Accredited official statistics

How many people come to the UK each year?

Published 27 February 2025

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

Data relates to 2024 and all comparisons are with 2023 (unless indicated otherwise).

1. Overview

In 2024 there were 132.3 million arrivals to the UK. The majority (55%) were British nationals. Of the non-British arrivals, most will be short-term arrivals such as visitors, with smaller numbers arriving for other reasons (such as work, study, family and humanitarian).

There are several ways a non-British national may receive permission to come to the UK:

• visa nationals must apply for an entry clearance visa in advance of travel to visit or transit the UK – there were 2.2 million visitor visas granted and 16,917 transit visas in 2024
• non-visa nationals can be granted leave to enter on arrival at the UK border for a short, temporary period (usually up to 6 months), primarily for tourism
• since October 2023, certain nationalities may acquire an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) to visit the UK for short periods – there were 1.1 million ETAs granted since the introduction of the scheme
• people coming to the UK for other reasons, such as work, study, family and humanitarian reasons usually require an entry clearance visa – there were 955,576 visas issued for a non-visit reason in 2024

Figure 1 provides a further breakdown of the types of visas issued. People with existing immigration status do not need additional documents to come to the UK (for example people with settled status on the EU Settlement Scheme).

As many people will not require a visa or ETA to enter the UK, and some people may enter the UK multiple times on the same visa, there are considerably fewer visas granted than there are passenger arrivals.

A smaller number of people also enter the UK irregularly, some of whom will be detected on arrival (such as those arriving without a visa on a small boat), and others may enter undetected.

There were 43,630 detected irregular arrivals in 2024. These are not included in the total number of passenger arrivals. Further details can be found in the ‘How many people come to the UK irregularly?’ chapter.

Figure 1: Number of visas granted to come to the UK by main category (excluding visitors and transit), and number of detected irregular arrivals, year ending December 2024 (main applicants and dependants)

Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02; Asylum and resettlement summary tables – Asy_11; Irregular migration to the UK - Irr_D01

Notes:

1. ‘Other visas’ include settlement visas, temporary visas (excluding transit), EUSS family permits and some other family members coming to accompany others.
2. ‘Safe and legal’ includes out of country Ukraine and BN(O) schemes and refugee resettlement. It excludes family reunion visas which are included in ‘Family visas’.
3. Chart does not include visitors or transit visas, those coming to the UK who have indefinite leave to remain or status on the EU Settlement Scheme, non-visa national visits, or undetected irregular arrivals.

2. Passenger arrivals to the UK

In 2024 there were 132.3 million arrivals to the UK, 7% more than the previous year. Passengers arriving by air accounted for 88% of all passenger arrivals to the UK (across all routes) in 2024, with 7% arriving via rail and 5% by sea. These are the same proportions as 2023.

In 2024, 55% of total arrivals were British nationals, which is broadly consistent with previous years.

Figure 2: Monthly passenger arrivals to the UK, British and foreign, January 2022 to December 2024

Source: Passenger arrivals - Arr_02

Data for the period 2019 to 2022 come from Advance Passenger Information (API) and relate to air arrivals only, whereas from 2022 onwards it is sourced from the Borders and Immigration Transaction Data (BITD) system. Prior to their abolition in 2019, statistics on arrivals were derived from landing cards completed by passengers on arrival. Together, these sources of statistics provide a picture of broad trends.

From March 2020, following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a variety of measures were introduced to restrict global travel and the spread of the virus. These measures were phased out in the UK during the first few months of 2022, with travel to the UK now 7% higher than pre-pandemic levels (see figure 3). The Home Office published detailed reports on arrivals over the period of the pandemic (see Immigration and border statistics relating to COVID-19).

Figure 3: Monthly air passenger arrivals to the UK, January 2019 to December 2024

Source: Passenger arrivals - Arr_01

Notes:

1. Data prior to 2022 comes from API.
2. API data is represented by a dashed line, whilst the solid line represents BITD data.

3. Visitors and short-term stays

There were 2.2 million Visitor visas granted in 2024, 11% higher than in 2023.

Visitor visa grants have continued to increase post-pandemic but are still below their peak in 2019 (2.4 million). This difference is largely due to 126,654 fewer grants to Chinese nationals, 120,566 fewer grants to Saudi Arabians, who have been able to apply for an ETA to visit the UK since 2 February 2024, and 93,906 fewer grants to Russians following the start of the war in Ukraine.

In 2024, Indian nationals accounted for 25% of Visitor visas granted (549,249), with Chinese nationals accounting for 24% (515,928).

The increase in the latest year was largely accounted for by 102,272 more Visitor visas granted to Chinese nationals, 24% more than the preceding year, although still 20% fewer than in 2019, prior to the pandemic. The next largest increase in visitor visa grants in the latest year was seen by Turkish nationals with 47,852 more grants.

3.1 Electronic Travel Authorisations (ETAs)

An ETA is for visitors to the UK who do not currently need a visa for short stays, or who do not already have a UK immigration status.

There have been 1.1 million ETAs granted since the introduction of the scheme in October 2023. Saudi Arabian nationals, who have been eligible to apply for ETAs since February 2024, account for the highest number of ETA grants since the scheme began (295,189). The next highest number of ETAs issued were to nationals of the United States (178,996) who were able to apply for an ETA from November 2024, following the expansion of the scheme to eligible non-European nationals.

Figure 4: Electronic Travel Authorisations granted to the top 5 nationalities, between October 2023 and December 2024

Source: Electronic Travel Authorisation detailed datasets – ETA_D02

4. Other grants of entry clearance visas

There were 955,576 non-visit or transit visas granted in 2024, 32% fewer than in 2023, but 30% higher than in 2019 prior to the pandemic. This total was made up of Work (369,419), Study (419,312), Family (86,049) and ‘Other’ (80,796) visas, the latter group including the Ukraine scheme visas (19,346).

Figure 5: Entry clearance visas granted by route (main applicants and dependants) between 2015 and 2024

Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02

Notes:

1. Other includes Ukraine Scheme Visas, British National (Overseas), Dependants joining or accompanying, EEA and EUSS Permits.

Further analysis of those visas granted for work, study, family and humanitarian reasons can be found in the relevant topics.

5. About these statistics

The statistics in this section provide an indication of the number of people who enter the UK. Many nationalities do not normally require a visa to visit the UK. As a result, they will be counted in the passenger arrivals data but not in the visa data. A list of designated nationalities referred to as ‘visa nationals’ who do require a visa to visit the UK can be found in Immigration Rules Appendix V: visitor rules.

For several reasons, data on passenger arrivals is not directly comparable with data on Entry clearance visas granted. A summary of what each dataset counts is provided in section 5.1 below and section 5.2.

5.1 Passenger arrivals

The statistics in this release relate to the number of passengers crossing the border through legitimate routes. The method used to measure those arriving in the UK have been improved and differ from methods used previously and published regularly in the ‘admissions’ data tables, which are now a part of the ‘Passengers refused entry at the border’ summary tables. Further information on the differences between these methods can be found in the user guide. Any nationality breakdowns are based on the nationality associated with the passport used to enter the UK (regardless of any dual nationality held).

The statistics include people entering the UK on most air, sea and rail routes, and while they include the vast majority of arrivals, there are some coverage gaps. For example, people entering the UK via the Common Travel Area (CTA) between the UK and Ireland are not required to present their passport on entry to the UK and will not be included in the data.

Previous Passenger Arrivals reports used API data, which primarily relates to passengers coming to the UK via commercial aviation routes. The data used does not include those arriving by sea or rail routes. As a result, figures in this report may differ from passenger arrival statistics published elsewhere, however, the levels should be broadly comparable.

5.2 Entry clearance visas

Data on Entry clearance visas in this section refer to the number of visas granted for all reasons within the period. References in the statistics to ‘visas’ will also include Entry clearance ‘permits’, such as EEA and EU Settlement Scheme Family permits, or Frontier Worker permits. If an individual was granted multiple visas in a given period, this will be counted as multiple grants in the statistics. If an individual entered the UK multiple times within the period for which a visa was valid, this will be counted as one grant in the visa statistics, but multiple arrivals in the passenger arrivals data.

Year-on-year comparisons of the number of decisions can be affected by quarterly fluctuations in the data. Such fluctuations can be examined in more detail in the quarterly data that is available in the published tables.

Several known factors may have affected the number of applications and outcomes of visit-related visas over time. For example, the Home Office launched a 2-year Chinese visa pilot in January 2016 for Chinese nationals. The increase in longer-term Visitor visas may affect the number of subsequent re-applications by Chinese nationals.

More information on non-visitor arrival and visa data by category is included in ‘Why do people come to the UK? Work’, ‘Why do people come to the UK? Study’ and ‘Why do people come to the UK? Family’.

For more information on specific routes to the UK, including Ukraine Visa Schemes and British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) visas, see ‘How many people come to the UK via safe and legal (humanitarian) routes’.

5.3 Electronic travel authorisations (ETAs)

Data on ETAs in this section refers to the number of ETAs applied for, and either granted, refused, or rejected within this period. If an individual was granted multiple ETAs in a given period, this will be counted as multiple grants in the statistics. If an individual entered the UK multiple times within the period for which an ETA was valid, this will be counted as one grant in the ETA statistics, but multiple arrivals in the passenger arrivals data.

An ETA application is rejected if it does not meet the validity requirements set out in paragraphs ETA 1.1. to 1.2. of the Immigration Rules: Appendix ETA, specifically ETA 1.1. (d) and/or (e). Following a rejection, applicants are able to reapply for an ETA.

An ETA application must be refused where one of the reasons outlined in paragraphs ETA 2.1. to 2.7 of the Immigration Rules: Appendix ETA. is met. If an ETA application is refused, if the applicant wishes to travel to the UK they should make an application for a visitor visa.

Further information can be found on the electronic travel authorisation (ETA) guidance page.

6. Data tables

• Entry clearance visas summary tables
• Detailed entry clearance visas datasets
• Detailed Electronic Travel Authorisation datasets
• Passenger arrivals summary tables
• Irregular migration summary tables
• Detailed irregular migration datasets

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