Colin Yeo

And this one on citizenship. There were 235,782 grants of British citizenship, a 13% decrease on the previous year but still historically high. Yet I don’t understand why it’s not higher, given the consistently high levels of net migration even 6+ years ago (qualifying time for citizenship).

Moving on from asylum stuff, this caught my eye on the make-up of grants of settlement.

Indeed. Refusing these claims means a) they can't work legally b) one way or another they will be dependent on state support.

This is just deliberately wasting taxpayers' money for the sake of (politically counterproductive) performative cruelty.

Asylum returns continue to increase, which is perhaps not surprising given the increase in the number of asylum claims. This chart includes enforced and voluntary returns.

This chart shows that enforced returns are overwhelmingly to five countries: Albania, Romania, Brazil, India and Poland.

Returns is interesting. Enforced returns continue to increase from an incredibly low level under previous government. Voluntary departures have tapered off, though, which the government might well be concerned about because they are a lot easier and cheaper than enforced ones.

Number of people experiencing immigration detention has been creeping up. And 44% of those leaving detention do so because they are removed from the country. 66% are released, though, which calls into question why they were detained in the first place. Bound to happen sometimes but it happens a LOT.

Number of people receiving asylum support has barely fallen, though. This is presumably because of the number of outstanding appeals. Appeals stats out next week, I think.

Number of people awaiting an initial decision has halved in last year to 65,000. Processing times are definitely improving. This is only for initial decisions, though. Waiting times for appeals are getting longer and longer, albeit that affects a smaller number of people.

And I haven’t seen this before: “Analysis of HMRC-linked data shows that the employment rate among refugees aged 16 to 64, granted asylum between 2015 and 2023, levels off at around 48% after 2 years.”

This is an interesting companion chart to the top 10 nationality one. It shows differing grant rates. Why refuse so many Afghans when removals to Afghanistan are impossible? Terrible for the Afghans concerned and leaves the Home Office with huge support costs for no reason at all. Gesture admin.

BIG increase in number of initial asylum decisions made. But also a big increase in refusals and therefore appeals, at a time the appeal system is already experiencing massive backlogs. Grant rate at initial decision is now 42%, which is a slight but continuing fall on recent years.

This chart on the top ten nationalities claiming asylum in 2025 is striking. Not only for the nationalities (a lot more claims from Pakistan than I realised, for example) but also the differences in means of entry.

In the YE December 2025: 41% (41,262) of asylum seekers arrived on a small boat 11% (11,190) entered through other illegal entry routes (in lorries, shipping containers, or without relevant documentation) 39% (39,095) of asylum seekers had previously entered the UK on a visa or other leave with relevant documentation, including those who entered on an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) 9% entered through other routes, such as through the common travel area without valid permission to enter, are UK-born children of asylum seekers or refugees, or were non-visa nationals visiting the UK, as well as claims which could not be matched to a route of entry

Interesting breakdown on how those people arrived before claiming asylum. Only 42% arrived by small boat. Of those who held a visa before claiming asylum, 35% (13,557) held a work visa, 32% (12,578) held a study visa, 19% (7,521) held a visitor visa, 14% held other forms of leave.

Few things from the latest immigration stats, published this morning. www.gov.uk/government/s... First, the number of asylum claims has fallen a bit. It’s still high though.

No breach of public sector equality duty by Home Office when housing LGBTQ+ asylum seekers - Free Movement The High Court in ACN, R (on the application of) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2026] EWHC 297 (Admin) has dismissed a judicial review challenging the Home Office’s policies and practices...

From yesterday: No breach of public sector equality duty by Home Office when housing LGBTQ+ asylum seekers | Katherine Soroya

How to apply for an administrative review - Free Movement Administrative review is the Home Office’s internal process of reviewing certain immigration decisions where the applicant considers there has been an error

New from FM: How to apply for an administrative review | Mala Savjani

UK universities turn to Duolingo to test foreign students’ English Try questions from the test used by more than 50 UK higher education institutions

UK universities turn to Duolingo to test foreign students’ English giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

How to apply for an administrative review - Free Movement Administrative review is the Home Office’s internal process of reviewing certain immigration decisions where the applicant considers there has been an error

New from Free Movement: How to apply for an administrative review | Mala Savjani freemovement.org.uk/how-to-apply...

From yesterday: Home Office announces a further extension to the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme | Jasmine Quiller-Doust

Free Movement Weekly Immigration Newsletter #108 - Free Movement Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! 

From yesterday: Free Movement Weekly Immigration Newsletter #108 | Jasmine Quiller-Doust

New report calls for overhaul of flawed age assessment process for unaccompanied children - Free Movement A briefing on the National Age Assessment Board raises concerns about poor decision making in the age determination process, putting hundreds of children at

From yesterday: New report calls for overhaul of flawed age assessment process for unaccompanied children | Jasmine Quiller-Doust

Fairness requires notice of a mandatory refusal for alleged deception - Free Movement The Upper Tribunal has reiterated that Entry Clearance Officers should give fair warning of a potential refusal on the grounds of alleged deception, not least

New from FM: Fairness requires notice of a mandatory refusal for alleged deception | Colin Yeo

Fairness requires notice of a mandatory refusal for alleged deception - Free Movement The Upper Tribunal has reiterated that Entry Clearance Officers should give fair warning of a potential refusal on the grounds of alleged deception, not least

New from Free Movement: Fairness requires notice of a mandatory refusal for alleged deception | Colin Yeo freemovement.org.uk/fairness-req...

No breach of public sector equality duty by Home Office when housing LGBTQ+ asylum seekers - Free Movement The High Court in ACN, R (on the application of) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2026] EWHC 297 (Admin) has dismissed a judicial review challenging the Home Office’s policies and practices...

New from FM: No breach of public sector equality duty by Home Office when housing LGBTQ+ asylum seekers | Katherine Soroya

No breach of public sector equality duty by Home Office when housing LGBTQ+ asylum seekers - Free Movement The High Court in ACN, R (on the application of) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2026] EWHC 297 (Admin) has dismissed a judicial review challenging the Home Office’s policies and practices...

New from Free Movement: No breach of public sector equality duty by Home Office when housing LGBTQ+ asylum seekers | Katherine Soroya freemovement.org.uk/no-breach-of...

New from FM: Home Office announces a further extension to the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme | Jasmine Quiller-Doust

So I'm not inclined to let Labour off the hook that easily. Are there worse parties out there? Of course. But what Labour are doing is also serving to make life more difficult for vulnerable minorities, and risks leaving a door ajar for some very scary people to go further down that road in future.

High Court finds historic convictions are not grounds to refuse settlement in the pre-2012 discretionary leave route - Free Movement The issue at the heart of R (on the application of Nunes) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2026] EWHC 196 (Admin) is the applicability of the Part 9 grounds of refusal (now Part Suitability)...

From yesterday: High Court finds historic convictions are not grounds to refuse settlement in the pre-2012 discretionary leave route | Alex Piletska

I think that’s right. Well intentioned and we know what they mean - but muddled and potentially a bit misleading.