London, United Kingdom. Interest in immigration to the UK after its Brexit decision seems to be way down for persons in other EU countries, but those Britons looking for new neighbors from elsewhere need only look east as Ukrainians are looking to fill the gap.
The figures are the latest indication that the government’s hardline position on EU immigration is making the UK less attractive as a destination for migrants, with Theresa May pledging to cut immigration below 100,000 by 2020.
The number of EU nationals looking to move to the UK has fallen sharply in the year since the EU referendum, according to analysis of web traffic to national immigration based web sites.
During the run-up the referendum in June last year, the number of EU nationals looking to move to the UK was up by 15.5%, but in the same period following the referendum that dropped to a growth rate of just 3.15%, with the number looking to move from Eastern European countries falling, except in corruption plagued-war torn Ukraine. Oddly, here residents interested in moving to the UK was up 28.2%.
In the period of July 2016 to May 2017, the number of Slovakians making enquiries on the website fell by 8% and the number of Poles fell by 5.4%. Numbers also fell in Hungary (-3.18%), Romania (-2.78%), Estonia (-2.71%).
There were some countries bucked the trend and recorded a rapid growth in the number of people considering moving to the UK. Ukrainians seemed to be most keen on relocating to the UK with an interest rate up 28.2%, attributed to new lax visa policies granted by Brussels to the Ukrainians.
The number of people making enquiries from Croatia, which has only had the benefit of free movement since 2013 also increased by 17.53%. The number from Greece increased by 17.53% as its financial crisis rumbles on and forces Greeks to look elsewhere for work.