latest set of figures, the government insisted it was acting to control immigration but said the EU needed to do more to help ease the current migrant crisis across Europe.

Mr Brokenshire said: "These stark figures are deeply disappointing.

"While these figures underline the challenges we need to meet to reduce net migration, they should also act as a further wake-up call for the EU.

"Current flows of people across Europe are on a scale we haven't seen since the end of World War Two. This is not sustainable and risks the future economic development of other EU member states."

Duncan Lewis Immigration Solicitors

Duncan Lewis is one of the UK’s leading firms of immigration solicitors and can advise on all immigration matters, including student visas and right to work in the UK.

Duncan Lewis is also a leading Legal Aid solicitor offering legal advice on:

• Asylum and asylum appeals
• British citizenship
• Entrepreneur visas
• Illegal entry to the UK
• Marriage in the UK
• Spouse visas
• Visa overstays.

For expert legal advice on UK immigration law, contact Duncan Lewis immigration solicitors on 020 7923 4020.