National statistics

Statistics on Ukrainians in the UK

Updated 4 September 2023

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Data relates to the year ending March 2023 and all comparisons are with the year ending March 2022 (unless indicated otherwise). Additional comparisons are also provided with the pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic period and for longer-term trends.

During March 2022, the UK Government introduced 2 new visa routes to allow persons affected by the war in Ukraine to come to the UK.

Introduced on 4 March 2022, the Ukraine Family Scheme allows applicants to join family members or extend their stay in the UK.

The Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme was introduced on 18 March 2022, and allows Ukrainian nationals and their family members to come to the UK if they have a named sponsor under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.

Additionally, from 3 May 2022, the Ukraine Extension Scheme allows Ukrainian nationals and their immediate family members to apply for permission to stay in the UK. They can apply if one of the following is true:

• they held permission to be in the UK on or between 18 March 2022 and 16 May 2023 – the permission does not need to cover the whole period
• they previously held permission to be in the UK and that permission expired on or after 1 January 2022

Weekly provisional statistics on these schemes are available at Ukraine Family Scheme, Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (Homes for Ukraine) and Ukraine Extension Scheme visa data.

Regional and local authority breakdowns for i) arrivals via the Homes for Ukraine Scheme, ii) individuals settled or in bridging accommodation under the Afghan resettlement and relocation schemes, and iii) asylum seekers in receipt of support, can be found in the Regional and Local Authority immigration data tables.

1. Ukraine Visa and Extension Schemes

Since their introduction in March 2022, there have been 283,366 applications for a visa under the Ukraine Visa Schemes; of these 225,278 have been granted and 169,300 arrivals have been counted to the end of March 2023. In addition, there have been 24,593 extensions granted under the Ukraine Family Scheme and Ukraine Extension Scheme.

Figure 1: Cumulative totals for Applications, Grants and Arrivals on Ukrainian Visa Schemes, by week, for weeks ending 8 March 2022 to 28 March 2023

Source: Ukraine visa schemes summary tables - UVS_01, UVS_02, UVS_03

Figure 1 shows cumulative data on applications and grants on the Ukraine Visa Schemes, and for arrivals, each week. Grants peaked in the weeks of April 2022 soon after the introduction of the new visas (around 15,000 to 16,000 in each of these weeks). Numbers granted on both schemes have reduced since that time, with the Ukraine Family Scheme reducing more quickly after its initial high take-up. After the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme saw large numbers of early grants, numbers have reduced, and since August 2022 have been a much lower but steady stream of around 800 grants per week. At all points, grants are lower than applications due to case working time, and arrivals are lower than grants due to people who have not yet travelled to the UK or have chosen not to make use of the visa at this point. More weekly information can be found in the new Ukraine visa schemes summary tables.

1.1 Grants

There have been 225,278 visas granted on the Ukraine Visa Schemes since their introduction, with 67,484 (30%) on the Ukraine Family Scheme and 157,794 (70%) on the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme.

Figure 2: Visa grants to Ukrainian Visa Schemes, by week, for weeks ending 8 March 2022 to 28 March 2023

Source: Ukraine visa schemes summary tables - UVS_02

Figure 2 shows high grants per week at the start of both schemes. The Ukraine Sponsorship scheme peaked at 14,315 grants in the week ending 19 April, before settling to around 900 grants per week in August 2022, and then falling to around 700 grants per week from February 2023. The Ukraine Family Scheme grants peaked earlier with 9,236 in the week ending 22 March 2022 and reduced more rapidly and since February 2023 have been running at around 200 grants per week.

Included in Figure 2, there have been 2,828 non-Ukrainian family members of Ukrainian nationals issued a visa under one of the Ukrainian schemes since they began (924 under the Family Scheme and 1,904 under the Sponsorship Scheme).

1.2 Arrivals

Ukraine arrival and departures figures have been rounded to the nearest 100 and relate to individuals who arrived into, or departed from, the UK, where the arrival/departure has been linked to a Ukraine scheme visa. Where individuals have multiple visits, their earliest arrival after the grant has been used. This data therefore counts people, rather than arrivals/departures. Individuals arriving during the latest quarter may have received their grant in an earlier quarter. The data may undercount the total number of arrivals and departures. For example, any person travelling into, or out of, the UK from the Common Travel Area (from Ireland) will not be recorded in the data.

As of 31 March 2023, 169,300 people had arrived in the UK on one of the Ukraine visa Schemes since they began, although some of these will have since left the UK either temporarily or permanently. Of those who were recorded as arriving, 49,900 (29%) were on the Ukraine Family Scheme and 119,400 (71%) were on the Ukraine sponsorship scheme. These numbers include non-Ukrainian family members of Ukrainian nationals.

Figure 3: Weekly number of people arriving in the UK, using a Ukraine Scheme visa for the first time

Source: Ukraine visa schemes summary tables - UVS_03

Figure 3 shows that arrivals on the Ukraine Family Scheme peaked at almost 4,000 in the last week of March 2022. The Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (Homes for Ukraine) opened 18 March 2022 and arrivals on the Scheme peaked at over 8,000 in the first week of May 2022. Arrivals on both schemes have fallen since. In October, the total weekly arrivals fell below 2,000 for the first time. In early January, they fell below 900 for the first time, increasing again in mid-January to 1,800 before falling again to 1,000 by the end of March.

As of the end of March 2023, around 57,600 people who had previously arrived on the Ukraine schemes had exited the UK and were believed to be out of the country. Some of these will have left temporarily and may subsequently return, while others may have no intention to return.

1.2.1 Demographic characteristics of new Ukrainian arrivals

As of the end of March 2023, adult females aged 18 to 64 accounted for almost half (48%) of the people who have arrived from Ukraine since the schemes began, children (aged 17 and under) accounted for 29%, and adult males aged 18 to 64 accounted for 18%.

Figure 4: Number of people arriving on one of the Ukraine schemes by age and sex

Source: Ukraine visa schemes summary tables - UVS_03, UVS_04 and underlying data

Figure 4 shows that arrivals peaked for all age groups in early May 2022, with the exception of those aged 65 and over, which peaked in April 2022. Arrivals have since declined across all age groups and stabilized towards the end of 2022. There was a dip in arrivals in early January 2023 and mid-February 2023 for all age groups.

1.3 Extensions

There were a total of 24,593 extensions granted on Ukraine Schemes since their introduction, 7,776 (32%) on the Ukraine Family Scheme and 16,817 (68%) on the Ukraine Extension Scheme. Of these 268 non-Ukrainian family members of Ukrainian nationals were granted extensions under one of the Ukrainian schemes (163 under the Extension Scheme and 105 under the Family Scheme).

There were high grant volumes initially under the Ukraine extension schemes, with 13,277 (57%) between the beginning of April and end of June in 2022, but has reduced to 2,164 in the first 3 months of 2023. This is likely due to the variability in expiry date of applicants’ previous permission to enter or remain in the UK.

2. Entry clearance visas and extensions issued to Ukrainian nationals

In year ending March 2023, there were 30,477 visa applications from Ukrainian nationals (excluding applications on the Ukraine Visa Schemes), and 29,102 visas granted. In the same period, there were 2,221 grants of extension in routes outside of the Ukraine Schemes to Ukrainian nationals.

Figure 5: Visa Grants to Ukrainian nationals on routes excluding Ukraine Schemes years ending March 2014 to March 2023

Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02

As can be seen in Figure 5, Visitor visas granted ranged around 30,000 to 40,000 in each of the years before the COVID-19 pandemic, peaking at 46,265 in the year ending March 2020, while numbers of visas in Family, Dependant joining or accompanying, Other, Study and Work were broadly consistent over the same period.

The majority of non-Ukraine scheme visas granted in year ending March 2023 were in the Visitor category (20,984 or 72%), but these numbers are still relatively low. More information on the visitor visas can be found in How many people come to the UK each year (including visitors)?.

Work visa grants had increased after the significant uptake in Seasonal Worker visas from Ukrainian nationals after 2020. Seasonal Workers made up 19% (5,503) of visas granted to Ukrainians in the year ending March 2023, although this was 72% lower than the year ending March 2022 when Ukrainian nationals made up almost two-thirds (61%) of all grants. For Seasonal Workers, more information can be found in Why do people come to the UK? For work.

Since the pandemic the number of Ukrainian nationals granted a study visa has been small, for further information please see Why do people come to the UK? To study.

Grants for Family related visas, excluding the Ukraine Scheme Visas, have also seen a reduction in use since the start of the conflict. This may be due to the requirements being similar to those in the Ukraine Family Scheme Visa, and have features which make it preferable to some applicants. More information on family routes can be found in Why do people come to the UK? For family reasons.

Figure 6: Extension Grants to Ukrainian nationals on routes excluding Ukraine Schemes¹ years ending March 2014 to March 2023

Source: Extensions – Exe_D01

Notes:

1. Excludes extensions granted to NHS, frontline health and care workers whose visas were due to expire before 1 October 2021. Home Office Management Information indicates there was a total of 577 such extensions granted, including dependants, in the year ending March 2021.

Extensions granted to Ukrainian nationals have increased steadily from 1,027 to 2,221 over the 10-year period in Figure 6, excluding an expected drop in the year ending March 2021. This growth has largely been in extensions to Family routes, but the Family route has seen a decrease in grants of extension in the year ending March 2023 when compared to year ending March 2022, which are down by almost a third (-28%). More information on extensions can be found in How many people continue their stay in the UK or apply to stay permanently?.

3. Asylum applications from Ukraine nationals

3.1 Applications

The introduction of the Ukraine Family, Ukraine Sponsorship and Ukraine Extension Schemes has meant there are a wide range of options available to Ukrainians seeking to come to or stay in the UK for protection, and only very limited circumstances in which a Ukrainian national might choose to claim asylum.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the Home Office temporarily paused making decisions on Ukrainian asylum cases to conduct an assessment of the situation. Updated country policy and information was published on 27 July 2022 and asylum decision making resumed on this date.

In the year ending March 2023, the UK received 244 asylum applications (relating to 362 people) from Ukrainian nationals. 202 applications were lodged between the start of the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022 and the Ukraine extension scheme being launched on 3 May 2022. Ukrainian asylum applicants may have chosen to withdraw their claim if they become eligible for the Ukraine-specific visa schemes (see Figure 7).

Figure 7: Asylum applications lodged in the UK by Ukrainian nationals¹, quarterly, from October to December 2017 to January to March 2023

Source: Asylum applications, initial decisions and resettlement – Asy_D01

Notes:

1. Includes main applicants only.

In addition to asylum applications from Ukrainians, there were 409 asylum applications from Russian nationals in the year ending March 2023. This is higher than seen in recent years (an average of around 100 Russian applications per quarter in the year ending March 2023, compared to around 30 per quarter between 2012 and 2021).

3.2 Grant rate and Initial decisions

From 2018 to 2021, the asylum grant rate for Ukrainian nationals was very low at initial decision, ranging between 5% to 12%. In the year ending March 2023, there were 4 grants of protection to Ukrainian nationals following an asylum application, and there were no refusals of Ukrainian asylum applications.

4. Data tables

Data referred to here can be found in the following tables:

• Ukraine visa schemes summary tables
• Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes
• Extensions
• Asylum applications, initial decisions and resettlement

Further information on the latest data on applications to come to or stay in the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme, Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (Homes for Ukraine) or Ukraine Extension Scheme. The data includes totals for visa applications received and visas issued to people. Ukraine Visa Schemes: visa data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

More information Sponsorship Scheme data split by parts of the UK and local authorities, provided by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is available.

Demographic Data for Ukraine Visas Schemes, split by parts of the UK, is provided by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

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