A total of 208,000 foreign nationals moved to the Netherlands last year, after a year in which immigration fell sharply because of the coronavirus restrictions, national statistics agency CBS said on Wednesday.

The biggest group, nearly 117,500, came from other EU countries or the EFTA, while returning Dutch nationals from abroad accounted for almost 44,500 ‘new’ arrivals.

Nearly 90,700 people came from outside Europe, of whom 29,000 came to join family members and 21,000 requested asylum. The trouble in Afghanistan and Syria helped drive refugee numbers up by 75%, the CBS said.

Nearly 16,000 people came to the Netherlands from outside the EU under the highly-skilled migrant visa scheme. This is a rise of 60% on 2020, when the borders were virtually closed because of coronavirus.

Some 3,285 British nationals also came to live in the Netherlands last year, the CBS figures show.