Accredited official statistics

About this release

Published 21 May 2020

The Home Office ‘Immigration statistics quarterly release’ series gives an overview of work on immigration control, entry clearance, asylum and enforcement within the Home Office, including the work of UK Border Force, Immigration Enforcement and UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI). It helps inform users such as the government, Parliament, the media and the wider public, and supports the development and monitoring of policy.

This release includes the latest statistics, up to the end of March 2020, on a range of topics including:

• how many non-EEA nationals come or plan to come to the UK, and why (for work, study, family reasons, to visit)
• how many non-EEA nationals extend their stay while in the UK (through extensions, settlement or citizenship)
• asylum and resettlement (including asylum support)
• detention under immigration powers
• returns from the UK of those with no legal right to be in the UK

The ‘Immigration statistics’ release is a National Statistics output produced to the highest professional standards and free from political interference. It has been produced by statisticians in the Migration and Borders Analysis Unit within the Home Office in accordance with the Home Office’s ‘Statement of compliance with the code of practice for statistics’. The Head of Profession for Statistics reports to the National Statistician with respect to all professional statistical matters and oversees all Home Office National Statistics products with respect to the Code of Practice, being responsible for their timing, content and methodology.

The Home Office ‘Immigration statistics’ series forms part of a larger cross-Government Statistical Service ‘Migration statistics transformation plan’ to meet changing user needs, and which will put administrative data at the core of evidence on migration. Improvements to this release, which are part of this programme of work, can be found in ‘Developments in migration statistics’.

1. National Statistics

The UK Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics signifying compliance with the ‘Code of Practice for Statistics’.

Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics, it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.

The statistics last underwent a full assessment against the Code of Practice in February 2012.

The continued designation of these statistics as National Statistics was confirmed in September 2018 following a compliance check by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). The OSR report highlighted a number of strengths and made suggestions for improvements.

2. Changes to the release

2.1 New data table format

From August 2019, changes were made to the format of the published tables. These now include summary tables, accompanied by several detailed datasets. Following positive feedback from users, changes have been made to a number of areas including asylum and resettlement, entry clearance visas, extensions, sponsorship, citizenship, returns and detention. Changes will be made to the remaining areas in future releases.

The summary tables include a high-level overview of the main datasets published in each area. The detailed datasets allow users to explore the data in more detail as required. The ‘contents’ page within the summary tables contains an overview of the available datasets (including hyperlinks), while the ‘notes’ page shows how the information in the old tables maps to the information in the new tables.

2.2 COVID-19

As the quarterly immigration statistics cover the period from 01 January 2020 to 31 March 2020, some of the impacts of COVID-19 on the immigration system can start to be seen towards the end of the period. Where this is the case, a section has been added to each topic to refer to those impacts.

An additional one-off report will be published on 28 May 2020, providing a statistical overview of COVID-19 impacts on the immigration system through to the end of April 2020. The information in this additional report is designed to provide an overview of the key impacts on the immigration system of the outbreak of COVID-19 in the UK and the introduction of lockdown measures in March and April 2020.

3. Future changes

3.1 Landing cards

On 5 August 2017, the Home Office launched a consultation on ending the requirement for non-EEA passengers to present a paper landing card on arrival into the UK from 1 October 2017. The consultation set out the statistical implications of the change and closed on 2 September 2017. The government confirmed in the Spring Statement that to coincide with the ePassport gates expansion, the government will begin to abolish landing cards for non-EEA travellers. On 20 May 2019 it removed the need for all non-EEA travellers to fill in landing cards upon arrival in the UK and expanded the use of ePassport gates to seven more countries. The government’s response to the consultation was published in May 2019. As anticipated in the original consultation, ahead of new data sources being developed, the withdrawal of landing cards has resulted in a temporary loss to the passenger arrivals data broken down by nationality and reason for travel. The last set of published data on non-EEA nationals arriving in the UK (based on Landing Cards), cover the period 2004 to 2018) are available in ‘Immigration statistics, year ending June 2019 second edition’. Data on the total number of passenger arrivals will continue to be available as this comes from a different source.

3.2 Enforcement data review

The Home Office is reviewing the enforcement data that it publishes to ensure it provides a comprehensive overview of the enforcement system. The Home Office will launch a public consultation to enable users to inform future developments in enforcement statistics in 2020.

4. Migration Statistics User Forum

The Migration Statistics User Forum has been established for discussion of international migration statistics, allowing users to discuss their need for and use of the data, and for producers to consult on presentation and provide information on proposed changes or improvements to the statistics. The forum is a user-led group with over 200 members and affiliated to the wider Statistics User Forum established by the Royal Statistical Society. The forum meets annually at its conference, usually held in autumn. Home Office Analysis and Insight uses this forum to communicate with migration statistics users, including providing information on new data and publications.

Details of the next annual conference, any other events and information relating to migration publications will be sent to members of the forum via its distribution list. The distribution list is available to join through the MIGRATION-STATS JISCmail list.

5. Other Home Office research and statistics

‘Migrant journey: 2019 report’
Formerly known as ‘Statistics on changes in migrants’ visas and leave status’, this release explores migrants’ journeys through the UK’s immigration system.

‘EU Settlement Scheme Statistics’
Statistics relating to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS)

‘Asylum claims on the basis of sexual orientation’
Experimental statistics containing data on asylum claims, initial decisions and appeals of cases where sexual orientation formed part of the basis for the claim. This was released as part of the August ‘Immigration statistics’ release.

‘Fourth report on statistics being collected under the exit checks programme’
The report provides data collected on travellers departing and arriving in the UK as part of the Home Office exit checks programme. The report particularly focuses on the requirements for statistical reporting rather than the operational use of the data.

‘Developments in migration statistics’
An update on the developments and future plans for the Home Office migration statistics.

‘Migration research and analysis’
Research and statistics on migration to support Home Office policy development and operational activity.

‘Migration transparency data’
Performance data related to areas in the Home Office business plan, and data on borders and immigration activity, which has been regularly requested from the Home Office by the Home Affairs Select Committee.

‘Grenfell immigration policy statistics’
Following the Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017, new immigration policies for survivors and relatives were introduced. This report provides official statistics on the survivors and relatives considered under these policies.

6. Other migration outputs

‘Migration Statistics Quarterly Report’, ONS
A summary of the latest official long-term international migration statistics for the UK.

‘Local area migration indicators, UK: 2018’, ONS
Different migration-related data sources at local authority level including migration flows, non-UK-born and non-British populations, National Insurance number registrations, GP registrations, and births to non-UK-born mothers.

‘Understanding different migration data sources: August progress report’, ONS
A report examining the issues with comparing the UK’s various migration data sources.

‘National insurance numbers allocations to adult overseas nationals entering the UK’, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
Quarterly Official Statistics on National Insurance number allocations to adult overseas nationals entering the UK.

‘Migrant labour force within the tourism industry’, ONS
The current demographic composition of those working in UK’s tourism industry, and movements into and out of the industry.

‘International migration and the healthcare workforce’, ONS
How many migrants work in healthcare in the UK and explore their age structure, location and changes over time. Includes data on specific health workers in England, such as hospital nurses and general practitioners.

‘Short-term international migration for England and Wales: mid-2018’, ONS
Details of the characteristics of migrants who have completed a stay in the UK of between 31 to 365 days.

‘Population of the UK by country of birth and nationality: 2019’, ONS
Annual details of the residents of the UK by region and local and unitary authorities.

‘International migration and the education sector – what does the current evidence show?’, ONS
An exploration of what the current evidence can tell us about the impact and contribution of international migration on the education sector.

‘Guidance note for revising official long-term non-EU student migration estimates, year ending September 2016’, ONS
Guidance for users containing the methodology and reason for revising official long-term International Passenger Survey (IPS) estimates of non-EU study.

‘Nationality at point of National Insurance number registration of DWP working age benefit recipients: data to November 2017’, DWP Nationality at point of National Insurance number registration of DWP working age benefit recipients.

‘Update on our population and migration statistics transformation journey: a research engagement report’, ONS
A report updating users on ONS population and migration statistics transformation journey, and seeking feedback on our future plans

‘Transformation of the population and migration statistics system: overview’, ONS
Latest update on the population and migration statistics transformation journey.

‘The UK’s future skills-based immigration system’, Home Office
White paper setting out the government’s plans to introduce a new single immigration system, ending free movement.

‘Report on international migration data sources: July 2018’, ONS
A report on international migration data sources.

‘Migration statistics transformation update: May 2018’, ONS
An update of the Migration Statistics Transformation Programme for May 2018.

‘What’s happening with international student migration?’, ONS
An update on our progress towards developing a better understanding on student migration to and from the UK since the April 2017 update.

‘International migration articles’, ONS
All ONS articles relating to international migration.

‘International migration – table of contents’, ONS
Tool to locate the datasets for all ONS international migration outputs.

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) is an independent, non-statutory, non-time limited, non-departmental public body that advises the government on migration issues. It publishes a range of reports on migration.

7. Further information and feedback

If you have any comments, or suggestions for the development of this report, please provide feedback by emailing [email protected]. Please include the words ‘PUBLICATION FEEDBACK’ in the subject of your email.

Write to:

The Editor, Immigration Statistics
Migration Statistics
14th Floor Lunar House
40 Wellesley Road
Croydon
CR9 2BY

Press enquiries should be made to:

Home Office Press Office
Peel Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
Tel: 020 7035 3535

The Home Office Responsible Statistician is Bex Newell. The Home Office Migration Statistics mission statement is:

We produce timely, accurate and objective statistics on immigration to support effective delivery of Home Office objectives and to inform government, Parliament and the public.