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ianstone
08-26-2010, 05:43 PM
Immigration up by a fifth

Immigration to Britain increased by a fifth last year, driven by a sharp rise in the number of foreign students being allowed into the country, figures show.



By Tom Whitehead (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/tom-whitehead/), Home Affairs Editor
Published: 3:30PM BST 26 Aug 2010


http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01703/students_1703473c.jpg The number of visas issued to students rose 35% to 362,015 in the year to June Photo: PHOTOLIBRARY


Some 196,000 more people moved to the country than left in 2009 – compared with a net migration of 163,000 in the previous year.

The figures are for the last full year of the Labour Government and raise serious questions over the effectiveness of its flagship points based system that was introduced to curb immigration.


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It also means more than three million foreign nationals were added to the British population under Labour's watch since 1997.
Separate figures showed student visas have increased by a third renewing fears the route is being exploited as a loophole for both legal and illegal immigration.
The number of migrants allowed to the stay permanently also increased by a third while grants of asylum (4,190) hit their highest level for seven years, according to figures from the Home Office and Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Damian Green, the immigration minister, said the Coalition Government had inherited an out-of-control system while critics said Labour had left a "legacy of chaos".
Rising net immigration will be a major headache for the new Government which has pledged to bring it down to the "tens of thousands".
A total of 567,000 people migrated to Britain last year while only 371,000 emigrated leaving a net inflow of 196,000.
If the movement of Britons is removed then there was an net inflow of 226,000 foreign nationals in 2009. That took the total of foreign migrants who moved to the UK since 1997 to 3.2 million.
The increase in net migration is a blow to the points based system which Labour phased in from early 2008. The system was supposed to curb inflows across all sectors from work permits to student visas.
While work visas fell last year the number of student visas has risen sharply.
In the 12 months to June this year, a total of 362,015 foreign students were allowed to come and study in the UK, an increase of 35 per cent on the previous year, according to the ONS.
The student visa regime is expected to be the next focus of attention for the Home Office after announcing earlier this year that is plans to impose a cap on work-related immigration.
There are also growing concerns that the system is seen as an easy route in to Britain especially unlawfully via bogus colleges.
Figures released last year showed bogus colleges were being discovered at a rate of almost two a month.
Other Home Office figures showed some 224,390 people were granted settlement in Britain in the year up to June, a 37 per cent rise on the previous 12 months.
Mr Green said: "These figures show that Labour’s immigration legacy is even worse than anyone feared. They show that the Points-Based System was out of control and would not deliver a sustainable level of net migration despite Gordon Brown’s claims throughout the general election campaign.
“The task facing the new government is to bear down on all routes of immigration. We can now see how necessary our proposed limit on economic immigration is. This will be accompanied by action on other routes of immigration and settlement. We will be unveiling these over the coming months.”
Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch, a think-tank, said: "The previous Government's talk of a 'tough' points based system has proved to be deeply flawed.
"Sixty per cent of the system comprises of students and we are now admitting nearly 1,000 a day with absolutely no checks on their departure.
"The Coalition Government has inherited a legacy of chaos."
On the three million figure, he added: "This is another milestone in the history of the Labour Government's incompetence.