Distribution of Immigrants to the UK by Reason for Entry and EU/non-EU Nationality

Most EU immigrants enter for work; most non-EU immigrants enter for formal study

The other day, I realised that I’d never seen a breakdown of UK immigrant numbers by reason for entry, separately for EU and non-EU immigrants. Using 2014 data from the International Passenger Survey (which appear to be the latest available), I managed to obtain this breakdown.

The first chart (below) displays the two distributions of gross immigrants by reason for entry. (British immigrants were removed from the data.) In 2014, most EU immigrants entered for work, whereas most non-EU immigrants entered for formal study. About 2/3rds of immigrants who entered for family reunification were from non-EU countries.

The second chart (below) displays the two distributions of net migrants by reason for entry. (British migrants were again removed from the data). The vast majority of net EU migrants entered for work, whereas the vast majority of net non-EU migrants entered for formal study. About 70% of immigrants who entered for family reunification were from non-EU countries. (Note that the purple bars are negative because more people in this category left the UK than entered).

Interestingly then, the vast majority of net migrants who entered the UK for work in 2014 were from EU countries. In fact, fewer than 10,000 net non-EU migrants entered for work in 2014.