More than £15billion of benefits have been handed to migrant households over the last 18 months.
Research shared exclusively with the Daily Mail reveals that 70 per cent of the eye-watering sum was given to households containing at least one unemployed foreign national.
It marks the first time that Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) officials have disclosed the amount of welfare doled out to help unemployed migrants.
Critics claim the shock figures, unearthed by the Centre for Migration Control think-tank, are evidence that hardworking Brits are being 'walloped with tax rises' to fund the lifestyle of foreign nationals.
Robert Bates, research director at the Centre for Migration Control, said: 'It is a no-brainer that we should be ending benefit payments to foreign nationals, especially those who are unemployed.
'The British taxpayer does not exist to fund the lifestyle of migrants.
'It is unconscionable that hardworking men and women are being walloped with tax rises, and experiencing a decline in living standards, whilst billions are being wasted in this manner.
'We need to end Indefinite Leave to Remain to ensure that the British welfare system only helps those who are citizens of this country.'
Of the £15bn figure, obtained via freedom of information laws, £9.5bn of Universal Credit was doled out in 2024.
Another £5.6bn was paid to the six months to the end of June 2025.
The figure covers households where at least one claimant declared themselves to be a foreign national (non-UK, Crown Dependency or Ireland) who had passed the Habitual Residence Test (showing the UK is their main home).
Of the £9.5bn handed out in 2024, £6.7bn was paid to households where the foreign national claimant was not in employment.
Because of the way the DWP records statistics, however, some of that cash may go to British-born claimants living in the same house, or for other benefits that aren't for people out of work.
It should also be noted that some foreign nationals receiving Universal Credit who are classed as unemployed may be self-employed.
Every one of Britain's 28.6m households would have to fork out £332 to pay the 2024 annual total bill of £9.5bn.
It is also the equivalent to the starting salaries of 225,000 Metropolitan Police officers at £42,210.
William Yarwood, media campaign manager at the TaxPayers' Alliance, told the Daily Mail: 'These figures demolish the claim that most migrants on Universal Credit are in work.'
'Ministers must tighten eligibility. Access to Britain should not mean automatic access to benefits.'
The research comes as critics of the Government's generous handouts are calling for urgent reform to the so-called 'broken' benefits system.
Ministers have ringfenced £141.2bn for welfare in 2025/26, with the bulk of that going towards Universal Credit.
Separate figures revealed this month showed the number of migrants and refugees claiming universal credit has more than doubled since 2022.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced in November that migrants will only be eligible for benefits and social housing when they become British citizens. Under current rules, they can claim as soon as they are granted settlement.
But the Tories want to bar foreign nationals from claiming benefits entirely, warning that we cannot 'keep spending money we simply do not have'.
Also announced at the Tory party conference last autumn was a proposal to end the right of people with 'low-level' mental health conditions from claiming sickness benefits. Instead they would be offered support and treatment to get back to work.
Reform also want to block foreign nationals from getting welfare handouts.
A DWP spokesman was contacted for comment.