Number of foreigners given British citizenship rises by more than half

Published on Thursday 25 February 2010 21:45

THE number of foreigners given UK passports shot up by more than half last year, figures revealed yesterday.

A total of 203,865 people were granted British citizenship in 2009 – an increase of 58 per cent on 2008.

Tens of thousands more immigrants were also given the right to settle in the UK – the total was up 30 per cent to more than 190,000.

Of those, grants of settlement linked to jobs rose from 37,000 in 2007 to more than 60,000 in 2008 and 81,000 last year – despite the recession.

Quarterly immigration figures, published by the Office for National Statistics, also showed a 30 per cent increase in student visa numbers last year compared to 2008.

In the final three months of 2009, 61,715 student visas were issued – an astonishing rise of 92 per cent on the same period in 2008.

The figures prompted questions over the effectiveness of the new points-based system for student visas. They also revealed a shift in arrivals from Eastern European countries.

The number of Poles registering to work fell by a quarter at the end of last year, but arrivals from Latvia and Lithuania more than doubled.

Overall, newcomers from the eight former Soviet countries which joined the EU in 2004 have fallen by half since 2007.

Critics said the rises showed immigration was "running out of control" and questioned whether so many work visas should have been issued during the recession.

But ministers pointed to falls in asylum applications, which hit their lowest level since the early 1990s.

Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said: "Asylum applications for the last three months of 2009 were the lowest since the early 1990s.

"Net migration is down, and the new UK Border Agency is increasingly successful. Our border has never been stronger, as shown by the fall in the number of asylum applications.

"Our new flexible points-based system also gives us greater control over those coming to work or study from outside Europe, ensuring that only those that Britain need can come."

But shadow immigration minister Damian Green said: "These are the last immigration figures before a General Election and it is now clear that immigration has been running out of control throughout the lifetime of this Government.

"Even in a recession with more than two million unemployed the number of work visas issued is going up. So much for British jobs for British workers."

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "Public confidence and trust in the migration system has been shattered by decades of mismanagement.

"The abolition of exit checks means that we can only guess at the numbers coming in and out.

"People overstaying on short-term visas are probably the biggest source of illegal immigration. Exit checks must be reintroduced immediately."

MPs Frank Field and Nicholas Soames, who chair the cross-party Balanced Migration Group said: "Today's immigrations figures, the last before the general election, confirm that immigration remains a major problem for our society."