Net migration to Britain rose by 21 percent last year, with 239,000 more people arriving in the country than leaving, according to official statistics published on Thursday. In 2009, the figure for net migration was 198,000. The increase last year was largely caused by a fall in the number of people leaving the country as jobs abroad were harder to find in the uncertain economic climate.
The total leaving Britain for work reasons was at its lowest for three years at 179,000. The Office for National Statistics said long-term immigration in 2010 was 575,000, a slight increase from 567,000 a year earlier. However the estimated long-term emigration figure dropped from 371,000 in 2009 to 336,000, its lowest level for six years.
Most new entrants to Britain came to study and three-quarters of the 228,000 immigrant students last year were from countries outside the European Union. Net migration from the eight countries who joined the EU in 2004, known as the A8 - Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - rose almost eight-fold last year to 39,000 from 5,000 in 2009. One of the government's key new measures is to cap the number of skilled workers from outside the European Economic Area who are allowed into Britain each year.
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