Last updated: 2026-10-19

UK immigration in 2026: net migration, small boats, asylum hotels and policy

UK net migration fell from a peak of 944,000 in the year to March 2023 to 171,000 in the year to December 2025, according to the Office for National Statistics. Small-boat arrivals were 33,000 in the year to June 2026, down 23%, and asylum claims were 86,000. Policy changed sharply in 2025 and 2026, and Reform UK, which campaigns for much lower immigration, became the second-largest party in the Welsh Senedd in May 2026.

The ONS figures are provisional and have been revised heavily. The Home Office figures run to June 2026. Where a number rests on a press report instead of an official dataset, the text says so.

Key figures

How high did UK net migration go, and how far has it fallen?

Net migration reached 944,000 in the year to March 2023 in the current ONS series and was 171,000 in the year to December 2025, the lowest since early 2021. A year earlier, in the year to December 2024, it was 331,000. Net migration is immigration minus emigration, so the same number can fall because fewer people arrive or more people leave.

For the year to December 2025 the ONS reports:

• Immigration of 813,000 and emigration of 642,000.
• Non-EU net migration of 350,000, British nationals at minus 136,000 and EU-plus nationals at minus 42,000.
• Among non-EU immigrants, study accounted for 47% and work for 23%, and work immigration fell 47%.

The 95% uncertainty interval for net migration is 145,000 to 197,000, and the ONS flags its estimate of British emigration as experimental. Earlier published peaks differed from the current series because of repeated revisions. The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford notes that the 2024 figure was revised down by 100,000 (23%) in May 2026 after a method change.

The Migration Observatory attributes the fall to the 2024 rule changes, which raised salary thresholds, limited dependants and restricted the care route.

The OECD recorded a similar pattern in permanent migration to the UK, which fell 41% in 2024, against an 8% average fall across Europe.

How many people in the UK were born abroad?

The UN estimates 11.8 million international migrants in the UK in 2024, or 17.1% of the population. The ONS provisional estimate of the non-UK-born population was 13.1 million in June 2024, up from 11.5 million in June 2022. The two figures differ because the methods and dates differ, and neither measures citizenship.

The OECD recorded record citizenship acquisitions in the UK, about 270,000, in 2024.

How many people cross the Channel in small boats?

In the year to June 2026, 33,000 people arrived by small boat, down 23% on the previous year. Calendar-year figures are higher: press reports citing Home Office data put 2025 crossings at about 41,500, 13% above the 36,816 of 2024. That figure is from a secondary source rather than the Home Office dataset. The record year was 2022, with 45,774 arrivals, according to the same secondary reporting.

Frontex counts the English Channel as a separate route and reported 2025 crossings roughly in line with 2024.

How many people claim asylum in the UK, and how many are granted?

Asylum claims were 86,000 in the year to June 2026, down 21%. The initial grant rate was 38%, against 48% a year earlier.

Returns in the year to June 2026 were 41,000, of which 9,700 were enforced. The rest were not enforced returns.

Other countries record far larger numbers: the United States received 912,000 new asylum applications in 2025 and Germany 113,236 first-time applications, as shown on the country comparison page.

How many asylum seekers are in hotels?

About 16,000 supported asylum seekers were in hotels in the year to June 2026, down 50% from a year earlier. Hotels became a focus of public protest and of a local council's court action in 2025. The sources reviewed here do not break down why the number fell.

What happened at the asylum hotel protests in 2025?

Protests in summer 2025 centred on the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, after a man housed there was charged with a serious offence, which he denies. In one police tally, 28 people were arrested and 16 charged in connection with the protests. A High Court judge granted an interim order to empty the hotel, and the Court of Appeal later overturned it, according to press reports.

These reports are secondary, and the court records were not reviewed. Protests also took place elsewhere, and this research did not compare arrest counts across them.

What happened in the 2024 Southport riots?

Disorder followed the Southport stabbings of July 2024 and online claims about the attacker. One month on, 1,280 arrests and nearly 800 charges had been recorded. By July 2025 the figures were 1,840 arrests and 1,103 charges, according to a Wikipedia summary of official and press tallies (secondary).

A Guardian analysis from freedom-of-information requests counted 949 people arrested for violent disorder. That number uses a different scope, so it should not be compared directly with the totals above.

The sources reviewed here do not attribute causes to the disorder. The Southport events and the 2025 hotel protests had different triggers: the first followed a violent crime and online claims, the second a local housing decision.

What is UK immigration policy in 2026?

The government's May 2025 white paper, published on 12 May 2025, aims to grow the domestic workforce and end reliance on overseas labour. Several of its specifics come from law-firm summaries and were still proposals in the sources found.

The Home Office said the temporary refugee status drew on Denmark's approach. Human Rights Watch criticised the change, and the Refugee Council argued the 20-year path would leave people in limbo.

The white paper PDF itself was not parsed for this page, so the settlement and skills details above rest on the legal summaries.

What are Reform UK's election results?

In the 7 May 2026 elections Reform UK won 34 of 96 seats (29.3%) in the Senedd, becoming the second-largest party behind Plaid Cymru's 43. It also made large gains in English council elections, with about 1,450 councillors gained according to Wikipedia and press tallies. Exact totals vary by source between about 1,451 and 1,454.

Reform UK campaigns for much lower immigration. The advocacy group Migration Watch UK argues that large-scale migration strains public services and social cohesion.

None of the sources reviewed establishes whether the fall in net migration has changed Reform UK's polling, so this page makes no claim on that.

What are the main arguments about UK immigration?

The debate centres on labour supply, public services and housing, and the sources hold different views.

Arguments for lower immigration or tighter rules

• Migration Watch UK argues that high immigration puts pressure on public services and social cohesion.
• The government says its policy aims to end reliance on overseas labour and grow the domestic workforce.
• The Migration Observatory records that the 2024 rule changes, including higher salary thresholds and limits on dependants, were followed by a fall in net migration.

Arguments for continued or higher immigration

• Foreign-born workers fill 22% of doctor and 17% of nurse posts across 30 OECD countries, according to OECD data for 2020-21. The figure is not specific to the UK.
• The IOM's 2026 report argues that restricting regular pathways shifts movement to irregular and more dangerous routes rather than stopping it.
• Critics of the refugee reforms include Human Rights Watch, which criticised the change, and the Refugee Council, which argued the 20-year path would leave people in limbo.

Fiscal-impact estimates from the Office for Budget Responsibility and similar bodies are not part of the sources behind this page, so it does not weigh costs against benefits.

How does the UK compare with the rest of Europe?

The UK had the fourth-largest migrant population in the world in 2024, at 11.8 million, behind the United States, Germany and Saudi Arabia. Its OECD permanent-migration fall of 41% was larger than the European average of 8%.

The UK sits outside the EU asylum framework. The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum began to apply in June 2026, and the Europe page compares UK small-boat numbers with irregular crossings at EU borders.

What are the key dates in recent UK immigration policy and data?

The sources reviewed give the following sequence, which readers can use to place the statistics in context.

How should the UK net migration figures be read?

Treat them as estimates that are revised, not as counts. Three features of the ONS series matter when comparing years.

First, the series is provisional. The latest year (to December 2025) carries an uncertainty interval of 145,000 to 197,000, so a change of a few tens of thousands between releases is within the range of error.

Second, the 2024 figure was cut by 100,000, or 23%, in May 2026 after a method change. Any article that quotes 331,000 for 2024 is quoting the ONS figure as it stands in the latest bulletin, and older bulletins gave different numbers.

Third, the ONS flags its estimate of British emigration as experimental, and that estimate affects the net figure because British nationals are the largest group leaving, at minus 136,000 in the year to December 2025.

The Home Office statistics are a different type of source. They count events recorded in administrative systems, such as asylum claims, small-boat arrivals and returns, and do not estimate population flows. The two series should not be added together.

Which groups make up UK net migration?

The ONS splits net migration by nationality group. In the year to December 2025, non-EU nationals added 350,000, British nationals subtracted 136,000 and EU-plus nationals subtracted 42,000. Among non-EU immigrants, study accounted for 47% and work for 23%, and work immigration fell 47%.

These are categories of nationality and visa type. They describe the pattern of flows, and they do not support conclusions about any group of people.

What is not covered on this page?

Several UK topics were not verified, and this page leaves them out instead of relying on memory.

• The UK-France "one in, one out" arrangement and similar returns agreements.
• Fiscal-impact estimates from the Office for Budget Responsibility.
• The full text of the 2025 white paper, whose specifics rest on legal summaries.
• Whether the fall in net migration has shifted public opinion or party polling.
• Final Home Office data for calendar-year 2025 small-boat arrivals.

Related pages

• World migration overview
• Immigration by country: 15-country comparison
• Immigration in Europe
• Canada, Australia, the Gulf and Japan
• United States immigration
• France immigration
• Somali communities
• Frequently asked questions