Migration Statistics (Hansard, 27 April 2004)

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from the National Statistician, Len Cook, to the Earl Russell, dated 27 April 2004.

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question concerning how British subjects leaving a foreign domicile and resuming a British domicile are classified in the annual statistics of net migration. (HL2459)

The Office for National Statistics estimates the number of British citizens entering the United Kingdom using data from the International Passenger Survey and the Irish Central Statistical Office. They are identified from the nationality shown on their passport.

A migrant is defined as someone who changes his or her country of usual residence for a period of at least a year, so that the country of destination effectively becomes the country of usual residence. Thus, only British citizens returning to the UK with the intention of staying for a year or more, having spent over a year living abroad, will be included in the annual statistics of net international migration.