The British government has revealed that fewer Portuguese people registered with social security in 2023 than in 2020 (6,664) when restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic caused an abrupt decline in Portuguese immigration to the United Kingdom.

Registering for social security, which is compulsory to be able to work or receive social support in the country, is a way of calculating demographic flows.

The 2023 value represents a 44% drop compared to the 7,941 Portuguese registrations in 2022, maintaining a sharp decline since 2019.

European immigration to the United Kingdom has also been falling since the country's exit from the European Union began in 2016.

Today the latest data on the European Union Citizens Registration System [EU Settlement Scheme, EUSS] was also released, which counted 506,440 applications by Portuguese citizens until December 31, 2023, to obtain a residence permit.

Of these, 278,600 Portuguese received a permanent residence title, 170,990 a provisional title and 56,840 had their processes rejected or invalidated.

The number of applications is not equivalent to the number of Portuguese residents in the United Kingdom, which is estimated at around 450,000, as some are repeated.