RECENT IMMIGRATION INTO BRITAIN
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Recent immigration into Britain
Migrants come to the UK for many different reasons: to work, marry, join family members, study, broaden their horizons and experience new cultures, and seek asylum. Compared with other European countries, the UK has a wide variety of types of migration (see Figure 1.1). In part this may be because certain channels of entry such as official labour migration are closed or severely restricted in other countries. France, for example, receives far fewer labour migrants; its immigration is heavily weighted towards family migration. A similar pattern prevails in Sweden. The UK’s pattern of immigration, especially since the introduction of managed migration and opening up of labour migration, has come to resemble a number of traditional settler societies, such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand, which receive large numbers of skilled-labour migrants, accompanying family members and family dependants of established migrants. The UK also receives large numbers of students, some of whom prolong their stay beyond their studies. Figure 1.1 International migration by category of entry, selected OECD countries, 2005, standardised data Percentage of total inflows United Kingdom Switzerland Denmark Portugal Belgium Italy Australia Germany Austria New Zealand Norway Sweden Japan Netherlands Canada France United States 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
Work (%) Family (%) Other (%)
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Accompanying family of workers (%) Humanitarian (%)
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2007, p 37.
Each of these types of flows exhibits different patterns of nationalities and gives rise to different gender ratios. Labour migrations, especially skilled flows, tend to have 1