The number of registrations increased
On Thursday, the UK Home Office said that by the end of December, 131,120 Hungarians had registered for a permanent residence permit after Brexit in the UK. This means that within three months, 18,790 people indicated that they would remain in the island nation even after they left, the latest example of a higher quarterly number a year ago, at the end of 2019.
According to details from British authorities, 117,510 people within the archipelago have applied for a residence permit in England, 7,690 in Scotland, 2,410 in Wales and 2,340 in Northern Ireland to stay after Brexit.
We also learn from the statistics that more than 14,000 Hungarians under the age of 18 can remain in the country, and that 1,210 are over the age of 65, but most of them are in the 18-64 age group.
As per the current situation, people living in the UK who arrived in the country before January 2020 still have half a year to register, and after a simple registration, they will almost automatically obtain a permanent residence permit. So given the current trend, the above figure of over 130,000 will definitely increase by the end of June,
The final figure could be as high as 200,000, as the portfolio has so far predicted.
Moreover, it is not possible to be certain that the registration period will end in June, and there was news in the press that the British government was studying the possibility of an extension. A few weeks about this Paul Fox, the UK ambassador to Budapest, told Portfolio in an interviewThere are no plans to extend the deadline yet.
How many Hungarians live in the UK now?
The data update also means that the uncertainty about the number of Hungarians living in the island nation has increased. The latest official statistics from the British Statistical Office (ONS) last summer indicate that the number of Hungarians reached 108,000.
This has already been exceeded by more than 20% of the number of registrations.
In other words, the December data is further evidence that more Hungarians may have migrated to the UK than previously expected. A few years ago, the portfolio estimated that number at 250,000, and now we think that Brexit and the epidemic situation may have brought some change, but the real number may still be around 200,000, that is.
Up to twice the official figure.
It is not only among the Hungarians that there is such a difference between official statistics and registrations, in the case of Romanians and Bulgarians, it has actually applied twice to stay in the country according to the Office for National Statistics. Today, there are no countries in the region where this rate falls below 100%.
At the moment, the long-term effects of the current crisis are invisible, we previously expected that due to economic difficulties, some migration may begin, partly due to the fact that a large part of Hungarians work in the field of hospitality and tourism, which is most affected by the epidemic. However, the trend of recording
He indicates that even after the possible return of emigration, a large number of Hungarians remain in Britain.
Cover photo: Getty Images
