An Evaluation of the Impact of Immigration on Social Cohesion in Present Day Britain - Research Paper Example

The literature on the impact of immigration on social cohesion is reviewed for determining whether or not and to what extent immigration impacts social cohesion. The results of the literature review are discussed and implications for immigration policies are identified.Net immigration to Britain increased by more than 30% last year increasing the number of immigrants for the year 2013 to 212,000 (Travis, 2014). This represents an increase of 58,000 and the immigrants are primarily from European countries suffering from the recession.

The countries of origin include Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Poland (Travis, 2014). Net immigration refers to the difference between migration to Britain and migration out of Britain and does not reflect actual immigration trends. In this regard, actual immigration to the UK in 2012 was 498,000 which was down from the previous year 2011 when immigration to the UK was 566,000. Fifty-two percent of immigrants to the UK in 2012 were from non-EU countries. Study and work were the most significant reasons for immigrating to the UK with 180,000 people immigrating to the UK in 2012 for study purposes and 180,000 for work reasons (Vargas-Silva, 2014).

In addition to official immigrant records, there are immigrants who enter the UK illegally or who overstay their permitted period of stay or asylum seekers who simply disappear. These categories of immigrants are unaccounted for (Migration Watch, 2003). Given the high rate of immigration to Britain including officially documented and undocumented immigrants, there are concerns among policymakers about the impact of immigration on social cohesion in Britain (Demireva, 2012). Even so, research typically analyses the link between diversity and social cohesion and not the link between immigration and social cohesion.