Today, it has been reported  by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) that approximately 30% of  migrants traveled to Germany under the free movement rules compared to 7% who traveled to the UK. This news comes just after MP David Cameron delivered a speech in which he announced a number of reforms to the Immigration Rules in hope of limiting the number of migrants coming to the UK.
David Cameron to Toughen Immigration System
In 28 November 2014, Mr Cameron announced his ambitious plan to reduce the number of migrants coming to the UK. This included making EU migrants wait 4 years before being able to receive welfare or access to council houses. Mr Cameron also stated that he wanted to ban EU migrants who come to the UK to work from claiming jobseekers allowance and make them subject to deportation if they have not found work within 6 months of arriving in the UK.
“We will continue with our welfare and education reforms making sure that it always pays to work, training more British workers right across the country, but especially in local areas that are heavily reliant on migrant labour and supporting those communities with a new fund to help meet the additional demands on local services.”
The Prime Minister aims to put the toughest system on welfare for EU migrants. This is in order to avoid an influx of EU migrants coming to the UK to abuse the UK’s economy. Furthermore, Mr Cameron has said that new member states shouldn’t be given the same freedom of movement rights until their GDP reaches a certain level. Countries such as Albania, Turkey and Bosnia-Herzegovina are all currently attempting to join the EU.
OECD Immigration Statistics on EU Free Movement
Despite Mr Cameron’s plans to reduce EU migration in the UK according to research gathered by the OECD, in 2012 30% of migrants within the EU traveled to Germany compared to 7% of EU free mobility migrants that traveled to the UK. The research also found:
- In 2013, the number of foreign nationals living in the UK rose to 4.9% or 7.9% of the total UK population.
- The ten Eastern European countries that joined the EU in 2004 and so on makes up 25.8% of  all migrants residing in the UK. The majority of this percentage are Polish nationals.
- Despite an increase of migration in the UK being close to 2%, the research has found that migrants settling in the UK permanently remains 15% below pre-crisis levels 2007.
- Migrants moving to the UK to work has fallen by 1%.
- In 2012, 4.5 million University students enrolled outside their country of residence with 12% of these students enrolled in the UK.
- 46% of migrants in the UK are considered to be highly educated in comparison to 33% of UK born natives.
The annual International Migration Outlook has suggested an increase in free movement migration to the UK this year. However, Germany still continues to be the main destination of free movement mobility within the 28 country bloc.
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