Around 13, 500 of these were from beyond the EEA. Around 10, 000 were on the UK's highly skilled migrant programme, and many of the others were paying to attend medical school here.

BBC: There have been problems with a new recruitment system

"Instead of clamping down on illegal immigration, what this policy seems to be doing is focusing on a minority of skilled migrant for whom the employers can demonstrate a business case, " he said.

BBC: Immigration debate

Evidence was heard on 14 September from Sophie Barrett-Brown and Nicholas Rollason from the Immigration Law Practitioners' Association, Amit Kapadia from the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme Forum, and Sir Andrew Green of Migrationwatch.

BBC: Home Affairs Committee

"It seems spurious that a fresh master's graduate in their first job should qualify as a highly-skilled migrant where a businessperson of 25 years global experience earning hundreds of thousands of pounds without a master's degree does not, " said its chairman Keith Vaz.

BBC: Immigration officer at Heathrow

In the past year, however, the provinces that usually absorb migrant farmers have become increasingly unable to do so, as the precipitous drop in orders for textiles and manufactured goods forces more and more factories that employ low-skilled migrant workers to shut down.

ECONOMIST: Large parts of China are suffering a winter drought

He said British farmers had turned to migrant labour because skilled British workers found they could "work lower numbers of hours for more money" in other industries and students were no longer prepared to do seasonal agricultural work, which could be physically demanding.

BBC: British workers 'needed on farms'

In higher-skilled industries, such as software companies, demand for migrant workers especially from Asia has also been remarkably high.

ECONOMIST: Migration