Accredited official statistics

How many people are returned from the UK?

Published 27 February 2025

Back to ‘Immigration system statistics, year ending December 2024’ content page.

Data on returns relates to 2024 and all comparisons are with 2023 (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. 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 and have subsequently departed)

It should be noted that both Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) and asylum-related returns which include returns of Failed Asylum Seekers (for example, those whose claims are not accepted) can appear in enforced, voluntary and port return categories, so 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 2024

Source: Returns - Ret_D01

2. Enforced returns

In 2024 there were 8,164 enforced returns to another country, an increase of 28% on the previous year (6,361).

Figure 1 shows that enforced returns have increased steadily following the low numbers of returns during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, with the latest year total (8,164) now higher than the number of returns observed immediately prior to the pandemic (7,198 in 2019).

Albanian nationals represent a large proportion of enforced returns over this period. Enforced returns of Albanian nationals increased following the signing of the UK Albanian Joint Communique in December 2022. The year 2022 also saw a substantial influx of Albanian small boat arrivals which have resulted in increased returns in the subsequent years.

Figure 2: Enforced returns from the UK, by nationality¹; 2021 to 2024

Source: Returns - Ret_D01

Notes:

1. Nationalities shown are the top 5 nationalities for enforced returns over the past 4 years.

The majority of all enforced returns since 2023 are returns of individuals who have been detained. 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

In 2024 there were 25,186 voluntary returns, up by 24% compared to 2023.

As shown in figure 1, voluntary return numbers have continued to rise following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 and now exceed pre-pandemic levels, although still below the levels in the first half of the previous decade.

Together, voluntary returns of people from India (6,741), Brazil (4,209) and Albania (2,670) accounted for just over half (54%) of all voluntary returns in 2024. Indian and Brazilian voluntary returns have increased by 67% and 64% respectively compared to 2023, however voluntary returns of Albanian nationalities have decreased by 26%.

The number of voluntary returns of all types has increased since the end of the pandemic. This has been the case across all voluntary return types. Our returns tables 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’).

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

23,009 passengers were refused entry at port and subsequently departed (‘port returns’) in 2024, 7% fewer than in 2023.

Border Force take decisions to stop arriving passengers based on the information that they provide. Nationality does not play a part in these decisions, but the nationalities of those refused entry at ports and subsequently returned has changed in the last few years.

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 here.

During the grace period 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 2024 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 a quarter (26%) of the 2024 total port returns.

5. Returns of foreign national offenders (FNOs)

Total FNO returns include enforced, voluntary and port returns.

There were 5,034 FNO returns made in 2024, which is an increase of 25% compared to the previous year.

Figure 3 shows that Albanian nationals represented between 24% and 37% of overall FNO returns each year between 2021 and 2024. Among other things, 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 prison 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 return. For more information please see the policy timeline document accompanying this release.

Figure 3: Returns of FNOs¹ from the UK, by nationality²; 2021 to 2024

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 enforced returns over the past 4 rolling years.

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 further, as with other returnees. Since the end of the pandemic, returns of FNOs have been gradually increasing, although in the latest year they were still 22% lower 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.

In 2024, there were 9,151 asylum-related returns, 36% more than 2023.

In 2024, around a quarter (27%) of enforced and voluntary returns were asylum-related. The total number of asylum-related returns in 2024 increased by 36% compared to the previous year. This follows large numbers of asylum refusals and withdrawals over the last 2 years, many of these relating to Albanian nationals. Albanian asylum-related returns accounted for 40% of all asylum related returns in 2024 (3,669).

For more information on the reasons for this, please see the ‘How many people are granted asylum in the UK?’ topic.

7. Small boat returns

Between 2018 and 2024, there have been 4,995 returns of people who arrived by small boat.

In 2024, there were 2,251 returns of people who had arrived by small boat, a 10% increase compared to 2023.

Of these returns, 84% were of Albanian nationals (figure 4), very similar to the proportion in 2023 which was 87%.

The 4,995 returns of people who arrived on a small boat between 2018 and 2024 represent 3% of the total number of small boat arrivals over the same period. The majority of small boat arrivals claim asylum (95% of arrivals since 2018), and cannot be returned unless they receive a refusal decision or withdraw their application. It can take time for an asylum claim to reach an outcome; and for the return of any arrival with no right to be in the UK to be enforced or recorded. 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, by nationality, by return date, 2018 to 2024

Source: Subset of data in Irregular migration to the UK - Irr_02e

8. About the statistics

We revise the latest 8 quarters of data as part of each quarterly 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.

9. 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.