UK asylum claims drop slightly in 2025 as small boat arrivals rise by 13%

The number of people claiming asylum in the UK fell by 4% in 2025, according to new Home Office figures - as the number of people arriving on small boats rose by 13%.

Some 100,625 people claimed asylum in the year to December and about 40% of these arrived by small boats, the figures show.

But while the number of small boat arrivals increased to 41,262, the figure still remains lower than the peak of 45,774 in 2022.

Small boats made up the majority (89%) of those who came to the UK via illegal routes, with other methods including lorries and shipping containers.

Meanwhile, the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels has fallen by 19% to 30,657, as more people are moved into longer-term accommodation.

In the past year, more than 72,000 asylum seekers were housed in longer-term accommodation, which includes houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), as opposed to hotels.

The government had previously expressed its commitment to closing all asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament, which would be in 2029, explaining that this would see a move to the use of 'larger sites' such as military sites.

According to the figures, the most common nationalities of asylum seekers arriving by small boat were Eritrea (19%), Afghanistan (12%), Iran (11%), Sudan (11%), and Somalia (9%).

It comes as the warmer weather has seen more people attempt to cross the Channel over the past few days. Statistics from earlier this week show that 74 migrants arrived in the UK on Tuesday.

In Ramsgate on Wednesday, the BBC witnessed dozens of people being retrieved from small boats in the Channel by Border Force and RNLI lifeboats. A large number of women and children were among those seen disembarking from the vessels.

The figures show there have been falls in claims from people arriving via all other routes.

Slightly fewer people came via other illegal routes last year, such as in lorries or shipping containers.

There were also falls in the number of people claiming asylum after having previously come into the UK with a visa. Some people arrive in the UK on work, study or visitor visas and then claim asylum while they're here.

That accounts for nearly as many asylum claims as small boats - this figure had been rising steadily since the end of 2021.

However, over the last 18 months that number has started to fall, mainly because of fewer students claiming asylum. This, in turn, has contributed to the drop we are now seeing in asylum claims.

The Home Office figures also show that the number of sponsored study visas granted to foreign students increased by 3% in the past year, to 426,471.However, this is still down 35% from its peak in the year ending June 2023.

In the year to December 2025, the top three nationalities for students getting sponsored study visas were Indian, Chinese and Pakistani.

There has been a 10% decrease in the number of visas issued to dependants of students, with19,647 reported. This follows policy changes restricting students' ability to bring dependants to the UK.

According to the Home Office data, there has been less people arriving on work-related visas. There were 261,112 people granted access through the visas in the past year – including applicants and dependents – which is almost 30% lower than the previous year, where the figure stood at 368,139.

The backlog of people waiting for a decision on their asylum claim has fallen to 64,426 - the lowest level since 2020.

Of the 108,000 applications processed in the past year, 42% were granted refugee or protection status and 58% were refused. Refused applicants can appeal their decision.

There were 9,914 enforced returns for people who did not have the legal right to remain in the UK in the year ending December 2025 - a 21% increase from the previous year.

Factors driving this increase include asylum-related returns, agreements with countries outside the UK, schemes to remove foreign offenders, and schemes to return small boat arrivals, the Home Office said.

Albanian nationals have been consistently the most common nationality of enforced returns over the last five years, according to the Home Office.