Net migration and international students: user needs

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) undertook an engagement exercise to understand user needs regarding the provision of an additional international net migration estimate that excludes students.  A survey ran from 10 January 2025 to 28 February 2025. We also held online focus groups with users and topic experts. This allowed us to gather feedback on the three proposed options and to identify any user needs for this additional estimate of international net migration.  
 
International students who stay in the UK for 12 months or more meet the United Nations definition of a long-term international migrant and we therefore include them in international net migration estimates. We are aware of potential stakeholder interest in an additional estimate—based on a definition that does not include international students—and therefore sought feedback on relevant user needs. We undertook this exercise to explore options, and to see if there were any specific areas of research or policy which may benefit from an additional estimate of international net migration.  For further details, please see our full response summary document.
 
The three options were presented to respondents along with strengths and limitations of each. The options are outlined below.  

• Option 1: Maintain the current approach.  
• Option 2: Produce an additional estimate of international net migration excluding students using existing published estimates by reason for migration. 
• Option 3: Additional, alternative estimate of international net migration using visa information to exclude students. 

We appreciate the time respondents took to share their views and would like to thank them for taking part in the engagement exercise. Their feedback continues to shape our work. We will keep users informed of our plans to develop migration estimates. 

The survey received 43 responses from a range of stakeholders. These consisted of: 

• 22 responses from individuals 

• 12 responses from academia, charities, and other groups 

• 6 responses from other government departments 

• 3 responses from local authorities in England and Wales 

There was an overall preference for not introducing an additional international migration estimate. Our users raised a number of concerns, including potential for multiple estimates based on different definitions to create confusion and that any change may be perceived as a political decision that could reduce trust in official migration statistics.

While some users identified potential benefits of additional information on student migration being made available, an additional estimate of net international migration excluding students was not viewed as a user priority. However, there was support for other additional analysis being provided where possible.

Following the outcome of this stakeholder engagement a decision has been made not to publish an additional estimate of international net migration excluding students at this time. 

We will continue to develop additional analysis relating to both students and other migrant groups and review how we can make it easier for our users to understand what statistics are available.

We will also review the suggestions provided by users through this consultation exercise and look for opportunities to take them forward as part of our ongoing research and development work.