UK migration falls by a quarter as student and foreign worker numbers fall But Sarah Mulley, associate director at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think-tank, warned that the fall in the number of foreign students would come at a "significant economic cost." She said: "Steps to reduce abuse of the student visa system are welcome, but if the government's net migration target is to be met, they also need there to be a dramatic fall in the numbers of genuine foreign students. This will come at a significant economic cost. Do these figures suggest the Tories have a grip on immigration? Changes in the figures since 2007 have generally been caused by fluctuations in emigration, but today's figures showed two-thirds of the fall came from a fall in immigration, with the rest made up of people leaving the UK, the ONS said. The 40,000 fall in immigration showed the lowest number of people coming to the UK since 2004, the ONS said. Some 296,000 migrants from outside the EU came to the UK last year, down from 317,000 the previous year, the figures showed. But there were significant rises in the number of foreign students coming to the UK from China and Pakistan. After India, China became the second most common country for all immigrants, fuelled by 40,000 foreign students coming to the UK last year compared with 25,000 the previous year. The number of foreign students coming to the UK from Pakistan also rose, up from 20,000 to 30,000. But drops across other countries, in particular from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, saw the overall number of foreign students fall from 232,000 to 213,000. The number of migrants who came for work-related reasons was also down, falling from 194,000 to 177,000. Emigration form the UK rose, up to 353,000 from 336,000, with the number of people leaving the UK for a definite job up to 127,000 from 108,000 the previous year.