Portuguese immigration to the United Kingdom continues to fall

There are fewer and fewer Portuguese arriving in the UK, according to the Social Security numbers, which registered 26% fewer registrations from September 2017 to September 2018 than in the same period last year.

In the last 12 months, until September of this year, 18,494 Portuguese were registered, while between September 2016 and September 2017 there were 25,238 Portuguese, according to statistics published by the British Ministry of Labor and Pensions.

The Social Security number is a legal requirement to be able to work or receive some subsidies in the UK and is considered a benchmark for immigration, especially European because the freedom of movement exempts any type of visa or administrative act to establish residence.

On the other hand, it is also issued for seasonal or short-term workers, so holders can leave the country after a short stay or limited time.

This is the 12th consecutive quarter in which the number of new Portuguese subscriptions has decreased, which has reversed the growing trend since 2016, after at least five years of increases, especially in 2015, when there was more than 32 thousand Portuguese social security.

This trend is in line with the general decline in European immigration to the United Kingdom, which recorded 122,483 fewer European Social Security insurers from September 2017 to September 2018. This is a 22% reduction compared to the same period previous period.

On the contrary, there has been an increase in the number and immigrants from outside the European Union, mainly from India and Pakistan.

These data are confirmed by information from the British Statistics Institute (ONS), which found that 249,000 Europeans arrived in the UK in 12 months, until June 2018, but 145,000 came out, resulting in a migratory balance of 74,000, the lowest since 2012.

According to the ONS, the Portuguese is the seventh largest foreign community in the United Kingdom, estimated to total 217,000, although the Portuguese government estimates that it can be almost double, hovering around 400,000.

The largest foreign community is the Polish, with 985,000 people, followed by the Romanian (433,000), India (374,000), Ireland (337,000) and Italy (292,000).