No longer destination UK: India goes down to fourth place in overall migrant ranking

The number of Indian nationals living in the UK has gone down from second to fourth place in 2017 as compared to 2016 in the overall migrant ranking, according to the latest data released today.

The UK's Office of National Statistics (ONS) found that rising number of Romanians had meant that Indians at 346,000 came in fourth after Poland (1 million), Romania (411,000) and Republic of Ireland (350,000). Italy (297,000) completed the top five table of non-UK nationalities based in the country.

"Poland-born residents and Polish nationals were the most common populations from outside the UK, with an estimated 1 million Polish nationals now living in the UK. However, the largest increases in population were seen from those born in Romania and those with Romanian nationality," said Nicola White, Migration Statistics Division at ONS.

While Indians remain the largest non-European Union (EU) migrant category in UK, there was a clear drop in numbers over 2016 when India occupied the second spot with 362,000 nationals.

Pakistanis occupy the second-largest spot among non-EU nationals based in the UK at 188,000 and eighth in the overall ranking.

But the trend for tourist and visitor visas was the opposite, with Indians registering the biggest hike in the number of visit visas granted over the previous year, up 45,898 or 12 per cent from the previous year to hit 45,898. This was followed by Russians, up 23,609, Pakistanis up 15,093 and Chinese up 13,486.

Indian and Chinese nationals alone accounted for just under half (46 per cent) of all visit visas granted, holding on to their position as the largest tourist base for the UK.

India also held on to its position among the top three countries in terms of the number of student visas granted, registering a hike of 30 per cent to hit 15,171 last year.

Chinese students, with a hike of 15 per cent, remain the highest cohort of student visas at 88,657, with the US completing the top three.

Reflecting a recent trend in the perceived squeezed on work-related visas to the UK, the latest statistics show a fall in the number of such visas being granted down 1 per cent to 162,874 in 2017-18.

This included a fall (1 per cent) in skilled (Tier 2) work visas, to 93,048. The number of high-value or so-called Tier 1 visas granted increased by 11 per cent to 5,198.

The non-UK born population in the country increased from 9.2 million in 2016 to 9.4 million in 2017 (up 3 per cent) and the non-British population increased from 6.0 million to 6.2 million (up 4 per cent).

In what is being attributed to a so-called "Brexit effect" and uncertainty over freedom of movement rules for EU nationals in the UK once Britain is no longer a member of the EU, the number of applications by EU nationals for UK citizenship doubled to over 40,000 in the 12 months leading to March 2018.

A gap in the collection of statistics means there is no decisive overall net migration figure.

The Conservative party-led UK government has committed to a target to reduce net migration to below 100,000 in its manifestos of 2010, 2015 and 2017.

However, the non-UK population both those who are born abroad or are not British nationals has increased every year since reporting of the statistics began in 2004.