Home Office and ONS statistics
Immigration
Who comes to the UK, by what route, how many leave, how many settle and how many are removed. Long-term flows are ONS estimates; visas, settlement, detention and returns are Home Office counts.
Flows
Visa routes
- Entry clearance visas granted (all types)Year ending June 2026 · down 5.0%2,932,329visas
- Work visas grantedYear ending June 2026 · down 17.8%234,841visas
- Study visas grantedYear ending June 2026 · down 11.4%385,974visas
- Family visas grantedYear ending June 2026 · down 18.5%57,590visas
- Visitor visas grantedYear ending June 2026 · down 1.5%2,185,158visas
- People offered safe and legal (humanitarian) routesYear ending June 2026 · down 12.3%124,930people
Enforcement
- People in immigration detentionYear ending June 2026 · up 19.0%2,152people
- People entering immigration detentionYear ending June 2026 · up 1.7%22,037entries
- Enforced returnsYear ending June 2026 · up 6.5%9,669returns
- Voluntary returnsYear ending June 2026 · up 8.9%30,936returns
- Returns by destination group2026 Q2 · up 9.7%14,594returns
People often confuse this with
Net migration ≠ ImmigrationImmigration counts people arriving to live in the UK for a year or more. Net migration subtracts the people leaving. Both can be high at once; a fall in net migration can come from more emigration with no change in arrivals.
Foreign-born ≠ Foreign nationalForeign-born means born outside the UK, whatever passport a person holds now; many are British citizens. Foreign national means not a British citizen, and includes people born in the UK. The census measures country of birth; prison and immigration statistics measure nationality.