In 2024, a large number of Indian nationals left the United Kingdom. According to official data, about 58,000 Indians moved out of the country last year. This is the highest number of people leaving the UK from any single nationality. Most of these people had come to the UK for education or work.
Out of the 58,000 Indians, around 37,000 had come to study. Another 18,000 had jobs in the UK. About 3,000 more left for other personal or family reasons. The numbers show a big change in the UK’s migration pattern.
The UK government has made its visa rules much stricter. This has made it harder for people from other countries to stay, especially after finishing their studies or jobs. Many Indian students, after completing their education, are now finding it difficult to stay longer or get work permits. This has caused a wave of people packing their bags and heading back home or to other countries.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the recent drop in migration as a “record fall,” pointing to the difference from the nearly 1 million net migration figures seen under the earlier government.
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Other Nationalities Also Affected
While Indians were the largest group to leave, they were not the only ones. People from China were the second-biggest group, with around 45,000 leaving the UK in the same year. Many of them also came for study purposes.
Other nationalities also showed high numbers of departures. About 16,000 Nigerians, 12,000 Pakistanis, and 8,000 Americans also left the country. The main reason behind these moves was also related to studies, jobs, and changing immigration rules.
The official report clearly said that the most common reason people left was “study-related emigration.” This means that many students from outside Europe came to study, finished their courses, and then had to go back because they could not stay longer. For most people, staying on after studies has become very hard because of the new rules.
The rise in people leaving was especially driven by Indians and Chinese nationals. These two groups made up the largest share of students in the UK, and now they are also the largest groups to leave.
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Migration Numbers Drop Sharply
The overall effect of these changes has been a big drop in the number of people coming to live in the UK. Net migration, which is the difference between the number of people coming in and those going out, fell by 431,000 in 2024. This is nearly half of what it was the year before.
In 2023, net migration was close to 1 million. But by the end of 2024, it had dropped to just around 569,000. This is the biggest drop ever recorded in a single year.
The total number of people moving into the UK in 2024 was 948,000. This is lower than the 1.33 million who came in 2023. At the same time, the number of people leaving the country rose. In 2023, about 466,000 people emigrated. In 2024, that number went up to 517,000, an 11% increase.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the drop in net migration was due to strong government actions. These included more deportations, tighter rules on illegal work, and clearing a large number of asylum cases so fewer people needed to stay in hotels.
These new rules and actions are clearly having an effect. But for many people, especially students and workers from countries like India and China, it has meant the end of their time in the UK. Thousands are now leaving because staying has simply become too difficult.