UK Long-Term Immigration (ONS)

## What this measures

Long-term immigration to the United Kingdom of people of all nationalities: people arriving to live in the UK for at least 12 months, over rolling 12-month periods (years ending March, June, September and December), from the year ending June 2012 to the year ending December 2025. People, rounded by ONS to the nearest thousand. Each point is dated the last day of its 12-month period.

## Why it matters

Migration is the main driver of UK population growth and a large part of labour supply growth, and net migration is one of the most watched and argued-over numbers in UK politics. The split by nationality shows which flows are moving: after the UK left the EU, EU+ net migration turned negative while non-EU+ arrivals rose sharply.

## How to read it

Higher means more people moved. The series ran from 639,000 in the year ending June 2012 to 813,000 in the year ending December 2025; its high was 1,469,000 (the year ending March 2023) and its low 606,000 (the year ending September 2020). Consecutive points overlap by nine months, so compare a period with the same quarter a year earlier, not with the one before it. Periods marked provisional by ONS (the year ending March 2025 to the year ending December 2025 in the current edition) are revised in the next two releases as travel data confirm who stayed.

## What it does not say

ONS changed its methods for the year ending June 2021 onwards: estimates now come from Home Office borders and immigration data and DWP/HMRC administrative records, and ONS advises caution when comparing periods before and after that point (its notes 16 and 17), and says British estimates before and after it should not be compared. These are official statistics in development and the whole series is revised with each release. It counts moves of at least 12 months, not short visits, and says nothing about why people moved (ONS tables 3 and 4 give reasons for non-EU+ and EU+ visa holders).

## Source

Office for National Statistics, "Long-term international immigration, emigration and net migration flows, provisional", Table 1 (by nationality), Year ending December 2025 edition: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/datasets/longterminternationalimmigrationemigrationandnetmigrationflowsprovisional. Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0. Palanor reads the newest edition every week with /api/cron/uk-visas-sync (ONS publishes in May and November) and stores ONS's figures unchanged.