Non-European Migration to the UK: Family Unification & Dependents

This briefing examines data on non-European migration to the UK of people whose basis for entry to the UK is through ties to a family member. Family migration includes what we identify as “family unification” migration (those coming to join family members already living in Britain as citizens or settled residents) and “dependents” who accompany or join a migrant with only temporary leave to remain in the UK.

Key Points

Non-EU Family migration has increased since the 1990s, but has increased less rapidly than migration in other categories.
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Asia remains the most common region of origin for non-EEA family migrants to the UK, but by a decreasing margin.
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A majority of non-EEA family unification migrants are women.
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At least 88% of non-EEA migrants with permission to enter the UK as spouses or fiancé(e)s are spouses (i.e. already married before they arrive).
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Tier 1 and Tier 2 migrants bring the most dependents, per capita.
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Understanding the evidence

Alongside work, study, and asylum, family migration is one of the four main categories of non-European migration to the UK. Yet there is no single clear way to measure it. Estimates of family migration vary not only across different data sources, but also across different definitions of family migration.

In the most expansive definition, family migration includes anyone coming to the UK for the stated purpose of joining or accompanying a family member. Data from the Office of National Statistics, including the International Passenger Survey and LTIM (Long-Term International Migration) estimates, are based on this broad definition.

In data based on non-EEA passengers entering the UK or entry clearance visas issued to non-EEA nationals, finer distinctions can be made among different sets of family migrants.

First, some migrants gain entry to the UK because they are the family member of a British citizen, or of a non-EEA national with indefinite leave to remain in the UK (i.e. a “settled” migrant). These may be designated as “family unification” (or “family formation and reunification”) migrants.

Second, other migrants, called “dependents,” gain entry to the UK as family members of persons who are themselves migrants to the UK with limited (temporary) leave to remain.

Third, some non-EEA migrants enter the UK as family members (almost always spouses or partners) of EEA nationals. Such individuals may obtain EEA family permits, but are not required to do so, and they may or may not be EEA nationals themselves. Thus this briefing does not generally include EEA family permits in counts of non-EU family migration.

Different data sources show different levels of family migration. Some reasons for these discrepancies are well-known. For example, IPS data are limited to arrivals planning to stay in the UK for a minimum of one year, but passenger entry data and visa data are not. On the other hand, IPS data are from a sample survey that is subject to a margin of error. Also, the IPS classifies family migrants based on migrants’ own self-reports, rather than the basis of their legal right to enter the UK. (For more on different among data sources, see our Report: Top Ten Problems in the Evidence Base for Public Debate and Policy-Making on Immigration in the UK.)

This briefing focuses on non-EU or non-EEA migrants. The IPS includes migrants of all nationalities. Most Home Office data gathered through control of immigration include only non-EEA/Swiss nationals.

Non-EU family migration is increasing less than other categories

According to IPS estimates, non-EU family migration to the UK has increased from an average of 35,000 per year in the 1990s to 56,000 in 2010, or 17% of all non-EU immigration that year. These estimates include both dependents and family unification migrants. Family migration, like overall migration to the UK, increased from 1997 to the mid-2000s, peaking at 74,000 in 2004 and 2006 (see figure 1). Also similar to other categories of migration, family migration declined later in the decade of the 2000s. But these shifts in family migration were smaller in magnitude than similar shifts in migration for work or study. As a result of these trends, family migration comprises a smaller share of overall migration now than it did in the 1990s (see our briefing on Immigration by Category: Workers, Students, Family Members, Asylum Applicants). Although this briefing focuses on non-EU migration, it is worth noting that, including EU nationals, family migration is now at similar levels to the 1990s. LTIM estimates of family migration were 90,000 in 1991 and averaged 75,000 during the 1990s. LTIM estimates had increased to 105,000 by 2006 but fell to 80,000 in 2010.

Figure 1

Similar to IPS data, Home Office data on passenger entries and visas issued also show a rise in non-EEA family migration through 2006, followed by a fall until 2009 and a rise again in 2010. In figure 1, administrative data include all those who entered the UK as a dependent accompanying another migrant, as well as those entering in their own right for the purpose of family unification (i.e. to join a spouse, fiancé(e), or civil partner already residing in the UK as a citizen or migrant with indefinite leave to remain). (This treatment of the data makes the administrative data most comparable to IPS data, which does not distinguish dependents from family unification migrants.) Home Office data show much larger numbers than IPS estimates. The reasons for this discrepancy are not fully known, but we might expect that administrative data are inflated by the inclusion of short-term migrants, as well as people who were issued visas but do not actually make the trip to the UK.

Dependents outnumber family unification migrants, though both have increased

Entry and visa data also show decreases in family migration from 2006 to 2009 with increases again in 2010. These increases result party from more family unifications, and partly from increasing numbers of dependents, in keeping with increased migration for work and study. Figure 2 shows that passenger entries of those admitted as spouses, partners, or children have increased from 22,230 in 1990 to 53,270 in 2006, declined through 2009, and climbed back to 37,300 by 2010. Meanwhile, dependents of work permit holders (including, since 2008, labour migrants in the Points-Based System) increased from 13,430 in 1990 to a peak of 48,515 in 2006 before falling to 35,400 in 2010. Passenger entry data on student dependents increase from 13,400 in 2000 (first year of data availability) to 23,300 in 2010. The number of asylum seekers’ dependents, unlike the other groups, decreased between 1990 and 2010, falling to 3800 from a peak of 14,300 in 2001.

Figure 2

Asia most common region of origin

Passenger entry data, compiled from samples of landing cards submitted at ports of entry, provide further information on the components of family and dependent migration.

First, by nationality: where do family migrants and dependents come from? Among the regions used in Home Office classifications, Asia is the source of more family migrants and dependents than any other area, as shown in figure 3. In 2010, according to passenger entry data, 59,350 family migrants and dependents were from Asia (classified by nationality rather than country of birth), or 37% of the total. This included 37,300 people admitted as dependents of migrants and 21,850 admitted as spouses, partners, and children of British citizens or migrants previously granted settlement. The latter figure includes 20,200 conventional family route migrants and 1650 husbands, wives, or children granted settlement on arrival.

Figure 3

Asia has been the most common region of origin for family migrants since at least 2004, as shown in figure 4 (which excludes dependents and migrants granted settlement on arrival). Family route migration from Asia has dropped from 30,300 in 2007 to 20,200 in 2010, which is below 2004 levels. Other regions have changed less over this time period.

Figure 4

Note: years prior to 2004 were covered in a previous Migration Observatory chart that uses a regional categorisation scheme no longer used by the Home Office.

Women outnumber men, spouses outnumber fiancé(e)s, adults outnumber children

Examining family migration by relationship type, again using passenger entry data, reveals several key points. First, as can be seen from figure 5, women outnumber men among family migrants, in contrast with labour migrants and student migrants. There are more wives than husbands entering the UK for family unification, and more female fiancées than male fiancés. Women comprised 68% of migrants admitted as spouses or fiancé(e)s in 2010, and at least 60% in every year since 1997. Among marital partners,, 89% of 2010 arrivals were spouses compared to 11% fiancé(e)s. The percentage who were spouses remained between 87% and 92% in each year since 1997.)

In addition, children comprise an increasing share of family unification migration, increasing from 7% (1,890 children) in 1997 to 17% (6,170) in 2010. Migrants entering as civil partners, unmarried partners, and proposed civil partners increased to 3,100 (8% of family unification migration) in 2010, from just 90 people in 2004 when this category first appeared.

Unfortunately, passenger entry data do not clearly distinguish people admitted as parents, grandparents, and other relatives of UK citizens or residents. Such relatives are tracked in data on grants of settlement. They comprised about 6% proportion of family and dependent settlement grants in 2010, as shown in Figure 6 of our briefing on Settlement in the UK. A Home Office (2011) Occasional Paper also disaggregated family migrant visas granted in 2010, showing that 2,665 visas were granted to adult and elderly dependents, or 5% of family route visas. Passenger entry data also do not show how many spouses or fiancé(e)s are (to be) married to British citizens, as opposed to migrants with indefinite leave to remain in the UK. Again, this information is available for grants of settlement since 2006, and shows at least 88% of such settlement grants in 2010 went to migrants who married British citizens. Data do not show how many of those British citizens were foreign-born themselves. The Home Office (2011) has analysed a selection of 531 records of migration through marriage in 2009 among nine countries, but these findings are suggestive at best: samples are small for each country and there is no indication that the sample was randomly selected.

Figure 5

The composition of family unification migration varies with migrants’ nationality, as shown in figure 6 (gender proportions) and Figure 7 (proportion of marital partner migrants who arrive in the UK as already-married spouses). The percentage of arriving spouses and partners who are female is highest among Middle Eastern and Asian nationals, and lowest among nationals of countries in Oceania and Africa.

Figure 6

Note: Years prior to 2004 covered in a previous Migration Observatory chart which uses a regional categorisation scheme no longer used by the Home Office.

Migrants from different regions also show differences in the ratio of spouses to fiancé(e)s – or, in other words, the share of marriage-related migrants who are already married when migrating to the UK, compared with those coming to the UK to get married. Comparing regions of origin, the share of already-married partners has consistently been highest for migrants from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, at more than 90% for each region in 2010. The lowest percentages of spouses, meanwhile, are found among migrants from Oceania (74% spouses) and the Americas (77%).

Figure 7

Note: Years prior to 2004 covered in a previous Migration Observatory chart which uses a regional categorisation scheme no longer used by the Home Office.

Tiers 1 and 2 migrant bring most dependents, per capita

Shifting from family unification migrants to dependents, available data show the number of dependents attached to each main category of migration (work, study, family, and asylum), and to each subcategory with the Tiers of the PBS. These data show which sorts of migrants more often bring family members with them, often expressed as a ratio of dependents to main applicants.

As seen in Figure 8, Tier 1 and Tier 2 work migrants bring more dependents per main applicant with them than any other group. For every 10 visas to main applicants in 2010, there were 10.6 dependent visas in Tier 1 and 7.1 dependent visas in Tier 2. Ratios were lower in other categories: 1.3 dependents per 10 students, 0.3 per 10 Tier 5 temporary workers, and 3.3 per 10 adult family migrants.

Figure 8

Note: Family visa category excludes EEA family permits which come with virtually no dependents

High likelihood of settling

Family and dependents comprise a larger share of settlements than of initial in-flows of migrants to the UK. A Home Office study found that 55% of family migrants entering the UK in 2004 had been granted settlement by the end of 2009, while 37% no longer had valid leave to remain in the UK (Achato et al 2010).

Dependents are less likely to settle than family unification migrants, since their stay in the UK depends on the length of stay of the “main” migrant in their family. Among main applicants, rates of settlement are lower in the work and study routes than in the family route, which should apply to dependents in those paths as well, since their ability to settle depends on the main applicant in the family being granted settlement.

Additional details, including the only available data on parents, grandparents, and other family members, can be found in our briefing on Settlement in the UK.

Gaps and limitations

Data on family migration are relatively plentiful now, but several gaps and limitations remain. First, there is no single clear way to count family migration. Some analyses include dependents with family unification migrants, while others do not (e.g. Achato et al 2010). Indeed, IPS data do not allow for any distinction between dependents and family unification migrants.

In addition, when using visa data, it is not clear whether there is a satisfactory way to include non-EEA family members of EEA nationals. EEA family permits are not required, and so may undercount, but also may be issued to family members who are themselves EEA nationals, and thus may overcount non-EEA migration.

References

Achato, Lorrah, Mike Eaton, and Chris Jones. “The Migrant Journey.” Research Report 43, Home Office, London,
2010.
Home Office. "Family Migration: evidence and analysis, 2nd ed." Occasional Paper 94, Home Office, London, 2011.