National statistics

Overview of the immigration system

Updated 3 March 2022

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-december-2021/overview-of-the-immigration-system

Back to ‘Immigration statistics, year ending December 2021’ content page.

This is not the latest release. View latest release.

The Home Office ‘Immigration statistics’ series forms part of a larger cross-Government Statistical Service Transformation plan to meet changing user needs, and which will begin to put administrative data at the core of evidence on migration.

‘Immigration statistics, year ending December 2021’ provides the latest figures on persons who are subject to United Kingdom (UK) immigration controls. All data in this release relate to the year 2021 (except data on returns which relate to the year ending September 2021) and all comparisons are with the year 2020, unless stated otherwise. Before 2021, due to European Union (EU) freedom of movement principles, the majority of UK immigration control related to non-European Economic Area (EEA) nationals. From 2021, unless otherwise stated, data in this release relate to both EEA and non-EEA nationals.

The Immigration statistics release provides information on the Home Office’s operation of immigration control and related processes, including the work of UK Border Force, UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), and Immigration Enforcement.

Figures on performance against service standards and processing times are published as part of the Home Office Migration transparency data.

The Home Office publishes a range of other research on migration, available at the Migration research and analysis page on GOV.UK. Details on the developments and future plans for Home Office Immigration statistics can be found in Developments in migration statistics. For details of other migration outputs published across government, see the ‘About this release’ section.

Figure 1 provides a high-level overview of UK immigration control. It does not include reference to all aspects of immigration, as highlighted in the chart notes.

Figure 1: Summary of UK immigration system1,2,3

Chart notes:

  1. A person can cross the UK Border legally either with a visa or as a non-visa national, as regular passenger arrivals, along with those that are seeking asylum and refugees through resettlement schemes. Individuals arriving at the border may be refused entry and returned to where they travelled from. Whilst in the UK, individuals may apply: for asylum; to extend their stay; to settle permanently; or for citizenship. Individuals also enter illegally by evading border control. Where detected, these individuals would be detained and returned. Individuals can also be removed from the UK for breaching their conditions of entry (e.g. persons who overstay) and foreign national offenders.
  2. The chart excludes references to appeals.
  3. Non-visa nationals seeking to enter the UK in a visa category, or for longer than 6 months, require a visa, whereas those seeking to enter the UK for 6 months or less do not.

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 reflect the restrictions 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 show more detailed information (including daily figures) relating to passengers arriving into the UK by air between January 2019 to January 2022.

We welcome your 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.

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of our documents. If you find any problems or have any feedback relating to accessibility, please email us.

See section 7 of the ‘About this release’ section for more details.

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