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Foreign worker numbers decreasing Rise in foreign born UK residents
(about 1 hour later)
There was a 7% fall in the number of National Insurance numbers issued to foreign nationals in the year to September 2008, figures show. The number of people born overseas and resident in the UK rose to 6.5 million in the year to June 2008, says the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The statistics show 720,000 NI numbers were issued to foreign nationals, compared with 776,000 in the same period the previous year. That figure was an increase of 290,000 on the 12 months to June 2007.
There was also a 3% drop in asylum applications in the fourth quarter of 2008, separate figures show. Some 720,000 National Insurance numbers were issued to foreign nationals in the year to September 2008, new official figures also show.
The number of asylum seekers granted settlement continued to fall. That is 7% down on the previous year - with a 21% fall for people from east Europe and other new EU states.
Asylum removals
The Annual Population Survey showed 4.1 million foreign nationals resident in the UK in the year to June 2008, compared with 3.8 million in the year to June 2007.
But the number of short-term migrants entering England and Wales for employment or study purposes for stays of between one and 12 months fell to 374,000 in the year to mid-2007, a 13% decrease from the mid-2006 estimate.
Asylum applications were 10% higher in 2008 at 25,670 but there was a 5% increase in removals and voluntary departures compared to 2007, with 66,275 leaving the UK that way.
But the figures show a 2% reduction in applications in the fourth quarter of 2008.
The number of people granted settlement rights in the United Kingdom, excluding EU nationals, was 145,965, an increase of 17% on the previous year.
This was largely down to an increase in the number of people granted settlement because of their job, which returned to 2005 levels.
Points-based systemPoints-based system
On Sunday Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she was "raising the bar" for non-EU workers seeking skilled jobs.On Sunday Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she was "raising the bar" for non-EU workers seeking skilled jobs.
Immigrants should not be able to take them unless they had been advertised to British workers first, she told the BBC.Immigrants should not be able to take them unless they had been advertised to British workers first, she told the BBC.
Non-EU workers have to go through a points-based system to seek work but most EU citizens face no restrictions.Non-EU workers have to go through a points-based system to seek work but most EU citizens face no restrictions.
Ms Smith told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show that it was right the government made sure that the points-based system was "responding to the current economic circumstances".Ms Smith told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show that it was right the government made sure that the points-based system was "responding to the current economic circumstances".
"I'm proposing, for example, that it shouldn't be possible for somebody to come into this country to take a skilled job unless that job has been advertised to a British worker through Jobcentre Plus.""I'm proposing, for example, that it shouldn't be possible for somebody to come into this country to take a skilled job unless that job has been advertised to a British worker through Jobcentre Plus."
From April, non-EU workers wanting to come to Britain without securing a job beforehand must have a master's degree - rather than a bachelor's degree, as currently - and a previous salary equivalent to at least £20,000.From April, non-EU workers wanting to come to Britain without securing a job beforehand must have a master's degree - rather than a bachelor's degree, as currently - and a previous salary equivalent to at least £20,000.
The Conservatives say the government is only tinkering at the edges of the problem and say a cap on immigrants from outside the EU is needed.The Conservatives say the government is only tinkering at the edges of the problem and say a cap on immigrants from outside the EU is needed.