Number of asylum seekers granted permission to stay in Britain soars by a third

The number of people granted asylum by the Ministry of Internal Affairs increased by more than a third last year.

Official figures showed that nearly 55,000 migrants were granted refugee status or some other form of permission to remain in Britain by December.

It was up 35 percent from the previous 12 months but was 14 percent below the peak seen in 2023.

Eritreans formed the largest group with just under 8,700 successful asylum applications, followed by Sudanese with 7,000 and Iranians with 6,900.

The figures only include people granted asylum by the Home Office at the initial decision stage and do not include those who successfully challenged their refusal in the immigration courts, which had a backlog of 70,000 cases at last count.

There were 46,497 illegal entries into the country in 2025; This figure increased by seven percent compared to the previous year.

This included 41,472 people transported across the Channel in small boats – a figure already known from daily updates published by the Home Office – with the remainder arriving through ‘undercover’ means such as hiding in the backs of lorries.

Small boat arrivals rose 13 percent in 2024, but remained below the peak of 45,772 seen in 2022.

Statistics also showed that the total number of asylum requests made during the year was 101,000; While this is a four percent decrease from the previous year, it is still near a record level.

The total number of requests for an initial decision from the Ministry of Internal Affairs reached an all-time high, exceeding 135,000; This means that the rate of those accepted dropped to 42 percent, down from 47 percent the previous year.

A record number of asylum claims (just over 80,000) were rejected by the Home Office; This represents a significant increase of 75 percent compared to the previous year.

This increase indicates that a large number of false claims are being made by immigrants; but after initial rejection, many file lengthy objections.

The number of migrants receiving taxpayer-funded support, including those provided with full-board accommodation in hotels, fell at the end of last year.

The data showed there were 107,003 people receiving Government support, a five per cent year-on-year decline and 14 per cent below the peak of almost 124,000 in September 2023.

These 31,000 people were in hotels; This figure is 19 percent lower than the previous year.

Just under 73,000 were in other types of accommodation, such as self-catering properties, up two per cent.

The number of people receiving only subsistence assistance and without housing increased by 15 percent to 3,577.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘Workers are moving illegal immigrants from asylum hotels to housing.

‘There is much less control and protection in dispersed accommodation, allowing illegal immigrants to work illegally, commit more crimes and disappear into your community.

‘Keir Starmer has presided over the most Channel crossings of any Prime Minister in history.

‘Labour removed only six per cent of those arriving on small boats.’

He added: ‘Labour does not have the backbone to tackle the illegal immigration crisis.

‘Shabana Mahmood has no control over our border and things are getting worse.’

Dr. from Oxford University Migration Observatory. Peter Walsh said: ‘Rejected applications will inevitably lead to tens of thousands more applications being made, putting significant pressure on an already highly strained court system.

‘Hotel accommodation is unpopular: expensive for UK taxpayers and unsuitable for long-term living.

‘But the government has struggled to increase capacity in other types of accommodation, such as disused military sites or scattered multi-occupancy homes.

‘It is also fighting to reduce the number of people in the asylum system because asylum applications remain unusually high and because appeals are backlogged.’

New data showed the number of people forcibly deported from Britain rose by 21 per cent year on year to 9,914, while the number of voluntary deportations rose by 5 per cent to just over 28,000.

This number included 2,550 small boat migrants removed during the year; This is the highest figure recorded since the Canal crisis began in 2018. Six out of 10 people were Albanians.

The total number of asylum-related returns increased by 23 percent annually to 11,631.

Additionally, 5,634 foreign national criminals were removed from the UK, an 11 per cent increase on 2024.

Home Secretary Alex Norris said: ‘Today’s figures show the impact of our action to end the costly use of taxpayer-funded hotels; As a result, overall asylum costs decreased by 12 percent.

‘The population in asylum hotels fell by nearly 20 percent last year, and by 45 percent since the peak under the previous government.

‘But we will not stop until all asylum hotels are closed.

‘We are currently moving out of hotels and into alternative accommodation, including former military sites.

‘And we are making major reforms to reduce the pull factors that draw people to this country and increasing the removals and deportations of those who have no right to be here.’