The British Home Office released a report this week on how many people came to the country between October 2023 and September 2024. It came at about the same time that the Office of National Statistics (ONS) published revised figures on so-called net migration – the number of people who entered the country minus the number who left.

According to the ONS, net migration fell in the twelve months to June 2024, but far more attention has been given to a rise the previous year to a record 900,000.

The prime minister, Keir Starmer, has accused the former Conservative government of allowing so many people to come to the UK, without saying which immigrants are not welcome or why.

The data from the Home Office shed light on much more than simply overall net migration. Here are some of the key statistics from October 1, 2023–September 30, 2024.

Read Also'Real migrant smugglers don't board the boats'

• Short-term visitors and workers

There were 58.9 million non-British arrivals to the UK. Most were tourists and others visiting for a short time. The next biggest group came to work. There were more than 450,000 work visas issued. Of these the number of health and care-worker visas granted saw a sharp drop (-65%) relative to the previous year.

After work visas, there were about 440,000 study visas granted to foreign students, mostly for masters level courses.

• Family visas and humanitarian programs

After work and study, the main visa category was for family members. There were nearly 87,000 visas granted to immediate family members. The figure includes the spouses or partners and minor children who were able to join those granted refugee status under so-called Family Reunion. That number went up, especially among Syrians and Iranians.

Next was humanitarian routes. About 89,000 people were able to come to or remain in the UK to receive humanitarian protection. These routes were mainly for people from Ukraine, Hong Kong and Afghanistan.

• Irregular arrivals the smallest group

The smallest group, but the one which has attracted by far the most attention, were "detected irregular arrivals."

In the year to September 2024, nearly 37,000 people entered the UK irregularly. More than 80 percent of these arrived by boat across the Channel. However, the number of arrivals across the Channel actually fell by about 20 percent relative to the previous year.

The largest group of so-called small boat arrivals were Afghans, followed by nationals of Iran, Syria, Vietnam and Eritrea. Many more Vietnamese started crossing the Channel in January this year, pushing them up to second place behind Afghans for that period. In April this year the UK signed a migration agreement with Vietnam to tackle the issue.

Almost 100 percent of those who arrive across the Channel to the UK claim asylum, but in the year to September 2024, these made up less than a third of total asylum applicants. Others had entered in lorries or shipping containers, via the Irish border, or with fraudulent documents.

Read AlsoChannel crossings: Why Britain cannot simply send back migrants