Duration of detention

United Kingdom

Country Report: Duration of detention Last updated: 30/05/23

Author

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The Home Office is responsible for ordering detention of asylum seekers. It is difficult to give meaningful data on the average length of detention of asylum seekers (outside the Detained Fast Track, for which see the section on Accelerated Procedure). There is no maximum period set in law, with the exception of detention of pregnant women and children which cannot exceed 72 hours, or 7 days with Ministerial approval. While data on length of immigration detention is now available for the last six years, the figures do not distinguish between asylum seekers and other immigration detainees. Periods of immigration detention including asylum seekers and other foreign nationals vary enormously from a few days to several years.

During 2022, 19,882 left immigration detention. Of these:

Duration of stay in detention 2018 – 2022
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Less than 29 days 17,655 18,076 11,968 21,074 14,150
From 29 days to 2 months 3,489 3,622 1,770 1,428 2,862
From 2 to 4 months 2,401 1,869 1,023 1,061 1,610
From 4 months to 12 months 1,752 849 641 710 735
From 1 to 2 years 188 122 100 79 72
At least 2 years 14 6 8 10 18

Source: Home Office, Immigration Statistics, Detention.

 

However, there is no cross-referencing of the number of asylum detainees in 2022 and length of detention of those who had sought asylum. The longest periods of detention are usually of people awaiting deportation after having served a criminal sentence.

 

Table of contents

  • Statistics
  • Overview of the legal framework
  • Overview of the main changes since the previous report update
  • Asylum Procedure
  • Reception Conditions
  • Detention of Asylum Seekers
  • Content of International Protection