Modern immigration to the United Kingdom

This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: Migration figures need to be revised in light of https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49420730. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (August 2019)

Since 1945, immigration to the United Kingdom, controlled by British immigration law and to an extent by British nationality law, has been significant, in particular from the former territories of the British Empire and the European Union.^[1]

Since the accession of the UK to the European Communities in the 1970s and the creation of the EU in the early 1990s, immigrants relocated from member states of the European Union, exercising one of the European Union's Four Freedoms. Immigration to and from Central and Eastern Europe has increased since 2004 with the accession to the European Union of eight Central and Eastern European states, since there is free movement of labour within the EU.^[2] In 2021, since Brexit came into effect,^[a] previous EU citizenship's right to newly move to and reside in the UK on a permanent basis does not apply anymore.

A smaller number have come as asylum seekers (not included in the definition of immigration) seeking protection as refugees under the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention, though many of these people also come from former territories of the British Empire.

About 70% of the population increase between the 2001 and 2011 censuses was due to foreign-born immigration. As of 2013, 7.5 million people (11.9% of the population at the time) were born overseas, although the census gives no indication of their immigration status or intended length of stay.^[4]

The UK currently uses a points-based immigration system. The UK Government can also grant settlement to foreign nationals, which confers on them indefinite leave to remain in the UK, without granting them British citizenship. Grants of settlement are made on the basis of various factors, including employment, family formation and reunification, and asylum (including to deal with backlogs of asylum cases).^[5]

Net migration into the UK during 2022 is reported to have reached a record high of 764,000,^[6] with immigration at 1.26 million and emigration at 493,000.^[7] Net migration was 685,000 in 2023. Of the 1,218,000 migrants in 2023, only 10% were citizens of EU member states. Around 250,000 people came from India, 141,000 from Nigeria, 90,000 from China and 83,000 from Pakistan. Around 50,000 people, including those from Ukraine and Hong Kong, came for humanitarian reasons in 2023, down from 162,000 in 2022.^[6]

According to an August 2018 publication of the House of Commons Library, several definitions for a migrant exist in United Kingdom. A migrant can be:^[8]

• Someone whose country of birth is different to their country of residence.
• Someone whose nationality is different to their country of residence.
• Someone who changes their country of usual residence for a period of at least a year, so that the country of destination effectively becomes the country of usual residence.

The Immigration Act 1971, section 1, provides for "rules laid down by the Secretary of State as to the practice to be followed in the administration of this Act".^[9] By August 2018, the Immigration Rules stood at almost 375,000 words, often so precise and detailed that the services of a lawyer are typically required to navigate them.^[10]

Individuals wanting to apply for British citizenship have to demonstrate their commitment by learning English, Welsh or Scottish Gaelic and by having an understanding of British history, culture and traditions.^[11] Any individual seeking to apply for naturalisation or indefinite leave to remain must pass the official Life in the UK test.^[12]

Visas for immigration are managed by UK Visas and Immigration, a department within the Home Office. Applications are made at UK embassies or consulates or directly to UK Visas and Immigration, depending upon the type of visa or permit required.

The UK uses a points-based immigration system. Tier 1 in the new system – which replaced the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme – gives points for age, education, earning, previous UK experience but not for work experience. The points-based system was phased in over the course of 2008, replacing previous managed migration schemes such as the work permit system and the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme.^[13][14]

A points-based system is composed of five tiers was first described by the UK Border Agency as follows:

• Tier 1 – for highly skilled individuals, who can contribute to growth and productivity;
• Tier 2 – for skilled workers with a job offer, to fill gaps in the United Kingdom workforce;
• Tier 3 – for limited numbers of low-skilled workers needed to fill temporary labour shortages;
• Tier 4 – for students;
• Tier 5 – for temporary workers and young people covered by the Youth Mobility Scheme, who are allowed to work in the United Kingdom for a limited time to satisfy primarily non-economic objectives.^[15]

Though immigration is a matter that is reserved to the UK Government under the legislation that established devolution for Scotland in 1999, the Scottish Government was able to get an agreement from the Home Office for their Fresh Talent Initiative which was designed to encourage foreign graduates of Scottish universities to stay in Scotland to look for employment.^[16] The Fresh Talent Initiative ended in 2008, following the introduction of points-based system.^[17][18]

In the lead-up to World War II, many people from Germany, particularly those belonging to minorities which were persecuted under Nazi rule, such as Jews, sought to emigrate to the United Kingdom, and it is estimated that as many as 50,000 may have been successful. There were immigration caps on the number who could enter and, subsequently, some applicants were turned away. When the UK declared war on Germany, however, migration between the countries ceased.^{[citation needed]}

At the end of the Second World War, substantial groups of people from Soviet-controlled territories settled in the UK, particularly Poles and Ukrainians. The UK recruited displaced people as so-called European Volunteer Workers in order to provide labour to industries that were required in order to aid economic recovery after the war.^[20] In the 1951 United Kingdom census, the Polish-born population of the country numbered some 162,339, up from 44,642 in 1931.^[21][22] There was also an influx of refugees from Hungary, following the crushing of the 1956 Hungarian revolution, numbering 20,990 people.^[23]

Following the end of the Second World War, the British Nationality Act 1948 allowed the 800,000,000^[24] subjects in the British Empire to live and work in the United Kingdom without needing a visa, although this was not an anticipated consequence of the Act, which "was never intended to facilitate mass migration".^[25] This migration was initially encouraged to help fill gaps in the UK labour market for both skilled and unskilled jobs, including in public services such as the newly created National Health Service and London Transport. Many people were specifically brought to the UK on ships; notably the Empire Windrush in 1948.^{[26][27][28][29]}

The Ireland Act 1949 has the unusual status of recognising the Republic of Ireland, but affirming that its citizens are not citizens of a foreign country for the purposes of any law in the United Kingdom.^[30] This act was initiated at a time when Ireland withdrew from the Commonwealth of Nations after declaring itself a republic.^[31]

Commonwealth immigration, made up largely of economic migrants, rose from 3,000 per year in 1953 to 46,800 in 1956 and 136,400 in 1961.^[24] The heavy numbers of migrants resulted in the establishment of a Cabinet committee in June 1950 to find "ways which might be adopted to check the immigration into this country of coloured people from British colonial territories".^[24]

Indians began arriving in the UK in large numbers shortly after their country gained independence in 1947, although there were a number of people from India living in the UK even in the earlier years. More than 60,000 arrived before 1955, many of whom drove buses, or worked in foundries or textile factories.^{[citation needed]} The flow of Indian immigrants peaked between 1965 and 1972, boosted in particular by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's sudden decision to expel all 50,000 Asians (people of Indian or Pakistani origin) from Uganda. Around 30,000 Ugandan Asians emigrated to the UK.^[32]

Following the independence of Pakistan, Pakistani immigration to the United Kingdom increased, especially during the 1950s and 1960s. Many Pakistanis came to Britain following the turmoil during the partition of India and the subsequent independence of Pakistan; among them were those who migrated to Pakistan upon displacement from India, and then emigrated to the UK, thus becoming secondary migrants.^[33] Migration was made easier as Pakistan was a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.^[34] Pakistanis were invited by employers to fill labour shortages which arose after the Second World War. As Commonwealth citizens, they were eligible for most British civic rights. They found employment in the textile industries of Lancashire and Yorkshire, manufacturing in the West Midlands, and car production and food processing industries of Luton and Slough. It was common for Pakistani employees to work nightshifts and at other less-desirable hours.^[35]

In addition, there was a stream of migrants from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).^[36][37] During the 1970s, a large number of East African-Asians, most of whom already held British passports because they had been British subjects settled in the overseas colonies, entered the United Kingdom from Kenya and Uganda, particularly as a result of the expulsion of Asians from Uganda by Idi Amin in 1972. A majority of the Pakistani immigrants to UK trace their origin to Mirpur district in the region presently called Azad Kashmir.^[38][39][40]

Although the Committee recommended not to introduce restrictions, the Commonwealth Immigrants Act was passed in 1962 as a response to public sentiment that the new arrivals "should return to their own countries" and that "no more of them come to this country".^[41] Introducing the legislation to the House of Commons, the Conservative Home Secretary Rab Butler stated that:

The justification for the control which is included in this Bill, which I shall describe in more detail in a few moments, is that a sizeable part of the entire population of the Earth is at present legally entitled to come and stay in this already densely populated country. It amounts altogether to one-quarter of the population of the globe and at present there are no factors visible which might lead us to expect a reversal or even a modification of the immigration trend.^[42]

— Rab Butler MP, 16 November 1961

The new Act required migrants to have a job before they arrived, to possess special skills or who would meet the "labour needs" of the national economy. In 1965, to combat the perceived injustice in the case where the wives of British subjects could not obtain British nationality, the British Nationality Act 1965 was adopted.

Shortly afterwards, mainly Asian British passport holders from Kenya and Uganda, fearing discrimination from their own national governments, began to arrive in Britain; as they had retained their British nationality granted by the 1948 Act, they were not subject to the later controls. To manage this exodus from the former East African colonies, the Home secretary James Callaghan under a Labour party government introduced a bill in February 1968, and got it passed within a week. The new act called Commonwealth Immigrants Act placed entry controls on holders of British passports who had "no substantial connection" with Britain by setting up a new system.^[43][44] For the first time, the 1968 Act required migrants to have a "substantial connection with the United Kingdom", namely to be connected by birth or ancestry to a UK national. Those who did not could only obtain British nationality at the discretion of the national authorities.^[45]

The Conservative MP Enoch Powell had campaigned hard for tighter controls on immigration, however one month after the adoption of the Act, Enoch Powell made his "Rivers of Blood" speech.^[b] Enoch Powell gave the famous "Rivers of Blood" speech on 20 April 1968 in which he warned his audience of what he believed would be the consequences of continued unchecked immigration from the Commonwealth to Britain. Conservative Party leader Edward Heath fired Powell from his Shadow Cabinet the day after the speech, and he never held another senior political post. Powell received 110,000 letters  – only 2,300 disapproving.^[48] Three days after the speech, on 23 April, as the Race Relations Bill was being debated in the House of Commons, around 2,000 dockers walked off the job to march on Westminster protesting against Powell's dismissal,^[49] and the next day 400 meat porters from Smithfield market handed in a 92-page petition in support of Powell.^[50] At that time, 43% of junior doctors working in NHS hospitals, and some 30% of student nurses, were immigrants, without which the health service would needed to have been curtailed.^[48]

Until the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962, all Commonwealth citizens could enter and stay in the UK without any restriction. The Act made Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKCs), whose passports were not directly issued by the UK Government (i.e., passports issued by the Governor of a colony or by the Commander of a British protectorate), subject to immigration control.

In 1972, the Heath administration introduced the first proposed Immigration Rules under the 1971 act.^[51] The rules proposal drew criticism from Conservative Party backbenchers, because it formally implemented a limit of six months of leave to enter as a visitor for white "Old Commonwealth" citizens who were "non-patrial" (did not have Right of Abode under the 1971 act, generally because they did not have a parent or grandparent from the UK).^[51] At the same time the proposal opened the door to free movement of certain European workers from European Economic Community member states.^[51] Seven backbenchers voted against the proposed Rules and 53 abstained, leading to defeat.^[51] Minutes from a Cabinet meeting the next day conclude that "anti-European sentiment" among backbenchers, who instead preferred "Old Commonwealth" migration to the UK, was at the core of the result.^[51] The proposal was revised, and the first Rules were passed in January 1973.^[51]

The Act abolished the distinction between Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth entrants. The Conservative government nevertheless allowed, amid much controversy, the immigration of 27,000 individuals displaced from Uganda after the coup d'état led by Idi Amin in 1971.^[44]

In the 1970s, an average of 72,000 immigrants were settling in the UK every year from the Commonwealth; this decreased in the 1980s and early-1990s to around 54,000 per year, only to rise again to around 97,000 by 1999. The total number of Commonwealth immigrants since 1962 is estimated at 2,500,000.^{[citation needed]}

The British Nationality Act 1981, which was enacted in 1983, distinguishes between British citizens and British Overseas Territories citizens. It also made a distinction between nationality by descent and nationality other than by descent. Citizens by descent cannot automatically pass on British nationality to a child born outside the United Kingdom or its Overseas Territories (though in some situations the child can be registered as a citizen). Immigration officers have to be satisfied with a person's nationality and identity and entry can be refused if they are not satisfied.^[52]

During the 1980s and 1990s, the civil war in Somalia led to a large number of Somali immigrants, comprising the majority of the current Somali population in the UK. In the late-1980s, most of these early migrants were granted asylum, while those arriving later in the 1990s more often obtained temporary status. There has also been some secondary migration of Somalis to the UK from the Netherlands and Denmark. The main driving forces behind this secondary migration included a desire to reunite with family and friends and for better employment opportunities.^[53]

One of the Four Freedoms of the European Union, of which the United Kingdom is a former member, is the right to the free movement of workers as codified in the Directive 2004/38/EC and the EEA Regulations (UK).

Research conducted by the Migration Policy Institute for the Equality and Human Rights Commission suggests that, between May 2004 and September 2009, 1.5 million workers migrated from the new EU member states to the UK, but that many have returned home, with the result that the number of nationals of the new member states in the UK increased by some 700,000 over the same period.^[54][55] Migration from Poland in particular has become temporary and circular in nature.^[56] In 2009, for the first time since the enlargement, more nationals of the eight Central and Eastern European states that joined the EU in 2004 left the UK than arrived.^[57] Research commissioned by the Regeneration and Economic Development Analysis Expert Panel suggested migrant workers leaving the UK due to the recession are likely to return in the future and cited evidence of "strong links between initial temporary migration and intended permanent migration".^[58]

The Government announced that the same rules would not apply to nationals of Romania and Bulgaria (A2 nationals) when those countries acceded to the EU in 2007. Instead, restrictions were put in place to limit migration to students, the self-employed, highly skilled migrants and food and agricultural workers.^[59]

A report by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) entitled International Migration and Rural Economies, suggests that intra-EU migration since enlargement has resulted in migrants settling in rural locations without a prior history of immigration.^[60]

Research published by University College London in July 2009 found that, on average, A8 migrants were younger and better educated than the native population, and that if they had the same demographic characteristics of natives, would be 13 per cent less likely to claim benefits and 28 per cent less likely to live in social housing.^[61][62]

Non-European immigration rose significantly during the period from 1997, not least because of the government's abolition of the primary purpose rule in June 1997.^[63] This change made it easier for UK residents to bring foreign spouses into the country. The former government adviser Andrew Neather in the Evening Standard stated that the deliberate policy of ministers from late-2000 until early-2008 was to open up the UK to mass migration.^[64][65]

With the expansion of the EU on 1 May 2004, the UK has accepted immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe, Malta and Cyprus, although the substantial Maltese, Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities were established earlier through their Commonwealth connection. There are restrictions on the benefits that members of eight of these accession countries ('A8' nationals) can claim, which are covered by the Worker Registration Scheme.^[66] Many other European Union member states exercised their right to temporary immigration control (which ended in 2011)^[67] over entrants from these accession states,^[68] but some subsequently removed these restrictions ahead of the 2011 deadline.^[69]

In June 2010, The newly elected Coalition government brought in a temporary cap on immigration of those entering the UK from outside the EU, with the limit set as 24,100, in order to stop an expected rush of applications before a permanent cap was imposed in April 2011.^[70] The cap caused tension within the coalition, and then-Business Secretary Vince Cable argued that it was harming British businesses.^[71] Others have argued that the cap would have a negative impact on Britain's status as a centre for scientific research.^[72]

The Immigration Rules, under the Immigration Act 1971, were updated in 2012 (Appendix FM) to create a strict minimum income threshold for non-EU spouses and children to be given leave to remain in the UK. These rules were challenged in the courts, and in 2017 the Supreme Court found that while "the minimum income threshold is accepted in principle" they decided that the rules and guidance were defective and unlawful until amended to give more weight to the interests of the children involved, and that sources of funding other than the British spouse's income should be considered.^[73][74]

Since the mid-2010s there has been a significant amount of discussion and controversy propagated by the now infamous "migration crisis" in 2015.^[75][76] The crisis marked a period of intense debate that saw a rise in racist and anti-immigration rhetoric, in particular both fueled by and fueling Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim sentiment.^[77][78][79] There have been far-reaching effects induced by the crisis including Brexit, protests and riots, the rise of far-right political parties.^[80][81][82]

The foreign-born population increased from about 5.3 million in 2004 to nearly 9.3 million in 2018. In the decade leading up to 2018, the number of non-EU migrants outnumbered EU migrants while the number of EU migrants increased more rapidly. EU migrants were noted to be less likely to become British citizens than non-EU migrants.^[83]

In 2019, Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to reduce net migration to the UK (the number of people immigrating minus the number emigrating) below 250,000 per year.^[84] In 2021, net migration to the UK was 488,000,^[85][86] up from 184,000 in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.^[87]

Net migration to the UK reached a record high of 764,000 in 2022, with immigration at 1.26 million and emigration at 493,000.^[7] Most of the migrants came from non-EU countries, including India, Nigeria, China and Pakistan. Of the 1,218,000 immigrants who came to the UK in 2023, only 126,000 were citizens of EU member states.^[6] Since the full implementation of Brexit, more EU nationals are leaving the UK than moving to it.^[88][86] In the 12 months to June 2023, net migration of EU nationals was negative 86,000.^[6]

Figures published in November 2021 by the Office for National Statistics showed that more EU nationals left the UK in 2020 than arrived for the first time since 1991, a net emigration of around 94,000. ... At first sight, the UK now has one of the most liberal immigration systems in the world outside the EU.^[89]

In January 2021, analysis by the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence suggested that there had been an "unprecedented exodus" of almost 1.3 million foreign-born people from the UK between July 2019 and September 2020, in part due to the burden of job losses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic falling disproportionately on foreign-born workers. Interviews conducted by Al Jazeera suggested that Brexit may have been a more significant push factor than the pandemic.^[90] Subsequent analysis of the impact of the pandemic on population statistics generated by the Labour Force Survey (LFS) suggests that "LFS-based estimates are likely to significantly overstate the change in the non-UK national population". Payroll data shows that the number of EU workers fell by 7 per cent between October–December 2019 and October–December 2020.^[91]

The effects of the migration crisis continue in public discourse beyond the 2010s, as evident in the racist and anti-immigration protests and riots that have increased following Brexit.^[76][82]

Office for National Statistics migration estimates published in November 2021 suggest that the number of EU nationals leaving the UK exceeded the number arriving by around 94,000, compared to net inward migration from the EU to the UK of 32,000 in 2019. Some commentators suggested that these figures underestimate the extent of emigration of EU nationals from the UK.^[92]

Immigration has been a very controversial topic in the 2020s, seeing the rise of far-right parties such as Reform UK and anti-immigration figures such as Suella Braverman.^[93] A number of riots have been linked to opposition to immigration including the 2022 Leicester unrest, 2023 Dublin riots and 2024 United Kingdom riots.^[94] Data has shown that inbound immigration to the UK has sharply dropped in key categories including among foreign students and healthcare workers^[95], whereas migration to the UK has sharply increased, especially in the aftermath of the election of the more asylum-friendly Labour in the 2024 General Election.^[96][97][98]

The Migration Advisory Committee was established in 2007 to give policy advice.

In February 2011, the Leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband, stated that he thought that the Labour government's decision to permit the unlimited immigration of eastern European migrants had been a mistake, arguing that they had underestimated the potential number of migrants and that the scale of migration had had a negative impact on wages.^[99][100]

Expulsions of immigrants who had committed crimes varied between 4,000 and 5,000 a year between 2007 and 2010.^[101][102]

The UK is a signatory to the UN 1951 Refugee Convention as well as the 1967 Protocol and has therefore a responsibility to offer protection to people who seek asylum and fall into the legal definition of a "refugee", and moreover not to return (or refoule) any displaced person to places where they would otherwise face persecution. Cuts to legal aid prevent asylum seekers getting good advice or arguing their case effectively. This can mean refugees being returned to a country where they face certain death.^[104]

The issue of immigration has been a controversial political issue since the late 1990s. Both the Labour Party and the Conservatives have suggested policies perceived as being "tough on asylum"^[105] (although the Conservatives have dropped a previous pledge to limit the number of people who could claim asylum in the UK, which would likely have breached the UN Refugee Convention)^[106] and the tabloid media frequently print headlines about an "immigration crisis".^[107]

This is denounced, by those seeking to ensure that the UK upholds its international obligations, as disproportionate. Concern is also raised about the treatment of those held in detention and the practice of dawn raiding families, and holding young children in immigration detention centres for long periods of time.^[108][109] The policy of detaining asylum-seeking children was to be abandoned as part of the coalition agreement between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, who formed a government in May 2010.^[110] However, in July 2010 the government was accused of back-tracking on this promise after the Immigration Minister Damian Green announced that the plan was to minimise, rather than end, child detention.^[111]

However, critics of the UK's asylum policy often point out the "safe third country rule" – the convention that asylum seekers must apply in the first free nation they reach, not go "asylum shopping" for the nation they prefer. EU courts have upheld this policy.^[112] Research conducted by the Refugee Council suggests that most asylum seekers in the UK had their destination chosen for them by external parties or agents, rather than choosing the UK themselves.^[113]

In February 2003, Prime Minister Tony Blair promised on television to reduce the number of asylum seekers by half within 7 months,^[114] apparently catching unawares the members of his own government with responsibility for immigration policy. David Blunkett, then the Home Secretary, called the promise an objective rather than a target.^[115]

It was met according to official figures.^[116] There is also a Public Performance Target to remove more asylum seekers who have been judged not to be refugees under the international definition than new anticipated unfounded applications. This target was met early in 2006.^[117] Official figures for numbers of people claiming asylum in the UK were at a 13-year low by March 2006.^[118]

Human rights organisations such as Amnesty International have argued that the government's new policies, particularly those concerning detention centres, have detrimental effects on asylum applicants^[119] and their children,^[120] and those facilities have seen a number of hunger strikes and suicides. Others have argued that recent government policies aimed at reducing 'bogus' asylum claims have had detrimental impacts on those genuinely in need of protection.^[121] Some housing funded by the Home Office, such as that provided by Clearsprings Ready Homes, has been repeatedly criticised for its poor quality.^{[122][123][124]}

The UK hosts one of the largest populations of Iraqi refugees outside the Gulf region. About 65-70% of people originating from Iraq are Kurdish, and 70% of those from Turkey and 15% of those from Iran are Kurds.^[125]

Asylum seekers have been kept in detention after the courts ordered their release because the Home Office maintains detention is not dissimilar to emergency accommodation. Immigrants with the right to stay in the UK are denied housing and cannot be released. In other cases vulnerable asylum seekers are released onto the streets with nowhere to live. In January 2018 the government repealed a law that previously allowed homeless detainees to apply for housing while in detention if they had nowhere to live when released. Charities maintain around 2,000 detainees who before this applied for support each year can no longer do so.^[126]

On 9 August 2020, the reports suggested that the number of people who reached the United Kingdom shores in small boats, during that year, surpassed 4,000. The undocumented migrant crossings of the English Channel mounted tensions between the UK and France.^[127]

On 17 August 2021, the United Kingdom Government launched a new resettlement programme which aims to settle 20,000 Afghan refugees fleeing the 2021 Taliban offensive over a five-year period in the UK.^[128][129] This includes many Afghans who worked with British forces in Afghanistan.^[130] Hundreds of former members of Afghanistan's special forces have been refused resettlement to the UK.^[131][132] That same year the government also launched a scheme for Hongkongers following the Hong Kong national security law, with an estimated thousands emigrating to the UK either as refugees, asylum seekers or under student visas.^[133] By January 2024, more than 191,000 Hong Kong-born residents had applied for a visa.^[134]

As of May 2023, the United Kingdom has issued 230,300 visas to Ukrainians as a result of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine from a total of 292,900 applications received.^[135]

The UK also operates the UK Resettlement Scheme, Community Sponsorship Scheme and Mandate Resettlement Scheme.^[136] Previous UK resettlement schemes included the Gateway Protection Programme and the Syrian Vulnerable Person Resettlement Programme.^[137][138]

Illegal immigrants in the UK include those who have:

• entered the UK without authority
• entered with false documents
• overstayed their visas

Although it is difficult to know how many people reside in the UK illegally, a Home Office study released in March 2005 estimated a population of between 310,000 and 570,000.^[139]

A recent study into irregular immigration states that "most irregular migrants have committed administrative offences rather than a serious crime".^[140]

Jack Dromey, Deputy General of the Transport and General Workers Union and Labour Party treasurer, suggested in May 2006 that there could be around 500,000 illegal workers. He called for a public debate on whether an amnesty should be considered.^[141] David Blunkett has suggested that this might be done once the identity card scheme is rolled out.^[142]

London Citizens, a coalition of community organisations, is running a regularisation campaign called Strangers into Citizens, backed by figures including the former leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, the Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor.^[143] Analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research suggested that an amnesty could net the government up to £1.038 billion per year in fiscal revenue, however the long term implications of such a measure are uncertain.^[144]

It has since been suggested that to deport all of the illegal immigrants from the UK might take 20 years and cost up to £12 billion.^[145] Former Mayor of London Boris Johnson commissioned a study into a possible amnesty for illegal immigrants, citing larger tax gains within the London area which is considered to be home to the majority of the country's population of such immigrants.^[146]

In February 2008, the government introduced new £10,000 fines for employers found to be employing illegal immigrants where there is negligence on the part of the employer, with unlimited fines or jail sentences for employers acting knowingly.^[147]

Women who are illegal immigrants and also domestic violence victims risk deportation and are deported if they complain about violence. Women get brought illegally into the UK by men intending to abuse them. Women are sometimes deterred from complaining about violence to them due to the risk of deportation, therefore perpetrators including rapists remain at large.^[148] Martha Spurrier of Liberty said, "It will leave people afraid to report crime, robbing them of protection under the law and creating impunity for criminals who target vulnerable people with unsettled immigration status. This is criminalising victims and letting criminals off the hook."^[149]

Nearly 30,000 undocumented migrants crossed the Channel in small boats to the UK in 2023.^[150]

On 20 March 2024, 514 people crossed the UK Channel, the busiest day for Channel crossings since the start of 2024. Following this, on 21 March 2024, the UK government announced that it was dealing with a "migration emergency."^[151]

• Emigration from the United Kingdom
• Foreign-born population of the United Kingdom
• Visa policy of the United Kingdom
• Surinder Singh route
• Migration to the United Kingdom
  • Calais Jungle
  • Immigrant benefits urban legend
  • 2024 United Kingdom riots
  • MigrationWatch UK
  • Anti-immigration protests in Ireland

• Born Abroad: An Immigration Map of Britain (BBC, 2005)
• Destination UK, (BBC News special, 2008)
• Immigration & Nationality Directorate at the Home Office
• Migration Statistics at parliament.uk 17 June 2014 Now dead link, needs removing
• Moving Here, the UK's biggest online database of digitised photographs, maps, objects, documents and audio items from 30 local and national archives, museums and libraries; recording migration experiences of the last 200 years
• Summary of UK immigration rules from the Home Office
• Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules HC 1078