A response to recent ONS migration statistics and the ongoing policy discourse

The announcement on the 22nd May that last year UK net migration had fallen by almost 50% to 431,000 represents a significant shift in Britain's immigration landscape. As CEO of AORA, a company dedicated to transforming immigration through technology, I believe this moment offers us an opportunity to move beyond the tired political rhetoric that has dominated this debate for decades and focus on something that really matters: building an immigration system that works for everyone.

The Real Challenge Isn't the Numbers per se —It's the System

The BBC's readable analysis yesterday traces Britain's immigration debate back to 1968, highlighting how attitudes to immigration have become deeply entrenched political battlegrounds. But what strikes me most about this historical perspective is how little the actual mechanics of immigration processing have evolved during this time, both for practitioners and the government.

While politicians have spent over 50 years arguing about the acceptable level of immigration, the fundamental infrastructure for managing human mobility has remained stuck in the analogue age. We're still processing 21st-century global migration patterns with systems designed for a 20th-century world.

At AORA, we see this disconnect every day. Skilled professionals wait weeks or months for visa decisions that could be made in hours. Employers struggle with opaque processes that make workforce planning hard. Legitimate migrants face bureaucratic challenges while bad actors exploit system weaknesses, and inefficient advisors pass on their overheads. The human cost of this inefficiency is enormous, but so is the economic cost.

Technology as the Great Equaliser

The BBC article notes that "legislation to reduce immigration has, historically, been strikingly unsuccessful." Perhaps this is because we've been asking the wrong question. Instead of debating whether we want more or fewer immigrants, we should be asking: How do we create an immigration system that is fast, fair, transparent, and secure?

This is where technology becomes transformative. Advanced AI can process applications in real time, cross-referencing multiple databases to verify credentials and assess applications against clear, consistent criteria. Blockchain technology can create tamper-proof digital identities that follow individuals throughout their journey. Predictive analytics can help policymakers understand migration flows before they happen, enabling proactive rather than reactive policy responses.

The current system's opacity breeds mistrust and discomfort. When people don't understand how immigration decisions are made, or why processing times are long or unpredictable, it creates the conditions for the kind of anxiety and resentment that have characterised this debate for decades.

Learning from Global Best Practices

While Britain grapples with these challenges, other nations are pioneering digital-first approaches to immigration. Estonia's e-Residency program, Singapore's digital nomad visas, and Canada's Express Entry system demonstrate how technology can make immigration processes more efficient and transparent.

These systems don't just benefit migrants—they benefit receiving countries too. When you can process applications quickly and accurately, you can be more selective. When you have real-time data on immigration flows, you can make evidence-based policy decisions rather than reactive ones.

The Economic Imperative

The BBC article mentions concerns about migrants being a "fiscal drain," citing studies from the Netherlands and Denmark. This highlights another area where better technology could transform the debate. Currently, we have remarkably poor data on the fiscal impact of immigration because our systems don't track career outcomes effectively.

Imagine if every visa came with built-in mechanisms for tracking employment, tax contributions, and service usage. Instead of relying on contested studies and political assumptions, we could have real-time dashboards showing exactly how different categories of migrants contribute to British society and economy. This may in fact, be used for the shortening of the period of residence for ILR.

This isn't about surveillance—it's about accountability and evidence-based policymaking. When immigration decisions are made transparently and outcomes are tracked systematically, public trust increases.

Moving Forward: A Vision for 2030

Sir Keir Starmer's recent immigration reforms represent incremental change within the existing system. The new English language requirements and extended residency periods may reduce numbers, but they don't address the fundamental inefficiencies that make the current system frustrating for everyone involved.

What Britain needs is not just tougher rules or relaxed rules, but smarter rules implemented through smarter systems. By 2030, we should have an immigration system where:

·       Most visa decisions are made within 24 hours through AI-assisted processing

·       Applicants can track their applications in real-time with full transparency, like a parcel

·       Employers can access pre-verified talent pools for critical skill shortages

·       Policymakers have real-time data on migration patterns and outcomes

  • Security screening is more thorough yet faster than ever before

The Path Forward

The immigration debate has been trapped in severe choices for too long: open borders versus closed borders, pro-immigration versus anti-immigration. Technology offers us a third way—smart immigration that serves both national interests and human dignity.

At AORA, we're not interested in political positioning. We're interested in building systems that work. The 50% reduction in net migration announced today proves that numbers can change quickly when rules or policies change. What we need now is the infrastructure to ensure that whatever immigration levels Britain chooses, they can be managed efficiently, fairly, and transparently.

The conversation should shift from whether we want immigration through this or that route to how we can do immigration better. Technology isn't just part of the solution—it's the key to moving beyond the polarised debate that has paralysed progress for decades.

Britain has always been at its best when it combines practical innovation with principled governance. Applying that same spirit to immigration could transform not just our borders, but our entire approach to managing human mobility in the 21st-century.

The choice isn't between each politician’s vision —it's between staying stuck in 20th-century thinking or embracing 21st-century solutions.

Bruce Mennell