For every person deported from the UK, 35 arrive

Overview

UK Immigration Returns Statistics — Source: Home Office, MoJ, ONS

The Gap: Arrivals vs Returns

Non-visitor visa grants compared to total returns, 2005–2025

How Many Arrive vs How Many Leave (2005–2025)

The blue line (left axis) shows the total number of non-visitor visas granted each year. The red line (right axis) shows total returns. Note the different scales: arrivals are measured in hundreds of thousands, returns in tens of thousands. Even with both lines given their own scale, the trends tell the story: arrivals surged post-2021 while returns flatlined. Hover over any year to see the exact ratio.

Returns Over Time by Type (2004–2025)

Immigration Arrivals by Route

Visa grants by category, 2005–2025 — Source: Home Office Entry Clearance Visa Outcomes

Arrivals by Route (Excluding Visitors)

Stacked view of visa grants by category. Work and study visas surged post-COVID, peaking in 2023 before government restrictions took effect. The "Other" category includes asylum, Ukraine schemes, and BN(O) Hong Kong visas.

Top 20 Nationalities — All Returns (2025)

In Prison vs Actually Deported — Top 20 Nationalities

Blue bars show how many foreign nationals from each country are in UK prisons. Red bars show how many were actually deported. Large gaps between the two indicate countries where deportation rates are low relative to the prison population.

Crime & Convictions

Foreign national conviction data — Source: MoJ PNC via CMC FOI (2025)

Convictions by Nationality Status (2021–2024)

Met Police: Sexual Offence Proceedings by Nationality (2018–2024)

Breakdown of all people who went through proceedings for sexual offences in the Metropolitan Police area.

Court Interpreter Demand

Language bookings as a proxy for defendant nationality — Source: MoJ CCSQ, House of Lords (2025)

Court Interpreter Bookings vs Share of UK Population

How many times more court interpreter bookings each language has compared to its share of the UK population. A ratio of 53x (Albanian) means court demand is 53 times higher than what the population size would predict. Colour indicates trend: surging, rising, stable, declining.

Asylum & Immigration

Source: Home Office, Refugee Council, House of Commons Library (March 2026)

Asylum Grant Rate by Nationality (2020–2025)

What percentage of asylum claims from each nationality are granted protection. Yemen (94%) and Sudan (91%) have near-certain grant rates. India (1.4%) and Brazil (1.1%) are almost always refused. Colour: green = high grant rate, amber = medium, red = low.

Small Boat Arrivals by Nationality (Year to Sep 2025)

Births to Foreign-Born Mothers

Source: ONS Births by Parents' Country of Birth (2024)

Percentage of Births to Foreign-Born Mothers (2008–2024)

The share of all births in England and Wales where the mother was born outside the UK. Rose from 24.1% in 2008 to a record 33.9% in 2024.

Top 10 Countries of Birth of Mother (2024)

India overtook Romania as the most common non-UK country of birth for mothers in 2024, with 26,146 births (4.4% of all births).

Rough Sleeping by Nationality (2017–2025)

Annual rough sleeping snapshot counts by nationality group. Non-EU rough sleepers have risen sharply since 2022. In 2025: 65% UK, 13% EU, 11% non-EU, 11% not known.

Foreign Aid vs Deportation

UK ODA spending by country cross-referenced with returns — Source: FCDO SID 2017-2024, Home Office

UK Aid Spending vs People Returned — Top 20 Countries

Blue bars (left axis) show total UK aid to each country since 2017. Red bars (right axis) show how many people were returned to that country in 2025. Hover to see the aid cost per person returned. Afghanistan received £1.84 billion in aid while 173 Afghans were deported. India received £538m while 2,720 Indians were returned.

Channel Crossings: Small Boat Arrivals by Year (2018–2025)

Total people arriving in the UK via small boats crossing the English Channel. From 299 in 2018 to 45,755 in 2022 (peak). Dropped after the Albania returns agreement, then rose again.

Immigration Detention

Source: Home Office Detention Summary (Dec 2025)

People Entering and Leaving Detention (2010–2025)

People entering immigration removal centres each year vs those leaving. The gap shows the net change in the detained population. COVID caused a sharp drop in 2020.

How Long People Spend in Detention (2025)

Duration of detention for people leaving immigration detention in 2025. Most are released within a month. A small number are held for over a year.

Modern Slavery Referrals

National Referral Mechanism (NRM) — Source: Home Office End of Year Summary 2024

NRM Referrals by Nationality — Adults (2024)

Potential modern slavery victims referred to the National Referral Mechanism by nationality. Albanian nationals are the most referred, followed by Vietnamese and Eritrean. Exploitation types include criminal, labour, domestic servitude, and sexual exploitation.

Data Sources & Coverage

Who Wasn't Deported

Court-blocked removals, administrative failures, and community liability — Source: court records, EIN, Home Office (2023–2026)

Why Deportations Are Blocked

Most removal attempts succeed. Where they fail, the main legal grounds are ECHR Articles 3 and 8 — covering risk of ill-treatment in the home country and the right to family life. Of 29 UK cases at the Strasbourg court since 1980, 16 ruled deportation was lawful; 13 blocked it. The far larger barrier is administrative: documentation failures, country cooperation refusals, and bail releases after detention.

Notable Cases: Deportations Blocked by Courts (Court Records, 2023–2025)

These cases are drawn from published court records and parliamentary reporting. They represent a small fraction of all removal cases — most foreign national offenders who are subject to automatic deportation are removed. These cases illustrate the specific legal arguments used when removals are contested. All details are from court records or official reporting.

Labour Market: Youth Employment & Immigration

Source: Centre for Social Justice analysis of HMRC payroll data (May 2026); ONS NEET Bulletin (Feb 2026)

Net Change in Under-25 Payroll Employment (Jan 2020 – Dec 2025)

How many additional under-25 workers were added to UK payrolls between January 2020 and December 2025. Source: HMRC payroll data via CSJ analysis. This shows the change, not the total — the UK national workforce is far larger overall.

Young Britons NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training)

Number of 16–24 year olds in England classified as NEET. Reached 957,000 in October–December 2025, up approximately 200,000 since 2020. Government forecasts this could reach 1.25 million by 2030.

Net Migration Context: ONS Year Ending December 2025

Long-term international net migration fell to 171,000 in the year to December 2025 — nearly halving from 331,000 the previous year. Total long-term immigration was 813,000. UK nationals had a net outflow of 136,000. Non-EU nationals: net +350,000. EU nationals: net −42,000.

Young Britons Emigrating: Record Numbers (Migration Observatory, 2026)

Around 195,000 Britons under 35 emigrated in the year to mid-2025 — representing 76% of all UK emigrants. Those aged 20–29 leaving reached 130,000–140,000, up from 92,000–95,000 in 2018. Top destinations: Spain, Ireland, Australia, Canada, France, Portugal. Financial pressure is cited by 86% of respondents as the primary driver.

Labour Market Data Limitations

Correlation, not causation. The CSJ analysis shows that non-EU under-25 payroll employment rose 355% while UK under-25 employment rose 0.3%. It does not prove that migrant employment caused British youth unemployment. Multiple factors drive NEET rates, including mental health, skills mismatches, benefit incentives, and regional inequality.
Payroll data only. HMRC payroll data covers payrolled employees but not the self-employed, gig workers, or those working informally.
UK nationals baseline is large. The UK has approximately 4.8 million under-25 payrolled workers. Non-EU workers (370,000) are a significant but minority share. The change data shows relative growth rates, not absolute dominance.
NEET has multiple causes. Youth worklessness is a structural problem predating recent immigration trends. Mental health has been the fastest-growing reason for economic inactivity among young people.

Data Limitations & Caveats

Nationality, not ethnicity. These datasets use nationality (country of citizenship), not ethnicity or race. Nationality is not a proxy for ethnicity.
"Returns" includes many outcomes. The figures include deportations, administrative removals, voluntary departures, and port refusals. Not all are forced removals.
No individual-level linking. Prison population and deportation data cannot be linked at the individual level. All cross-references are aggregate correlations.
Correlation, not causation. A high prison population relative to deportations does not imply those individuals should or could be deported. Legal proceedings, asylum claims, country cooperation agreements, and many other factors determine deportation outcomes.
Prison population is a snapshot. It measures who is in prison at a point in time (stock), not how many entered or left (flow). Direct comparison with annual returns is approximate.
Age-sex adjustment matters. When adjusted for the younger, more male demographic profile of foreign nationals, non-UK nationals are slightly underrepresented in prison overall (Migration Observatory, Sept 2025). Raw numbers overstate the difference.
Conviction data covers ~30% of all convictions. The PNC data from CMC FOIs covers indictable/CPS-prosecuted cases only, not summary offences. It is not representative of all crime.
Population denominators are uncertain. For small nationalities (Afghan, Eritrean), ONS population estimates may understate the actual population by 2-3x, which inflates per-capita rates.
Language does not equal nationality. Court interpreter bookings for Arabic span 20+ countries. Pashto covers both Afghan and Pakistani Pashtun communities.
Unknown nationality records. 4-8% of conviction records have unknown nationality. If these are disproportionately foreign, the published foreign national share is understated.

Sources: Home Office Immigration System Statistics (Feb 2026) | MoJ Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (Jan 2026) | MoJ PNC via Centre for Migration Control FOI (2025) | MoJ CCSQ Court Interpreter Tables | House of Lords 'Lost in Translation' (Mar 2025) | Metropolitan Police CMC FOI (Jul 2025) | ONS Population by Country of Birth (2021) | ONS Long-term International Migration provisional (May 2026) | ONS NEET Bulletin (Feb 2026) | Centre for Social Justice / HMRC payroll analysis (May 2026) | Electronic Immigration Network (2025–2026) | GB News / court records (2025) | Migration Observatory, Oxford (2026) | Refugee Council Quarterly Briefing | House of Commons Library (Mar 2026)