Latvian immigration to U.K. highest since 2002

  • 2009-10-01
  • TBT Staff
RIGA- According to a brief from the British Chamber of Commerce in Latvia, within a time period of the first quarter of the year, Great Britain has registered the largest number of immigrants from Latvia since 2002.

Meanwhile, a total of 2.5 thousand immigrants from Latvia were registered in Ireland within a time period of the past eight months, informed Mihail Hazan, professor at the University of Latvia and co-author of the book "EU Labour Markets after Post-Enlargement Migration".

In 2009, a total of 4.4 thousand British social insurance numbers have been allocated to Latvians living in Great Britain. According to Mihail Hazan's forecasts, the number of granted social insurance numbers will only grow during the remaining part of the year.

The estimated numbers of Latvians living in the UK and Ireland are around 200,000 (UK) and 14,000 (Ireland)