Northern Europe · data through 2024
The United Kingdom is both a major destination, especially for study, care, and health work, and the origin of a large population living abroad.
Twenty five year view
These lines show migrant stock, meaning people living outside their birth country at each point in time. They do not show annual arrivals.
Why people move
Since 2021 the points based system has reshaped who arrives, with sharp growth in health and care visas and in students from South Asia and Africa, and a decline in movement from the European Union. British nationals abroad remain numerous in Australia, Spain, and North America.
Connections
Common destinations
Australia, Spain, United States, Canada, Ireland, France
Common origins
India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Zimbabwe
Adapting and finding support
Care visas tie workers to sponsors, which weakens bargaining power. Fees and the immigration health surcharge create a heavy upfront cost for families.
Regulated immigration advice only, and sector specific unions for care and health workers.
Use the support guideResearch that explains this pattern
Psychology
Repeated discrimination, vigilance, and the expectation of rejection accumulate into a chronic health burden.
Health outcomes worsen with time in a hostile setting, even as income and language improve.
Ilan Meyer, minority stress model, extended to immigrant populations
Psychology
Children of immigrants do not follow one path. Outcomes depend on the parents' resources, the strength of the community, and the reception they meet.
The same family can produce very different outcomes across cities and school systems.
Alejandro Portes and Rubén Rumbaut, segmented assimilation
Psychology
The strain of language, status loss, discrimination, and unfamiliar systems produces a measurable load on health, distinct from the trauma of any journey.
Distress often peaks one to three years after arrival, not on the first day.
John W. Berry and colleagues; later clinical work on migrant mental health
Support inside and beyond United Kingdom
Advice and support for people seeking asylum and survivors of trafficking.
People seeking asylum and trafficking survivors
OpenFree advice on work, housing, benefits, and debt.
Anyone living in the United Kingdom
OpenCountry by country guidance for refugees, people seeking asylum, and stateless people.
Refugees and people seeking asylum
OpenThese are public organisations. The project is not affiliated with them and cannot guarantee outcomes. Nothing here is legal advice or an emergency service.
Figures are rounded published estimates. Causes and adaptation differ within every country and should not be read as a verdict about any person.