Increase in Irish immigrants moving to Canada, UK, US, and Australia

Support migrant centric journalism today and donate

New figures show the number of Irish people moving to the UK, Canada, New Zealand, the US and Australia has increased over the last year. The bad economy and job market are to blame for the increase in immigration.

The figures show a 56 percent increase in the number of UK national insurance numbers issued to Irish people over the last year. The number of temporary Irish residents in Australia has increased by almost one-third. Additionally, the number of Canadian visas issued to Irish citizens in the first half of this 2011 exceeded the total for all of 2010. And in the second half of 2011, Irish workers were arriving in New Zealand at an average rate of more than 400 per month.

The Central Statistics Office revealed that 76,400 people were immigrating to other countries from Ireland in the year to the end of April 2011, an increase of 16.9 percent. The UK and Australia remain the most popular countries for Irish emigrants with the numbers seeking work in the UK last year rising significantly.

Additionally, the US issued a total of 17,755 non-immigrant visas to Irish citizens in the 11 months to December 2011, a 22 percent increase from 2010.

Philip O'Connell, research professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute, noted that current projections indicated a further 75,000 or so Irish people would emigrate this year. He stated that migration was driven by labour market conditions and economic factors and the numbers leaving were unlikely to decline until there is sustained economic growth and a significant drop in the unemployment rate in Ireland.

If you would like to apply for a visa, WorkPermit.com can help. WorkPermit.com is a specialist visa consultancy with over twenty years of experience dealing with visa applications. We can help with a wide range of visa applications to your country of choice. Please feel free to contact us for further details.