Accredited official statistics

Summary of latest statistics

Published 27 November 2025

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

This Accredited Official Statistics publication provides comprehensive statistics on the operation of the UK immigration system.

The UK immigration system undertakes a wide range of activities including issuing visas to those outside of the UK, changes to visas, and grants of settlement and citizenship to those already in the UK, plus providing safe and legal (humanitarian) routes of entry, as well as granting asylum and carrying out enforcement action. Figure 1 illustrates the different aspects of the immigration system and provides the numbers of people dealt with by each in the latest year.

Figure 1: Summary of the UK immigration system, year ending September 2025

Notes:

1. This diagram is a simplification and doesn’t include all parts of the immigration system, such as people crossing the border who do not require a visa, or have entered via an illegal entry route. Data in different parts of the immigration system is not always comparable.

2. The EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) figure relates to grants of settled status and pre-settled status, in year ending September 2025.

1. How many people come to the UK each year?

In the year ending September 2025 there were 135.9 million arrivals to the UK. The majority (56%) were British nationals. Of the non-British arrivals, most will be short-term visitors, with smaller numbers arriving for other reasons such as work, study, family and humanitarian protection.

• there were 2.2 million visitor visas granted and 20,000 transit visas in the year ending September 2025
• in addition there 19.6 million Electronic Travel Authorisations (ETAs) issued since the launch of the scheme (October 2023) up to the end of September 2025, which allow eligible individuals to visit the UK for short periods
• people also come to the UK for other reasons, such as work, study, family and humanitarian reasons, and usually require an entry clearance visa – there were 839,000 visas issued for a non-visit reason

Figure 2: Total numbers of visas granted in key categories and people detected entering illegally, in year ending September 2025

Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes - Vis_D02; Safe and legal (humanitarian) routes summary tables - Hum_01; Irregular migration to the UK - Irr_D01

For further details see ‘How many people come to the UK each year?’.

2. Why do people come to the UK - Work?

• there were 175,000 visas granted to main applicants in all work categories in the year ending September 2025, 27% fewer than the previous year, but 28% higher than in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic
• work-related visa grants have decreased over the last 2 years, largely due to the decline in Health and Care visas – there were 17,000 Health and Care visas issued in the latest year (main applicants), down 89% from the peak in the year ending December 2023
• The number of Skilled Worker visa grants has also fallen in the latest year, with 35,000 Skilled Worker visas granted to main applicants in the year ending September 2025 - 46% fewer than the previous year
• the number of individuals granted an extension to stay on work routes increased by 16% in the latest year, reflecting recent growth in arrivals for work who are now reaching the point where they require an extension

For further details see ‘Why do people come to the UK - Work?’.

3. Why do people come to the UK - Study?

• there were 440,000 sponsored study visas granted to foreign students in the year ending September 2025, similar to the previous year, but 31% fewer than the peak in the year ending September 2023
• in the year ending September 2025, visas issued to dependants of students were 57% fewer at 20,000 compared to the previous year - visas granted to dependants have been low since January 2024 following policy changes restricting students ability to bring dependants

For further details see ‘Why do people come to the UK - Study?’.

4. Why do people come to the UK - Family?

• there were 68,000 family-related visas granted in the year ending September 2025, 22% fewer than the previous year, mainly due to falls in Partner visas (down one-third to 39,000)
• Refugee Family Reunion visa grants rose by 11% to almost 21,000, their highest level since the time-series began in 2005, following increased numbers granted asylum in recent years
• Pakistani nationals accounted for the highest number of Family visa grants, mainly through the Partner route, while increases among several other nationalities reflected growth of Refugee Family Reunion grants
• there were 61,000 Family extensions of stay in the latest year, a 5% decrease on the previous year

For further details see ‘Why do people come to the UK - Family?’.

5. How many people come to the UK via safe and legal (humanitarian) routes?

• the UK offered protection to 171,000 people through safe and legal (humanitarian) routes, either to come to or remain in the country, in the year ending September 2025; this is 95% more than the previous year, largely due to the introduction of the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme, which allows people already in the UK under the Ukraine schemes to continue their protection
• in the year ending September 2025, for grants to individuals outside the UK (out-of-country grants), refugee family reunion was the largest route, granting 21,000 individuals protection; the Ukraine scheme and BN(O) Hong Kong Route continued to decline compared to earlier years when the schemes were first introduced – granting 15,000 and 10,000 individuals protection respectively; a further 7,300 refugees were brought to the UK through formal resettlement programmes

For further details see ‘How many people come to the UK via safe and legal (humanitarian) routes?’.

6. How many people enter the UK via illegal routes, such as small boat or other clandestine methods?

• there were 51,000 arrivals via illegal routes, such as small boats and other clandestine routes, detected in the year ending September 2025
• small boat arrivals accounted for 46,000 (89%) of these arrivals in the year ending September 2025, 53% more arrivals than the previous year but similar to the peak in 2022
• the top 5 most common nationalities (Eritrean, Afghan, Iranian, Sudanese, and Somali) arriving on small boats in the year ending September 2025 accounted for almost three-fifths of all small boat arrivals in that period

For further details see ‘How many people come to the UK irregularly?’. For more recent data on daily small boat arrivals see ‘ Small boat activity in the English Channel’.

7. Asylum claims, outcomes and system

Figure 3: Asylum claims, outcomes and people awaiting an initial decision, between 2002 and year ending September 2025

Source: Asylum claims and decisions – Asy_D01, Asy_D02 and Asy_D03

7.1 How many people claim asylum in the UK?

• 110,000 people claimed asylum in the year ending September 2025, 13% more than the previous year and higher than the previous recorded peak of 103,000 in 2002
• half of asylum seekers arrived through illegal routes, such as small boats or clandestine methods, while a further 38% of claimants had previously arrived in the UK on a visa or with other leave
• in the year ending June 2025, the UK received the fifth largest number of asylum seekers in the EU+, after Germany, Spain, Italy and France

For further details see ‘How many people claim asylum in the UK?’.

7.2 How many people are granted asylum in the UK?

• 134,000 people received initial decisions on asylum claims in the year ending September 2025, 31% higher than the previous year and a higher number of decisions than every year between 2003 and 2022
• almost half (45%) of the initial decisions to main applicants in the year ending September 2025 were grants, a smaller proportion than the 52% in the previous year, although this was higher than the decade prior to 2019 where the grant rate was between 23% and 41%

For further details see ‘How many people are granted asylum in the UK?’.

7.3 How many cases are in the UK asylum system?

• at the end of September 2025 there were 62,000 cases awaiting an initial decision, (relating to 81,000 people), 36% fewer than at the end of September 2024, but 54% lower than the peak at the end of June 2023 (134,000)
• at the end of September 2025 there were 111,651 individuals in receipt of asylum support, 2% higher than a year prior
• 36,273 supported asylum seekers (32%) were in hotel accommodation, 2% more than a year earlier

For further details see ‘How many cases are in the UK asylum system?’.

8. How many Indefinite Leave (Settlement and EUSS settled status) and Citizenship grants have been issued in the UK?

• 158,000 grants of settlement were issued in the latest year, a 6% increase on the previous year, although still below the year ending September 2010 peak (242,000)
• work-related settlement rose by 11%, with almost three-quarters granted to skilled workers
• there were 331,000 grants of settled status (including automated grants) through the EU Settlement Scheme, a 5% decrease on the previous year, from the peak of 1.7 million in the year ending March 2020
• most were repeat applications (238,000), which fell by nearly a quarter lower from the previous year, partly reflecting the introduction of automated settled status grants, with an estimated 54,000 issued between January and September 2025

For further details see ‘How many Indefinite Leave (Settlement and EUSS settled status) and Citizenship grants were issued in the UK?’.

9. How many people are detained under immigration powers in the UK?

• 23,000 entered detention in the year ending September 2025, 17% higher than the previous year, continuing the upward trend since 2023; the increase in numbers of individuals entering detention may reflect the use of detention to facilitate the rising number of returns from the UK
• Albanians have been the most common nationality entering detention since 2022, but their numbers have been falling; numbers of Indian and Brazilian nationals have both doubled in the last year

For further details see ‘How many people are detained under immigration powers in the UK?’.

10. How many people are returned from the UK?

• in the year ending September 2025 there were 9,400 enforced returns, an increase of 22% on the previous year, continuing an increase seen over the last 4 years
• Albanians continue to be the most common nationality for enforced returns during the latest year, as they have been for the last 4 years; however, returns of Albanians fell 12% during the year
• there were 5,300 FNO returns in the year ending September 2025, an increase of 10% compared to the previous year

For further details see ‘How many people are returned from the UK?’.

11. What is being done to stop organised immigration crime?

• 3,200 OIC disruptions were recorded in the year ending September 2025, 33% higher than the previous year, continuing the recent upward trend
• this included over 100 major disruptions in the year ending September 2025, a 51% increase on the previous year
• moderate and minor disruptions increased by 62% and 29% respectively in the latest year

For further details see ‘What is being done to stop organised immigration crime?’.

12. Additional Home Office migration statistics

The Home Office publishes a range of research and statistics which can be found on the migration analysis pages.

Details on the developments and future plans for Home Office ‘Immigration system statistics’ can be found in ‘Developments in migration statistics’.

12.1 Migration transparency

Figures on performance against service standards and processing times are published as part of the Home Office migration transparency. For further details see ‘Migration transparency data’.

12.2 Migrant journey

The Migrant journey report provides an analysis of the behaviour of migrants entering the UK immigration system under the main routes of entry to the UK and the common pathways leading to settlement. For the latest publication see ‘Migrant journey’.

13. Notes

The Summary of statistics section in this release has adopted the term ‘illegal migration’ when referring to the act of entering into the UK unlawfully. Some individuals entering illegally may go on to claim asylum or regularise their status in the UK. This change affects terminology only and does not alter the underlying data.

We welcome your feedback

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