Accredited official statistics

How many people are returned from the UK?

Published 22 May 2025

Back to ‘Immigration system statistics, year ending March 2025’ content page.

Data on returns relates to year ending March 2025 and all comparisons are with year ending March 2024 (unless indicated otherwise).

Additional information is provided in the ‘About the statistics’ section and in the user guide.

1. Returns

The Home Office seeks to return people who do not have a legal right to stay in the UK to another country. Returns are reported in 3 main groups:

• enforced returns (people subject to administrative removal or deportation action which is carried out by the Home Office)
• voluntary returns (people who were liable to removal action or subject to immigration control but have left of their own accord, sometimes with support from the Home Office)
• port returns (people who are refused entry to the UK at a place of arrival and have subsequently departed)

Both Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) and asylum-related returns, including failed asylum seekers (for example, those whose claims are not accepted) and small boat arrivals, can appear in enforced, voluntary and port return categories. These are counted in those numbers as well as being reported separately in Section 5 and Section 6 respectively.

Figure 1: Returns from the UK, by type of return, 2010 to year ending March 2025

Source: Returns - Ret_D01

2. Enforced returns

Enforced returns have increased in the year ending March 2025, exceeding the number recorded in 2019, with a substantial proportion comprising Albanian nationals.

Figure 1 shows enforced returns have increased steadily following the low number of returns during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Enforced returns in the year ending March 2025 (8,590) is 22% higher than the previous year (7,037), and also now higher than the number of returns observed immediately prior to the pandemic (7,198 in 2019).

The recent rise in enforced returns may have been partially driven by the resumption of certain categories of asylum processing after July 2024 to address the backlog. Moreover, reallocating 1,000 staff to immigration enforcement may have also contributed to an increased number of returns. These initiatives are part of the government’s Plan for Change, aiming to ‘secure borders’ through increasing the number of returns, among other measures.

Albanian nationals represent the most common nationality of enforced returns over the last 5 years and accounted for 29% (2,530) of all enforced returns in the last 12 months. Enforced returns of Albanian nationals increased following the signing of the UK Albanian Joint Communique in December 2022, which was a response to the substantial influx of Albanian small boat arrivals in 2022.

Despite the prominence of Albanian nationals in enforced returns over the last 5 years, returns of this nationality have now started falling, down 11% in the year ending March 2025 compared with the previous year. Enforced returns of other prominent nationalities, however, have increased, with numbers of Romanians up 39%, Brazilians up 30% and Indians up 94% over the same period.

Figure 2: Enforced returns from the UK, by nationality¹; year ending March 2021 to year ending March 2025

Source: Returns - Ret_D01

Notes:

1. Nationalities shown are the top 5 most common nationalities for enforced returns in the latest 12-month period.

Detention was used to facilitate the majority (95%) of enforced returns in the year ending March 2025. For information about detention statistics and trends please see the ‘How many people are detained under immigration powers in the UK’ topic.

3. Voluntary returns

Voluntary returns increased in the latest year, exceeding the levels recorded in 2017.

In the year ending March 2025 there were 26,388 voluntary returns, up by 19% compared to the year ending March 2024. As shown in Figure 1, voluntary return numbers have continued to rise following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic and now exceed pre-pandemic levels, although are still below the levels in the first half of the previous decade.

Together, voluntary returns of Indians (7,339), Brazilians (4,629) and Albanians (2,395) accounted for just over half (54%) of all voluntary returns in the year ending March 2025. Indian and Brazilian voluntary returns have increased by 48% and 64% respectively compared to the year ending March 2024, however voluntary returns of Albanians have decreased by 37% over the same period.

Our statistics categorise voluntary returns in 3 different ways: those made with assistance from the Home Office, including via the Voluntary Returns Service (‘assisted returns’); returns made where the Home Office was notified of the departure, in the form of self-funded (‘controlled’) returns; and those discovered through matching our database against passenger departures data (‘other verified returns’). Definitions of returns subcategories can be found in the glossary section of the user guide.

The number of voluntary returns has increased across all returns types since the end of the pandemic. Approximately half (49%) of all voluntary returns are those who departed the UK without informing the Home Office. The number of returns assisted by the Home Office has more than doubled in the year ending March 2025 (8,228) compared to the previous year (3,473).

4. Refusals of entry at port and subsequent return (port returns)

Port returns have declined over the last year, but remain higher than any time period before 2020.

There were 22,267 port returns in the year ending March 2025, which is 8% fewer than the previous year.

UK Border Force take decisions to stop passengers on arrival based on the information that they receive. Nationality does not play a part in these decisions, but the nationalities of those refused entry at ports and subsequently returned has changed since 2020.

Non-visa nationals such as those from EU countries can be refused entry because they do not have the necessary immigration permission to carry out the activities they intend to undertake while they are in the UK.

Following the end of Freedom of Movement with the EU, port returns of EU nationals in 2020 accounted for only one-sixth (17%) of all port returns. However, in the year ending March 2025 EU nationals accounted for more than half (53%) of all those refused entry and subsequently returned. Romanians have been the top EU nationality for port returns since 2012, making up over a quarter (27%) of the year ending March 2025 total port returns.

5. Returns of foreign national offenders (FNOs)

Total FNO returns include enforced, voluntary and port returns.

Returns of FNOs continue to increase year-on-year, with the year ending March 2025 now exceeding returns in 2019.

There were 5,154 FNO returns in the year ending March 2025, an increase of 21% compared to the previous year. FNO returns comprise of an almost even split of EU (49%) and Non-EU (51%) citizens.

Figure 3 shows that Albanian nationals represented between 24% and 37% of overall FNO returns each year between 2021 and year ending March 2025. Among other factors, the UK-Albania Joint Communique strengthened data sharing between the UK and Albania to identify Albanian FNOs living in the UK. Albanian nationals are also the most common foreign nationality held in prisons in England and Wales for criminal offences according to the latest prison population statistics from the Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service.

The Early Removal Scheme (ERS) enables the removal or deportation of FNOs at an earlier point in their sentence than would otherwise be possible. This scheme was extended in January 2024 to include FNOs who had up to 18 months remaining on their sentence, rather than those with just 12 months or less, increasing the pool of FNOs eligible for early return. For more information please see the policy timeline document accompanying this release. For ERS return statistics since July 2024, please see the ‘Returns from the UK and illegal working activity since July 2024’ statistical release.

It is important to consider that FNOs that are returned may have arrived in the UK some years previously or have lived in the UK for some time prior to their conviction and subsequent return.

Figure 3: Returns of FNOs¹ from the UK, by nationality²; year ending March 2021 to year ending March 2025

Source: Returns - Ret_D03

Notes:

1. An FNO is someone who is not a British citizen and is, or was, convicted in the UK of any criminal offence, or convicted abroad for a serious criminal offence.
2. Nationalities shown are the top 5 nationalities for FNO returns in the latest 12-month period.

Returns of FNOs decreased from 6,437 in 2016 to 5,128 in 2019, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic reducing the capability to return FNOs, as with other returnees. Since the end of the pandemic, returns of FNOs have been gradually increasing, although are still 20% fewer than in 2016.

6. Asylum-related returns

Asylum-related returns relate to cases where there has been an asylum claim or further submission at some stage prior to the return. This will include asylum seekers whose asylum claims have been withdrawn, refused and who have exhausted any rights of appeal, those returned under third-country provisions, as well as a small number of those granted asylum/protection but who had to be removed for other reasons, (such as criminality).

Asylum-related returns include enforced, voluntary and port returns, unless stated otherwise. The vast majority (98%) of asylum-related returns were enforced or voluntary in the year ending March 2025.

Enforced and voluntary asylum-related returns in the year ending March 2025 continue to rise from the previous year, up substantially since 2021.

In the year ending March 2025, there were 9,838 asylum-related returns, 29% more than in the year ending March 2024. Just over a quarter (28%) of total enforced and voluntary returns were asylum-related – a proportion that has risen steadily year-on-year since 2021 (15%). Enforced and voluntary asylum-related returns now exceeds activity in 2012 (up 7%) but are still 9% lower than 2010. This coincides with resumption of certain categories of asylum processing after July 2024 to address the asylum backlog and large numbers of asylum refusals and withdrawals over the last 2 years meaning more failed asylum seekers are eligible for return. Albanian asylum-related returns accounted for 35% of all asylum-related returns in the year ending March 2025 (3,471). For more information on the reasons for this, please see the ‘How many people are granted asylum in the UK?’ topic.

6.1 Small boat returns

Small boat returns were similar to the previous year.

In the year ending March 2025, there were 2,240 returns of people who had arrived by small boat, a 3% decrease compared to year ending March 2024.

Of these returns, 80% were of Albanian nationals (Figure 4), similar to the proportion (88%) in the year ending March 2024.

A total of 5,563 people who arrived on a small boat between 2018 and the year ending March 2025 were returned from the UK, representing 4% of the total number of small boat arrivals over the same period. The vast majority of small boat arrivals claim asylum (94% of arrivals since 2018). Small boat arrivals with no right to be in the UK will be returned from the UK if they receive an asylum refusal decision or withdraw their application, which can take time. Further information about small boat arrivals can be found in the ‘How many people come to the UK irregularly?’ chapter and information on how long people wait for an asylum decision can be found in the chapter ‘How many cases are in the UK asylum system?’

Figure 4: Returns of small boat arrivals of Albanians and other nationalities, by quarter of return, 2018 to Q1 of 2025

Source: Subset of data in Returns - Ret_06

7. About the statistics

The latest 8 quarters of data are revised in each release. Therefore, data for the most recent 8 quarters should be considered provisional.

Data on voluntary returns is subject to upward revision, so comparisons over time should be made with caution. In some cases, individuals who have been told to leave the UK will not notify the Home Office of their departure from the UK. In such cases, it can take some time for the Home Office to become aware of such a departure and update the system. As a result, data for more recent periods will initially undercount the total number of returns. ‘Other verified returns’ are particularly affected by this. Further details on the revisions can be found in the returns section of the user guide.

The statistics in this section show the number of returns from the UK. One individual may have been returned more than once in a given period and, if that was the case, would be counted more than once in the statistics.

The Home Office seeks to return people who do not have a legal right to stay in the UK. This includes people who:

• enter, or attempt to enter, the UK illegally (including people entering irregularly and by means of deception on entry)
• are subject to deportation action; for example, due to a serious criminal conviction
• overstay their period of legal right to remain in the UK
• breach their conditions of leave
• have been refused asylum

The published statistics refer to enforced returns which include deportations, as well as cases where a person has breached UK immigration laws, and those removed under other administrative and illegal entry powers that have declined to leave voluntarily.

As outlined in this intention to publish statement released by the Home Office in April, following upgrades to FNO data collection and infrastructure currently underway, the Home Office proposes to publish additional statistical reporting later in the year on FNOs in the immigration system.

8. Data tables

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

• Returns summary tables
• Detailed returns datasets

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See Section 6 of the ‘About this release’ section for more details.