National statistics

About this release

Updated 3 March 2022

The Home Office ‘Immigration statistics quarterly release’ series gives an overview of work on immigration control, entry clearance, asylum and enforcement within the Home Office, including the work of UK Border Force, Immigration Enforcement and UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI). It helps inform users such as the government, Parliament, the media and the wider public, and supports the development and monitoring of policy.

This release includes the latest statistics, up to the end of December 2021, on a range of topics including:

• how many people come or plan to come to the UK, and why (for work, study, family reasons, to visit)
• how many people extend their stay while in the UK (through extensions, settlement or citizenship)
• asylum and resettlement (including asylum support)
• detention under immigration powers
• returns from the UK of those with no legal right to be in the UK

The ‘Immigration statistics’ release is a National Statistics output produced to the highest professional standards and free from political interference. It has been produced by statisticians in Migration Statistics within the Home Office in accordance with the Home Office’s ‘Statement of compliance with the code of practice for statistics’. The Head of Profession for Statistics reports to the National Statistician with respect to all professional statistical matters and oversees all Home Office National Statistics products with respect to the Code of Practice, being responsible for their timing, content and methodology.

The Home Office ‘Immigration statistics’ series forms part of a larger cross-Government Statistical Service ‘Migration statistics transformation plan’ to meet changing user needs, and which will put administrative data at the core of evidence on migration. Improvements to this release, which are part of this programme of work, can be found in ‘Developments in migration statistics’.

1. National Statistics

The UK Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics signifying compliance with the ‘Code of Practice for Statistics’.

Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics, it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.

The statistics last underwent a full assessment against the Code of Practice in February 2012. The continued designation of these statistics as National Statistics was confirmed in September 2018 following a compliance check by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). The OSR report highlighted a number of strengths and made suggestions for improvements.

2. Changes to the release

2.1 Accessibility

We have further reviewed and updated our tables, in line with accessibility legislation, helping to ensure that they meet user needs.

2.2 Returns revisions

From November 2020, we revised the published timeseries on returns. The published data now show more voluntary returns and fewer enforced returns than previously published.

From November 2020, in addition to revising the published timeseries on returns, we have amended our revisions policy. Data on returns are now published a quarter behind to allow more time for returns (particularly ‘other verified returns’) to be entered on the system prior to publication, ensuring that the published data is an accurate representation of the number of returns. We will routinely revise the previous eight quarters of data as part of each quarterly release. Therefore, data for the most recent 8 quarters should be considered provisional.

Further details on the reasons for the revision can be found in the returns section of the user guide.

2.3 Deaths in detention

From November 2020, we made changes to the published data on deaths in detention, to reflect a more comprehensive definition. The data now include those who died after leaving detention, as a result of an incident that occurred while in detention. The data are included in table Det_05b in the Detention summary tables. See the user guide for more details.

2.4 The impact of COVID-19

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak as a global pandemic. A range of restrictions were implemented in many parts of the world, and the first UK lockdown measures were announced on 23 March 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the UK immigration system, both in terms of restricting migrant movements to and from the UK and the impact on operational capacity.

Year ending comparisons that follow will include impacts resulting from the restrictions put in place during this period of the pandemic.

An additional one-off report, Statistics relating to COVID-19 and the immigration system, May 2020, was published on 28 May 2020, providing a statistical overview of COVID-19 impacts on the immigration system through to the end of April 2020. Statistics relating to passenger arrivals since the COVID-19 outbreak have been updated to include data up to 31 January 2022.

2.5 Afghan Resettlement

The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) opened in January 2022. The first eligible person was relocated under the scheme on 6 January 2022 (after the period referred to in this publication). Statistics on the number of people relocated under the scheme in 2022 Q1 will be included in subsequent editions of Immigration Statistics.

The Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) launched on 1 April 2021. Provisional data show more than 7,000 people have been relocated under the scheme so far. Following the evacuation from Afghanistan over the summer work is underway to ensure information relating to all the individuals relocated are recorded on case working systems. Once this work concludes, further statistics on the ARAP will be included in editions of the Immigration Statistics.

Further details on the ACRS and ARAP can be found in the FACTSHEET: ACRS and other routes and Operation Warm Welcome: progress update.

2.6 New data table format

In the February release, changes were made to the format of the settlement tables. These now include summary tables, accompanied by several detailed datasets. This follows positive feedback from users, after similar changes made to several other areas, including Entry clearance visas, extensions, sponsorship, returns and detention.

The summary tables include a high-level overview of the main datasets published in each area, as well as some stand-alone datasets. The detailed datasets allow users to explore the data in more detail as required. The ‘contents’ page within the summary tables contains an overview of the available datasets (including hyperlinks), and a link to archived data, while the ‘notes’ page shows how the information in the old tables maps to the information in the new tables.

3. Migration Statistics User Forum

The Migration Statistics User Forum has been established for discussion of international migration statistics, allowing users to discuss their need for and use of the data, and for producers to consult on presentation and provide information on proposed changes or improvements to the statistics. The forum is a user-led group with over 200 members and affiliated to the wider Statistics User Forum established by the Royal Statistical Society. The forum meets annually at its conference, usually held in autumn. Home Office Analysis and Insight uses this forum to communicate with migration statistics users, including providing information on new data and publications.

Details of the next annual conference, any other events and information relating to migration publications will be sent to members of the forum via its distribution list. The distribution list is available to join through the MIGRATION-STATS JISCmail list.

4. Other Home Office research and statistics

‘Developments in Migration Statistics’
In recent years Home Office statisticians have introduced a wide range of changes to the UK migration statistics. These include developments in the department’s national statistics suite of outputs, and a variety of other research and analysis using Home Office and other data sources.

‘EU Settlement Scheme Statistics’
Statistics relating to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS).

‘Statistics relating to passenger arrivals since the COVID-19 outbreak’
Statistical reports showing the impact of COVID-19 on the immigration system.

‘Irregular Migration to the UK’
Statistics on irregular migration to the UK, including small boats

‘Migrant journey’
Formerly known as ‘Statistics on changes in migrants’ visas and leave status’, this release explores migrants’ journeys through the UK’s immigration system.

‘Migration research and analysis’
Research and statistics on migration to support Home Office policy development and operational activity.

‘Migration transparency data’
Performance data related to areas in the Home Office business plan, and data on borders and immigration activity, which has been regularly requested from the Home Office by the Home Affairs Select Committee.

‘Grenfell immigration policy statistics’
Following the Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017, new immigration policies for survivors and relatives were introduced. This report provides official statistics on the survivors and relatives considered under these policies.

5. Other migration outputs

‘Migration Advisory Committee’ (MAC) is an independent, non-statutory, non-time limited, non-departmental public body that advises the government on migration issues. It publishes a range of reports on migration.

‘International migration’ (ONS). Tool to locate the datasets for all ONS international migration outputs and for updates to international migration outputs.

‘Statistics at DWP’ (DWP). Research and statistics on migration to support Home Office policy development and operational activity.

6. Further information and feedback

If you have any comments, or suggestions for the development of this report, please provide feedback by emailing MigrationStatsEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk. Please include the words ‘PUBLICATION FEEDBACK’ in the subject of your email.

Press enquiries should be made to:

Home Office Press Office
Peel Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
Tel: 0300 123 3535

The Home Office Responsible Statistician is Bex Newell. The Home Office Migration Statistics mission statement is:

We produce timely, accurate and objective statistics on immigration to support effective delivery of Home Office objectives and to inform government, Parliament and the public.