National statistics

How many people come to the UK each year (including visitors)?

Updated 3 March 2022

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Data relate to 2021 and all comparisons are with 2020, unless indicated otherwise.

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.

This section contains data on:

• Passenger arrivals to the UK
• Grants of Entry clearance visas to individuals outside the UK
• Visitors to the UK

1. Passenger arrivals to the UK

There were an estimated 30.2 million passenger arrivals in 2021 (including returning UK residents), around a quarter (23%) less than the previous year, due to the travel restrictions imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additional information on monthly air passenger arrivals during this period is provided in the separate Home Office report Immigration and border statistics relating to COVID-19.

These data show that between April 2020 to January 2022, air passenger arrivals to the UK by have been, on average, around 82% lower than levels seen prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. Air travel to the UK has started to increase again since the easing of travel restrictions in June 2021.

Figure 1: Passenger arrivals to the UK, by nationality group¹, 2012 to 2021

Source: Passenger arrivals (admissions) summary table – Adm_01_q

Notes:

1. Nationality breakdowns for 2019 onwards are not available (see ‘Landing cards’).

Figure 1 shows that prior to the pandemic arrivals had been increasing each year. However, the number of passenger arrivals decreased sharply following the introduction of COVID-19 travel restrictions from March 2020. Arrivals in 2021 were around one fifth of the number in a normal year.

Only certain nationalities (‘visa-nationals’) are required to obtain an Entry clearance visa before coming to visit the UK, which is why there are considerably more passenger arrivals than visas granted. There were 1,311,731 visas granted in 2021, 59% less than 2019 as a result of the global pandemic, but 36% higher than 2020. Of the visas granted in the latest 12 months, 33% were for study, 31% were to visit, 18% were to work, 3% were for family, and 14% for other reasons.

Figure 2: Total entry clearance visas granted, 2012 to 2021

Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02

Figure 2 shows that the total number of visas granted had been broadly stable between 2013 and 2016 at around 2.5 million and then rose steadily to a peak of 3.2 million by 2019. The number then fell significantly due the COVID-19 pandemic, to below 1 million, but has seen a small recovery in the latest three quarters of 2021 as international restrictions have been lifting.

2. Visitors to the UK

Many nationalities, including US nationals (who accounted for over a quarter of non-EEA passenger arrivals in 2018) do not normally require a visa to visit the UK; consequently, there are considerably fewer Visitor visas granted than visitor arrivals. Nonetheless, from those nationalities required to obtain a visa before visiting the UK, in 2021 there were 628,698 applications for Visitor visas, 77% fewer than number in 2019, a reduction largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the same period, there were 404,037 Visitor visas granted, 83% lower than 2019 with the largest falls registered for Chinese (down 628,116 or 98%) and Indian (down 429,623 or 84%) nationals. Together Chinese (4%) and Indian (21%) nationals accounted for 25% of visit visas granted. This is around half the proportion seen immediately prior to the pandemic, when Chinese and Indian nationals combined accounted for just under half of all grants.

Nigerian (12%) and Saudi (11%) nationals are now the second and third largest nationalities and, together, these four nationalities make up almost half (47%) of all visit visa grants in the latest year.

Additional information on visitors to the UK is published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in its publication: Overseas travel and tourism statistics.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, visa application centres were closed by 31 March 2020 and only began gradually reopening from June 2020.

As shown in Figure 3, in Q2 of 2020, visitor numbers fell dramatically, with almost no grants in April and May 2020 and only 6,154 grants for the entire quarter. The number of Visitor visa applications granted in each month of the year ending March 2021 was only a small fraction compared to the same month a year earlier.

There was a modest recovery seen in second quarter of 2021, with further increases in the third and fourth quarters. Grants of visitor visas in Q4 (October to December) 2021 (210,231) were the highest quarterly figure since before the pandemic, but still less than half (44%) of the 477,508 grants seen in Q4 2019. This suggests that visitor numbers are still greatly affected by the COVID pandemic.

Figure 3: Visitor visas issued, by month, 2019, 2020 and 2021

Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes: Vis_D02

3. British National Overseas (BN(O)) route

On 31 January 2021, the UK Government introduced a new immigration route for British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) status holders, providing the opportunity for them and their family members to live, work and study in the UK. The data below relates to 2021, unless otherwise specified. Data for in country applications is provisional and has been rounded to the nearest hundred. Detailed datasets for out of country applications and grants in this route can be found in entry clearance visa applications and outcomes under the BN(O) route visa type.

There were 15,600 applications for the BN(O) route in Q4 of 2021, with 14,471 out of country applications, and 1,100 in country applications. Of the total, 9,300 applications relate to main applicants and 6,300 relate to dependants. There have been a total of 103,900 applications for the BN(O) route since its introduction on 31st January up to the end of 2021.

There were 18,600 grants of out of country BN(O) visas made in Q4 of 2021, of which 11,380 were for main applicants and 7,220 were for dependants. There were 2,281 grants of in country BN(O) visas made in Q4 of 2021, of which 1,099 were main applicants and 1,182 were dependants. There have been a total of 75,961 grants of out of country BN(O) visas made between 31st January and 31st December 2021, and a total of 21,096 grants of in country BN(O) visas made between 31st January to 31st December 2021.

There were 79 out-of-country BN(O) visa refusals, and 1 in-country BN(O) visa refusal in Q4 of 2021. These are the first recorded refusals on the BN(O) route.

As expected, the majority of grants (66%) were to BN(O) and/or Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) passport holders. Dependants holding passports for countries other than BN(O) and/or HKSAR accounted for 74% of grants to dependants, including 72% who held Chinese passports.

In 2021, provisional management information shows that 8,350 BN(O) and/or HKSAR passport holders were granted “leave outside the rules” at the UK border.

4. About these statistics

The statistics in this section provide an indication of the number of people who enter the UK.

The data do not show whether, or when, an individual arrived in the UK, what they did on arrival to the UK or how long they stayed in the UK.

Many nationalities do not normally require a visa to visit the UK. As a result, they will be counted in the passenger arrivals data but not in the visa data. A list of designated nationalities referred to as ‘visa nationals’ who do require a visa in order to visit the UK can be found in Immigration Rules Appendix V: visitor rules.

For several reasons, data on passenger arrivals are not directly comparable with data on Entry clearance visas granted. A summary of what each dataset counts is provided in sections 4.1 and 4.2.

4.1 Passenger arrivals

Data on passenger arrivals relate to the number of arrivals into the UK. The data include British, EEA and Swiss nationals, as well as non-EEA nationals. For non-EEA nationals who are subject to immigration controls, more detailed information is available on their nationality and purpose of their journey up until 2018.

Passenger arrivals are counted each time an individual enters the UK. Where an individual enters the UK more than once in a period, they will be counted each time they enter (but if they arrive each time on the same visa, they will be counted once in the visas data).

Visitor arrivals data included in this topic are based on landing cards completed as people cross the border. In light of the introduction of new digital systems at the border, the use of landing cards was reviewed (see Landing cards). The review resulted in the decision to remove the need for non-EEA nationals to complete a landing card on arrival into the UK. Further data relating to visitor arrivals will not be available until an alternative method of collection is developed.

4.2 Entry clearance visas

Data on Entry clearance visas in this section refer to the number of visas granted for all reasons within the period. If an individual was granted multiple visas in a given period, this will be counted as multiple grants in the statistics. If an individual entered the UK multiple times within the period for which a visa was valid, this will be counted as one grant in the visa statistics, but multiple arrivals in the passenger arrivals data.

Year-on-year comparisons of the number of decisions can be affected by quarterly fluctuations in the data. Such fluctuations can be examined in more detail in the quarterly data that are available in the published tables.

Several known factors may have affected the number of applications and outcomes of visit-related visas over time. For example, the Home Office launched a two-year Chinese visa pilot in January 2016 for Chinese nationals. The increase in longer-term Visitor visas may affect the number of subsequent re-applications by Chinese nationals.

More information on non-visitor arrival and visa data by category is included in ʻWhy do people come to the UK? To work’, ʻWhy do people come to the UK? To study’ and ʻWhy do people come to the UK? For family reasons’.

In January 2021, the UK Government introduced a new immigration route for British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) status holders, providing the opportunity for them and their family members to live, work and study in the UK. This route opened on 31 January 2021 and is open to individuals who hold a BN(O) passport and are, or have recently been, resident in Hong Kong, and their dependants.

4.3 Landing cards

On 5 August 2017, the Home Office launched the ‘Consultation on Home Office’s Immigration Statistics - arrivals data’, on ending the requirement for non-EEA passengers to present a paper landing card on arrival into the UK from 1 October 2017. The consultation set out the statistical implications of the change and closed on 2 September 2017. The government confirmed in the Spring Statement 2019 that to coincide with the ePassport gates expansion, the government would begin to abolish landing cards for non-EEA travellers. On 20 May 2019, it removed the need for all non-EEA travellers to fill in landing cards upon arrival in the UK and expanded the use of ePassport gates to seven more countries. The government’s response to the consultation was published in May 2019. As anticipated in the original consultation, ahead of new electronic data sources being developed, the withdrawal of landing cards has resulted in a temporary loss to the passenger arrivals data broken down by nationality and reason for travel. The last set of published data on non-EEA nationals arriving in the UK (based on Landing Cards), cover the period 2004 to 2018) are available in ‘Immigration statistics, year ending June 2019 second edition’. Data on the total number of passenger arrivals will continue to be available as this comes from a different source.

5. Data tables

• Sponsorship summary tables
• Detailed sponsorship datasets
• Entry clearance visas summary tables
• Detailed Entry clearance visas datasets
• Admissions summary tables

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