Tens of thousands of Indian students and workers have left the UK over the past year, as stricter visa rules and tighter immigration controls take hold. According to 2024 figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Indian nationals formed the largest group to emigrate from the UK, marking a significant shift in the country’s migration patterns.
The ONS data reveals that approximately 37,000 Indians who came to the UK for education, 18,000 for work, and another 3,000 for other reasons left the country in the past year. In total, 58,000 Indian nationals emigrated, making them the most common nationality to leave the UK.
They were followed by Chinese nationals with 45,000 departures. Other notable emigration figures included Nigerians (16,000), Pakistanis (12,000), and Americans (8,000).
The report noted that “study-related emigration was the most common reason for the five most frequent non-EU nationalities to emigrate in YE December 2024.” It added that the rise in long-term emigration was “primarily being driven by the large numbers of Indian and Chinese nationals leaving.”
Overall, net migration to the UK fell by 431,000 in 2024, nearly halving compared to the previous year. Prime Minister Keir Starmer called it a “record fall” and a marked departure from the nearly 1 million net migration under the previous Conservative-led government.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper attributed the decline to a range of enforcement measures, including increased deportations, a crackdown on illegal working, and a reduction in asylum backlogs and hotel dependency.
Long-term immigration also declined to 948,000 in 2024, down from 1.33 million in 2023, while emigration rose 11 per cent, hitting 517,000, up from 466,000 the year before.