Net migration to the United Kingdom has fallen by roughly two-thirds in a year, returning close to post-Brexit levels after a series of immigration clampdowns by both Conservative and Labour governments.

Provisional estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show long-term net migration at 204,000 in the year to June 2025, down from 649,000 a year earlier. Total immigration fell to 898,000 from 1.3 million, while emigration rose to 693,000 from 650,000.

The sharp drop comes despite immigration remaining one of the public’s biggest concerns and amid intense political pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, which is campaigning on a hard line against migration and is currently reported to hold a double‑digit national polling lead.

The ONS said the fall is being driven mainly by fewer non‑EU nationals coming to work or study, particularly family members accompanying them, combined with a gradual increase in people leaving the country. Net migration by non‑EU nationals remained strongly positive at 383,000, but this was offset by net outflows of 70,000 EU citizens and 109,000 British nationals, with more of both groups leaving than arriving.

Revised ONS figures published earlier this month show UK net migration peaking at an estimated 944,000 in the year to March 2023, higher and slightly earlier than previously thought. Since then, the trend has reversed sharply, with net migration for the year to December 2024 revised down to 345,000. Overall net migration for 2021–24 is now judged to have been about 97,000 lower than earlier estimates, largely because of improved measurement of British emigration.

Officials attribute much of the recent fall to a collapse in the number of dependants joining migrant workers and students. Non‑EU immigration is estimated to be down by 394,000 compared with the year to June 2024, with the number of work and study dependants dropping from a peak of about 374,000 in 2023 to 98,000 in the latest figures.

Those movements reflect successive rounds of tighter rules. Under the previous Conservative government, most international students were banned from bringing dependants from January 2024, and care workers were barred from doing so from the spring of that year. Salary thresholds for skilled workers were raised and discounts for shortage roles scaled back, while income requirements for family visas were set to rise in stages.

Since winning a landslide election in July 2024, Labour has gone further. Starmer’s administration has announced an “earned settlement” system that makes 10 years the standard route to permanent status and citizenship, with shorter routes for highly paid and priority workers and significantly longer waits for many low‑paid or irregular migrants. In July this year, the main visa route for new overseas care and senior care workers closed to fresh applicants, with transitional arrangements running to 2028.

Earlier this month, new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood set out wide‑ranging asylum reforms in Parliament, including plans to grant most refugees only temporary status and to accelerate removals of people judged not to need protection. She said Britain would “always offer sanctuary to those fleeing danger” but argued the public also expects firm control of borders.

The government is presenting the latest figures as evidence that it is delivering on its pledge to cut migration. Starmer has repeatedly said he would “restore control and cut migration”, distancing Labour from the record highs seen in the early 2020s. Ministers argue the drop from the 2023 peak of 944,000 to 204,000 shows that recent reforms are working.

Opposition Conservatives counter that the turning point came under their watch, citing the late‑2023 and early‑2024 rule changes on students, care workers and family visas. Some senior figures accuse Labour of taking credit for a fall they say was largely baked in before last year’s election.

On the right, Farage and Reform UK say net migration of 204,000 is still far above levels common before 2010 and have called for much stricter numerical caps. The latest ONS release notes that, even at this reduced level, net migration remains positive and continues to add to the UK population.

Businesses, universities and public‑service employers warn that the rapid tightening could deepen labour shortages, particularly in social care, health, agriculture and hospitality, and damage the finances of universities reliant on overseas students. Unions, charities and some Labour MPs have attacked the new settlement and asylum plans as excessively harsh, arguing that lengthy waits for permanent status and restricted access to benefits and housing risk creating a “second‑class” tier of long‑term residents.

While legal migration is falling quickly, pressures in the asylum system remain high. Home Office figures for the year to September 2025 show around 51,000 people arriving irregularly, mostly in small boats across the Channel, and roughly 110,000 asylum applications over the same period. More than 111,000 asylum seekers were in government accommodation in September, including over 36,000 in hotels.

Analysis by the think tank British Future suggests public concern is focused on these visible routes rather than on students or skilled workers, and that many voters still believe overall migration is rising. The group has found that those most in favour of lower migration are also the least aware that net numbers have already fallen.

The ONS stressed that the latest migration estimates are provisional and may be revised as more data become available. Economists and demographers say the key questions now are whether the lower levels can be sustained and what the impact will be on growth, public services and an ageing population.