UK immigration drops as migrants return home
September 08 2009 by Rebekah Nahai
UK immigration drops as migrants leave
A large number of migrants who moved to the UK for economic reasons are now returning home, a report has revealed.
The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) study found that 1.3m Eastern Europeans made the move to the UK up through 2008 following the expansion of the EU.
But the economic recession had led to about half of them returning home.
The report suggests that the exodus can be attributed to a weakened pound, fewer UK jobs, and a reasonable level of economic growth in Poland, a major source of immigrants from Eastern Europe.
The UK immigration pattern from Eastern Europe appears to be cyclical, the report says, with migrants coming and going. This opposes the popular belief that migrants who move to the country intend to settle permanently.
Many migrants who relocate for economic reasons work in the host country to capitalise on higher wages and a positive currency exchange.
Workers often send money or ‘remittances’ to family in their home countries. The MPI study found that the remittances are decreasing along with migration.
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