UK / Returns

Returns from the UK

Enforced, voluntary, and port returns since 2004; foreign national offender returns since 2010; and the top nationalities for enforced returns in 2025.

Total returns, 2025

56,197

Enforced, voluntary, and port returns combined. 2025 figures are provisional.

FNO returns, 2025

5,634

Foreign national offenders returned, of which 2,769 EU and 2,865 non-EU.

Top nationality, 2025

Albania

2,440 enforced returns in 2025, compared with 2,626 in 2024.

Section 1

Returns by type, 2004 to 2025

The Home Office reports three return categories. Enforced returns are removals carried out by the Home Office. Voluntary returns include assisted, controlled, and other verified departures. Port returns are people refused entry at a UK port who subsequently departed.

UK returns by type, 2004–2025

Stacked: enforced + voluntary + port returns

  • Enforced
  • Voluntary
  • Port
010k20k30k40k50k60k70k2004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025

UK Home Office returns by type, 2004 to 2025. 2024 and 2025 are provisional.

Section 2

Foreign national offender returns, 2010 to 2025

Returns of foreign national offenders from the UK, split by EU and non-EU nationality. EU returns peaked in 2017 before falling in the early 2020s; non-EU returns have grown since 2022.

FNO returns from the UK, 2010–2025

Stacked: EU + non-EU nationals

  • EU nationals
  • Non-EU nationals
01,0002,0003,0004,0005,0006,0002010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025

Returns of foreign national offenders from the UK, split by EU and non-EU nationality, 2010 to 2025. 2024 and 2025 are provisional.

Section 3

Top 10 nationalities for enforced returns, 2025

The ten nationalities with the most enforced returns in the year ending September 2025, with comparison to 2024. Bars are sorted by 2025 value.

Top 10 nationalities, enforced returns 2025

Compared with 2024, sorted by 2025 value

  • 2024
  • 2025
05001,0001,5002,0002,500Albania2,6262,440Romania1,5201,818Brazil584939India406781Poland482515Lithuania331323Bulgaria203257China100162Portugal107145Malaysia118142

Top 10 nationalities by enforced returns from the UK, year ending September 2025, with comparison to 2024. 2024 and 2025 are provisional.

Methodology notes

  • In 2020 the Home Office revised returns statistics from 2007 onwards due to improved data-matching and re-categorisation. Pre-2007 figures may not be directly comparable to later years.
  • Voluntary return figures for the most recent two years are subject to upward revision as administrative records catch up.
  • Returns counts are events, not unique individuals — one person returned twice is counted twice.
  • “[p]” denotes provisional in the original release; applies to 2024 and 2025 throughout.

Sources

Data sources