Britain gives one migrant residency every minute

THE UK handed out more residence permits than any other country in the European Union last year – despite mounting concerns over mass migration.

Figures revealed that the UK allowed more than half-a-million people from outside the EU to live here, granting the equivalent of one permit a minute.

It means a quarter of the 2.3million permits issued in Europe were given out by Britain. The UK gave nearly 570,000 to non-EU nationals followed by Poland with 355,000, Germany with 238,000, and France with 218,000. Britain granted 177,000 study visas – making it the main destination in the EU for education – with another 116,700 coming for work and 96,500 for family reasons, according to the EU’s statistics arm Eurostat.

Ministers have increasingly come under fire for failing to get a grip on mass migration, which has increased strain on stretched public services.

In the year to March, 636,000 migrants arrived in Britain but only 306,000 left – meaning net migration soared to a record 330,000. It left Mr Cameron’s pledge to cut net migration to the tens of thousands in tatters.

Alp Mehmet, of Migration Watch UK, which campaigns for balanced migration, said: ‘The consequence is that people will need homes, their children will need school places, and there will be more demand on our public services.’

Residence permits allow a foreign national from outside the EU to stay legally. But as the UK does not have a residence permit system, Eurostat uses UK visas as the nearest equivalent – including work, study and family visas, but excluding visitors’ visas.

The Eurostat figures showed Britain issued the fifth highest level of visas by population – 8.8 per thousand people.

Home Office officials point out that visas do not indicate an individual’s wish to stay in Britain, only how long the specific permit is valid for. This covers those who intend to reside for a few weeks to those arrivals coming for several years.

A spokesman for the Home Office said: ‘The UK does not issue residence permits so these figures cannot be accurately compared, as Eurostat say themselves.’