This report was last published in April 2025.
National context
In 2025 a large number of people continued to arrive in the UK by making the journey across the Channel. The Labour government responded by signing a Treaty with France under which France would accept returns and the UK would accept people as an alternative to making the crossing. Only a very few hundred people have been moved in each direction under the Treaty (the treaty came into force 6 August 2025: 305 sent to France as of 3 February 2026[1] and 350 brought to the UK as of 27 January 2026[2]), and there was no discernible impact on number of people making the journey, which increased from around 36,816 in 2024 to 41,472 in 2025.[3]
Other tactics the government used or is proposing to use to reduce numbers include restrictions on refugee family reunion, a decrease to the length of refugee leave granted, an increased period that people need to wait before settlement, and the use of “visa brakes” whereby people from certain countries are prohibited from coming to the UK as a student or worker.
International protection
- Key asylum statistics: 100,625 people applied for asylum in the UK (main applicants and their dependants), including 6,462 from Afghanistan and 7,419 from Iran. 17% of applicants were children (both accompanied and unaccompanied) and 72% were men and boys. The recognition rate at first instance continued to drop and was 41% in 2025, down from 47% in 2024 and 67% in 2023.There were 64,426 people still waiting for a decision at the end of 2025, a large drop from the 124,802 people waiting at the end of 2024 (see Statistics).
- Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 becomes law: the Safety of Rwanda Act 2024 was formally repealed on 2 December 2025, the day the BSAI Act received Royal Assent.[4] The BSAI Act also repealed certain provisions of the Illegal Migration Act 2023, in particular those that prohibited people from being granted leave where they arrived in the UK without permission and certain other criteria were met. In practice, these provisions had already been rendered obsolete through regulations passed in 2024[5] (see Admissibility procedure).
- “Visa brake” imposed on some students and workers: in March 2026 the government said that applications for student visas from nationals of Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan would be refused because of the number of asylum claims made by people from these countries who were in the UK on visas. For Afghan nationals, the ban was extended to those on work visas[6] (see Legal access to the territory).
Asylum procedure
- Backlog of asylum claims moves into the appeals system: the high number of decisions being combined with the large drop in grant rate has had the effect of moving the asylum backlog into the appeals system where there were 80,333 asylum appeals pending at the end of December 2025, up from 41,987 at the end of 2024 and 19,459 at the end of 2023[7] (see Appeal).
- High proportion of asylum refusals are not sustained at appeal: of the 26,067 asylum appeals which were disposed of in 2025 (i.e. ended in any way, which can include for administrative reasons or withdrawals), an average of 31% of those were ended through the appeal being withdrawn. That figure has increased substantially over the course of 2025, from 17% in January to March 2025, to 42% for October to December 2025.[8] The vast majority of those withdrawals occur where the Home Office has withdrawn their decision to refuse asylum, either with a view to granting leave (subject to security checks), or to reconsider and remake the decision.[9] Of the 14,117 cases which proceeded to be determined by a judge, 39.5% were successful.[10] This is despite the fact that most asylum appellants are unable to find a legal aid lawyer to assist them[11] (see Appeal).
- Concerns about quality of Home Office decision making: the high proportion of asylum refusals which are not sustained at appeal stage has meant that concerns over the quality of decision making is increasing. The National Audit Office published a report noting that 42% of sampled decisions in the twelve months to May 2025 had “significant or fail errors”.[12] A UNHCR report looking at asylum interviews concluded that many of the issues with decision making stem from shortcomings in the interview process, including failures to clarify inconsistencies and establish key facts. In 19 of the 60 interviews that were either observed or reviewed by UNHCR, the full basis of the asylum claim remained unclear following the interview, yet in many cases the decision was still made without further interview[13] (see Regular procedure and Personal interview).
Reception conditions
- Far-right protests outside asylum accommodation continue: hotels being used as asylum accommodation throughout the UK continued to be the target of far-right protests.[14] In response, one local authority brought a judicial review asking the courts to stop a hotel in its area being used as asylum accommodation, however the legal challenge was unsuccessful[15] (see Initial accommodation centres).
- Reduction in use of hotels as asylum accommodation: the Home Office reported in December 2025 that the number of hotels in use as asylum accommodation was under 200,[16] around half of the reported 395 hotels in use in March 2023[17] (see Initial accommodation centres).
- Expansion of large scale accommodation sites: a further large scale accommodation site, Crowborough Training Camp, opened in January 2026. As is also the case with the other site of Wethersfield and the now closed Napier, Crowsborough is a former military barracks.[18] A third proposed site, Cameron Barracks in Inverness, has been delayed[19] (see Initial accommodation centres).
Detention of asylum seekers
- Number of people detained continues to rise: In 2025, 22,996 people were detained under immigration powers, an increase from 20,604 in 2024 and 15,864 in 2023. 13,418 people who were detained had claimed asylum at some point (see Detention).
Content of international protection
- Applications made on or after 2 March 2026 to be subject to shorter grants of leave: both initial and subsequent asylum applications made on or after 2 March 2026 will be granted 30 months’ refugee leave instead of the five years that were previously granted. Those who are or were unaccompanied asylum seeking children at the date of claim will continue to be granted five years’ refugee leave (see Residence permit).
- Move on period: On 9 March 2026 the Home Office ended a pilot which extended the period of time newly recognised refugees are given before their asylum support is ended (the “move on period”) from 28 days to 56 days. The same day, the Home Office announced that the move-on period would be extended from 28 days to 42 days from the date the grant letter is issued[20] (see Housing).
UK Ukraine Visa Support
The information given hereafter constitute a short summary of the Report on UK Ukraine visa support in 2025, for further information, see Annex on UK Ukraine visa support.
Eligibility and procedure
- Homes for Ukraine: this programme aims to match Ukrainian applicants and their immediate family (who may be Ukrainian or of another nationality) with UK based individual sponsors who, since 19 February 2024, must be British citizens or have permanent residence in the UK. On 31 January 2025 it was announced that a parent (or legal guardian) who has been granted leave under any of the Ukrainian schemes is eligible to sponsor their child under the Home for Ukraine scheme. The visa does not entail a fee. People have to apply from outside the UK.
- Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme: From 4 February 2025, those with leave granted under any of the Ukraine schemes can apply to extend their leave for a further 18 months when they are within the last 28 days of their leave. This is a free application. Following this 18 month period, a further period of 24 months will be made available, although applications for this have not yet opened.
Rights associated with status
- Residence permit: upon arrival in the UK, persons receive an eVisa. Leave was initially granted for three years. As of 19 February 2024, this was reduced to 18 months for successful applicants to the Homes for Ukraine scheme, with extensions then available under the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme.
- Labour market, social welfare and health care: all beneficiaries have access to work and all public funds, as they are exempt from the habitual residence test which usually restricts access in the first months after arrival. They are not required to pay the surcharge usually applied to visa beneficiaries to access healthcare via the NHS.
- Housing: The government surveyed sponsors in August 2023 and published experimental statistics which showed that around half (48%) of hosts had provided accommodation for 12 months or more. Almost all (99%) believed that their guests needed help to access private rental accommodation or to make other independent living arrangements. 31% of hosts reported bias or discrimination against Ukrainians by landlord or estate agencies.
- Financial support for hosts: Hosts in the Homes for Ukraine receive £350 per month as a ‘thank you’ payment for the first 12 months, increased to £500 after the first year, up to a maximum of two years. The local authority also receives funding for each arrival.
[1] UK Parliament, ‘Written question UIN HL14288: Undocumented Migrants: France’, 17 February 2026, available here.
[2] UK Parliament, ‘Written question UIN HL14066: Undocumented Migrants: France’, 11 February 2026, available here.
[3] Home Office, ‘Transparency data: Small boat activity in the English Channel’, table SB_02, last updated 22 March 2026, available here.
[4] Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025, s 40.
[5] The Illegal Migration Act 2023 (Amendment) Regulations 2024.
[6] Home Office, ‘Visa brake: changes to the UK visa system’, 26 March 2026, available here.
[7] Ministry of Justice, ‘Tribunal Statistics Quarterly: October to December 2025’, 12 March 2026, available here.
[8] Ministry of Justice, ‘Tribunal Statistics Quarterly: October to December 2025’, 12 March 2026, table FIA_2, available here.
[9] See e.g. Upper Tribunal, R (on the application of HI) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (rule 17 withdrawal, legitimate expectation) [2026] UKUT 00079, available here.
[10] Ministry of Justice, ‘Tribunal Statistics Quarterly: October to December 2025’, 12 March 2026, table FIA_3, available here.
[11] Dr Jo Wilding, ‘‘No Access to Justice 2’: Mapping the UK’s continuing immigration and asylum legal advice crisis’, Justice Together, 9 June 2025, available here.
[12] National Audit Office, ‘An analysis of the asylum system’, 10 December 2025, available here.
[13] UNHCR, ‘Asylum Interviews in the UK: Audit Findings and Recommendations’, 9 March 2026, available here.
[14] See e.g. Kiran Stacey, ‘Members of far-right party organising asylum hotel protests across UK, Facebook posts show’, The Guardian, 23 August 2025, available here.
[15] Supreme Court, refusal of permission to appeal in Secretary of State for the Home Department and another (Respondents) v Epping Forest District Council (Appellant), 26 November 2025, available here.
[16] UK Parliament, ‘Written question UIN 99520: Asylum: Hotels’, 22 December 2025, available here.
[17] BBC News, ‘Where are asylum seekers being housed in hotels in the UK?’, 25 October 2023, available here.
[18] Home Office, ‘Crowborough Training Camp, East Sussex: factsheet’, updated 22 January 2026, available here.
[19] The Highland Council, ‘Asylum: Cameron Barracks, Inverness’, 11 March 2026, available here.
[20] Home Office, ‘Ceasing section 95 support instruction’, 9 March 2026, available here.