Accredited official statistics

About this release

Published 27 August 2026

Back to ‘Immigration system statistics, year ending June 2026’ contents page

The Home Office ‘Immigration system statistics quarterly release’ series gives quarterly statistics on people coming to the UK (including via illegal routes), extensions of stay, EUSS, citizenship, asylum, detentions, returns and stopping immigration crime. 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 for the year ending June 2026, on a range of topics including:

• How many people come to the UK each year?
• Why do people come to the UK - Work?
• Why do people come to the UK - Study?
• Why do people come to the UK - Family?
• How many people come to the UK via safe and legal (humanitarian) routes?
• What is being done to stop organised immigration crime?
• How many people come to the UK via illegal entry routes?
• How many people claim asylum in the UK?
• How many people are granted asylum in the UK?
• How many people are in the UK asylum system?
• How many indefinite leave (settlement and EUSS settled status) grants have been issued in the UK?
• How many Citizenship grants have been issued in the UK?
• How many people are detained under immigration powers in the UK?
• How many people are returned from the UK?

The ‘Immigration system statistics’ release is an Accredited Official 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 Accredited Official Statistics products with respect to the Code of Practice, being responsible for their timing, content and methodology.

Despite being an Accredited Official Statistics output, as we have expanded the publication to respond to evolving user needs, we have introduced several new datasets since the previous OSR assessment. These newer datasets have not yet been assessed for accredited status and are therefore published as either Official Statistics or Official Statistics in Development. For all data tables, the contents page contains a table outlining the designation of each dataset as Accredited Official Statistics, Official Statistics, or Official Statistics in Development. Most of the statistics in this release are Accredited Official Statistics.

The Home Office ‘Immigration system 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. Accredited Official Statistics

The Immigration system statistics and other migration statistics releases are ‘Accredited Official Statistics’ or ‘Official Statistics’. Where applicable, data tables contain the ‘Accredited Official Statistics’ logo. All other statistics are ‘Official Statistics’ (including ‘Official Statistics in Development’).

‘Accredited Official Statistics’ have been judged by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics. This means these statistics meet the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value as set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Further information about accredited official statistics can be found on the OSR’s website.

The OSR undertook a full assessment of the Home Office immigration statistics in February 2012. The continued designation of these statistics as National Statistics was again confirmed in September 2018, following a further compliance check by the Office for Statistics Regulation.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the OSR which sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly via migrationstatsenquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

2. Changes to the release

2.1 Data system transition

The UK’s immigration system and the routes migrants can take to the UK are subject to change. New routes are reflected in Home Office caseworking and reporting systems. Any changes, including new routes or schemes, will be clearly signposted in relevant statistical publications.

Home Office IT systems are undergoing significant transformation, including the replacement of legacy case working systems, from which administrative data used in the migration statistics is derived. This case working system transformation, along with the supporting data infrastructure changes that must follow, will continue during 2026. We expect to maintain use of the core functions of the systems over this period, including the development and publication of new migration statistics.

In addition, published numbers may be revised in future quarters following this period of change. More information can be found in the user guide, Section 2.8.

2.2 How many citizenship grants have been issued in the UK?

From August 2026, we’ve introduced a new chapter on citizenship statistics. These were previously included in the ‘How many indefinite leave (settlement and EUSS settled status grants have been issued in the UK?’ topic. This change has been made to improve the clarity of reporting by reflecting citizenship as a distinct stage of the migration journey. The change affects the structure of the publication only and does not affect the underlying statistics.

2.3 EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) applications and grants by sex

In response to user demand for more detailed demographic insights, from August 2026, a sex breakdown has been incorporated into the detailed EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) data tables (EUSS_D01 to EUSS_D03 and some summary tables). This enhancement provides a more comprehensive breakdown of EUSS applications and grants, supporting greater transparency and enabling further analysis of trends across demographic groups.

2.4 Asylum summary tables

Summary tables Asy_03b and Asy_03c will no longer be produced after this release. These tables show the progress of asylum claims by the legislation that applies to the cohort: pre-NABA (claimed before the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 came into force on 28 June 2022), post-NABA (claimed on or after 28 June 2022 but before 23 July 2024, when the retrospective element of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 was removed) and flow (claimed on or after 23 July 2024). The cessation of updates to these tables reflects the declining user relevance of these historic legislative groupings. The clearance of the legacy backlog in 2023 means that most claims from the earlier cohorts have received an initial decision (meaning data related to these cases would remain the same even if the tables continued to be updated). In addition, the differentiation policy (s.12 NABA 2022) has been paused. Therefore, the relevance of these groupings, and the need for users to distinguish between claims made before or after these dates, has declined.

2.5 Asylum claims from individuals who previously held a work visa

Data on the route an asylum seeker was on prior to claiming asylum is published in asylum detailed data table Asy_D01a. The ‘work visa’ category has now been expanded to include breakdowns of the type of work visa (for example, Graduate, Skilled Worker, Health and Care Worker, Temporary Worker) held prior to claiming asylum.

2.6 Revisions to returns of inadmissible asylum claimants

Data on removals on the grounds of inadmissibility previously did not include returns under the UK-France Agreement on the prevention of dangerous journeys, which came into effect in August 2025. The data has been revised, so that returns to France via this agreement are now included.

2.7 Asylum-related returns by nationality

Following increased demand by users for more comprehensive breakdowns of data on asylum-related returns, a full list of nationalities returned from the UK where the individual had an asylum claim or further submission at some stage prior to the return (“Asylum-related returns”), by quarter and return type, are now available in the returns detailed dataset Ret_D05. This expands statistics in Ret_04 which cover the 10 most common nationalities from the latest year ending period.

2.8 Foreign National Offenders in the Immigration System

As set out in the Home Office’s intention to publish statement in April 2025, new statistics on FNOs leaving immigration detention and FNOs removed from the UK were first published in May 2026. Further development work on statistics relating to FNOs entering immigration detention has now concluded, enabling the introduction of additional FNO datasets in this release.

2.9 Reclassification of organised immigration crime statistics

Statistics on organised immigration crime disruptions were first published as ‘Official Statistics’ and are being reclassified to ‘Official Statistics in Development’ from August 2026. The underlying data collection and methodology for these statistics are currently being refined to improve accuracy and consistency. While stable trends can be observed, absolute volumes are lower than previous releases as these improvements are embedded. Work is underway between the department and law enforcement agencies to improve data collection, quality assurance and statistical methods, and figures may be revised as this work progresses.

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 range of official statistics, research and analysis using Home Office and other data sources.

‘Migration analysis at the Home Office’.

This page provides a hub for collections and the latest updates relating to published statistics, research and evaluation on migration.

‘Monthly entry clearance visa applications’.

Statistics on visa applications for people coming to the UK for work and study.

‘Statistics relating to passenger arrivals since the COVID-19 outbreak’.

Statistical reports showing the impact of COVID-19 on the immigration system.

‘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 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.

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.

‘UK payrolled employments by nationality, region, industry, age and sex’ (HMRC).

Statistics that provide counts of payrolled employments in the UK by nationality, geographical region, industrial sector, age and sex.

‘National Insurance number allocations to adult overseas nationals entering the UK’ (DWP).

Annual statistics on National Insurance number allocations to adult overseas nationals entering the UK.

‘Universal Credit Statistics’ (DWP).

These statistics include the UC caseload broken down by the immigration status of those who do not have a common travel area nationality.

6. Notes on upcoming statistical releases

6.1 Resumption of statistics relating to exit checks

From 2016 to 2020, the Home Office released an annual Statistical Publication series titled Reports on statistics relating to exit checks. This publication provided details on visa expiries by visa category, and of these the volume and proportion of visa holders who were known to have departed the country prior to the expiry of this leave.

This Publication was paused following the August 2020 publication due to data quality concerns arising from COVID-19, changes to the UK’s Immigration system, and underlying developments to system which underpins the data used in this publication. These developments were previously detailed in the Developments in exit checks report, published February 2022.

Since then, significant progress has been made in addressing data quality concerns and the robustness of these statistics. While work is ongoing, we anticipate a resumption of publication of these statistics later this year.

7. 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 Jack Cooper

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.