About this release
Updated 21 March 2018
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2017/about-this-release
Back to ‘Immigration Statistics, October to December 2017’ content page.
The Immigration Statistics quarterly release gives an overview of work on immigration control, entry clearance, asylum and enforcement within the Home Office, including the work of UK Border Force, Immigration Enforcement, and UK Visas and Immigration. It helps inform users such as the government, Parliament, the media and the wider public, and supports the development and monitoring of policy.
The release includes the latest statistics, up to the end of December 2017 on a range of topics including:
- how many people come or plan to come to the UK based on admissions data
- Entry clearance visas, including information on those coming for study, work and family reasons as well as to visit
- Extensions of stay
- Settlement
- Citizenship
- Asylum and resettlement
- Detention under immigration powers
- Returns (both enforced removals and voluntary departures)
The Immigration Statistics release is a National Statistics output produced to the highest professional standards and free from political interference. It has been produced by statisticians working in the Migration and Borders Analysis Unit within the Home Office Analysis and Insight Directorate in accordance with the Home Office’s ‘Statement of compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics’ which covers our policy on revisions and other matters. The Chief Statistician, as Head of Profession, reports to the National Statistician with respect to all professional statistical matters and oversees all Home Office National Statistics products with respect to the Code, being responsible for their timing, content and methodology.
1. National Statistics
The UK Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics (see the Code of practice for more details).
Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.
The Assessment Report (No. 177) and letter of confirmation as National Statistics can be viewed on the UK Statistics Authority website at Publications: Assessment Report.
2. Changes to the release
The information published in the quarterly Immigration Statistics is kept under review, taking into account the needs of users, and burdens on suppliers and producers, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Feedback on the changes detailed below, and proposals for future changes, are welcome. If you have any comments, suggestions or enquiries, please email the team at: MigrationStatsEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk.
2.1 Data published for the first time in this release
For the first time, this release includes Home Office data on transfers under the Dublin regulation, Family reunion visas, and children granted asylum, an alternative form of protection, or resettlement.
Dublin regulation
The Dublin Regulation (‘Dublin III’) is EU legislation that establishes the criteria and mechanisms for determining which single State is responsible for examining an application for international protection (an asylum claim). The Dublin III Regulation applies to all 28 EU member states, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Once the responsible state has been agreed, the asylum applicant may be transferred between member states.
Data on the Dublin regulation are published for the first time in this release. Data in this section relate to the number of transfers to the UK for other member states, and from the UK to other member states. It also includes the number of requests to transfer asylum applicants to and from the UK. These data cover the period from 2015 onwards.
The data can be found in the ʻHow many people do we grant asylum or protection to?’ section of the main release. Further details of the Dublin regulation can be found in the user guide.
Family reunion visas
A Family reunion visa allows a spouse or partner and children under the age of 18 of those granted refugee status or humanitarian protection in the UK to reunite with them here, providing they formed part of the family unit before the sponsor fled their country of origin or habitual residence. For the first time, this release includes data on those issued Family reunion visas, broken down by age group, sex and nationality. These data will be published on a quarterly basis.
The data can be found in the ʻHow many people do we grant asylum or protection to?’ section of the main release. Further details on Family reunion visas can be found in the user guide.
Children granted asylum, an alternative form of protection, or resettlement
This release includes a further age breakdowns on the number of children granted asylum, alternative forms of protection, and resettlement in the UK. The data include those granted protection both as a main applicant, and as a dependant.
The data can be found in the ʻHow many people do we grant asylum or protection to?’ section of the main release. Further details on family reunion visas can be found in the user guide.
2.2 Consultation on International Migration Statistics Outputs
ONS with the Home Office and Department for Work and Pensions ran a consultation on International Migration Statistics Outputs that closed on 23 December 2016. Although ONS published the consultation, it included questions on presentation of statistics from other government departments that publish National Statistics relating to migration.
The purpose of this consultation was to gather insight and seek views on the presentation and timing of the government’s international migration statistics outputs and, specifically, what products are used, why and what other data could be published. ONS published a summary of responses to the ‘Consultation on International Migration Statistics Outputs’ on 17 March 2017.
The Home Office Migration Statistics team reviewed responses to this consultation and have implemented changes based on the feedback received. The first change was to introduce a shorter quarterly overview of emerging trends, first introduced in May 2017, complemented by a detailed annual commentary in August 2017. These changes relate only to the commentary accompanying the release. The consultation did not propose any reduction in the content of the underlying data which continues to be published in the usual way. Further changes will be made in due course.
If you have any feedback on these changes, please email:
MigrationStatsEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk.
3. Future changes
3.1 Landing cards
On 5 August 2017 the Home Office launched a consultation on a proposal to end the requirement for non-EEA passengers to present a paper landing card on arrival into the UK from 1 October 2017. The consultation set out the statistical implications of the change and how to respond to the consultation, which closed on 2 September. The Home Office is currently reviewing the large number of responses it received.
4. 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, and meets annually (at its conference, usually held in September). Home Office Analysis and Insight uses the user forum for communication 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.
5. Other Home Office research and statistics
This section outlines other relevant migration research, analysis and statistics that have been published by the Home Office.
‘Second report on statistics being collected under the exit checks programme’, published in August 2017, provides data collected on travellers departing and arriving in the UK as part of the Home Office exit checks programme with a particular focus on the requirements for statistical reporting rather than the operational use of the data.
‘Migration research and analysis’ brings together all documents relating to migration research, analysis and statistics. Reports from the Home Office include analysis of the Social and Public Service impacts of migration; the student visitor route; the reason for migration and labour market characteristics of foreign-born residents; the impacts of migration on UK native employment: a review of the evidence; and trends in employment and occupational skill levels amongst UK and foreign nationals.
‘Migration transparency data’ include performance data related to areas in the Home Office business plan. They also include data on borders and immigration activity which has been regularly requested from the Home Office by the Home Affairs Select Committee.
In November 2017, the Home Office published an experimental statistics report on ‘Asylum claims on the basis of sexual orientation’ for the first time. This contains data on asylum claims, initial decisions and appeals of cases where sexual orientation formed part of the basis for the claim.
On the same day as this release (22 February 2018), ‘Statistics on changes in migrants’ visa and leave status: 2016’ was published. This release is the eighth in the series, and explores migrants’ journeys through the UK’s immigration system.
6. Further information and feedback
We welcome feedback on Immigration Statistics. If you have any comments, suggestions, enquiries or need assistance in accessing the data, please email them to: MigrationStatsEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk.
Or write to:
The Editor, Immigration Statistics
Migration Statistics
14th Floor Lunar House
40 Wellesley Road
Croydon
CR9 2BY
Press enquiries should be made to:
Home Office Press Office
Peel Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
Tel: 020 7035 3535
The Home Office Responsible Statistician is Chris Kershaw. 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.