Long-stay immigrants into the UK from Poland, India and China are outnumbered by Germans, South Africans, North Americans, people from the white Commonwealth and returning Britons.

Official figures show that of the top ten migrant countries in 2008, 137,000 were from the first group and 152,000 from the second group.

There is no debate in the media, among politicians and among the public concerning North Americans and the white Commonwealth.

The fact that they ‘take jobs’ in the UK does not feature as an issue among those who are most concerned about immigration.

The anti-immigration campaign group Migration Watch and UKIP create fear about immigration numbers and fail to point out that immigrants include people from Australia, US, New Zealand and others.

The figures are contained in the Office for National Statistics latest annual report on migration, Migration Statistics 2008,  http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm71/7197/7197.pdf

Of those intending to stay for a long period, the report states:
British, 77,000 (i.e. UK citizens returning to the UK)
Poland, 54,000
India, 48,000
China, 18,000
Germany, 18,000
Pakistan, 17,000
USA, 15,000
South Africa, Australia, Italy, 14,000

The report suggests that many of the Indian, Chinese and perhaps Pakistani long-stay migrants are students. It states: ‘More than half of all migrants arriving in the UK for formal study were citizens of an Asian country. Of the 91,000 Asian migrants arriving in the UK in 2008 to study, 22 per cent were Indian citizens and 17 per cent were Chinese citizens.’

The number of asylum seekers have been falling. Official figures excluding dependants, states that asylum applications received in 2006 was 23,610, 8 per cent less than in 2005.

In terms of all visitors and migrants into the UK, the report states: ‘Citizens of the United States of America (USA) comprised 32 per cent of total non-EEA admissions, the nationality with by far the most admissions, representing an increase of 6 per cent to 4.1 million in 2006. The next three nationalities with the highest numbers of admissions were Australia (up 8 per cent to 1.1 million), Canada (up 11 per cent to 1.0 million) and India (up 23 per cent to 0.8 million).’

It is likely that most illegal immigrants are from North America and white Commonwealth countries.

According to the Institute for Public Policy Research, few people sneak into the country undetected so most illegal immigrants are overstayers, or people who stay in the UK beyond their entitlement.

There are few figures concerning overstayers by country. When Australia checked their overstayers in 2005, they found the top countries were the US and Britain.