Migrants coming to the UK: What are the most common nationalities?

The Home Office has threatened to stop issuing visas to foreign nationals from certain countries if those governments do not co-operate more on the removal of illegal migrants from the UK.

The African nations of Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo are likely to be the first to face a ban on visas.

Here the PA news agency looks at the most common nationalities of migrants arriving in the UK both legally and illegally, those applying for asylum, and those currently in prison.

– Who is coming to the UK legally?

A total of 834,977 visas were issued to foreign nationals in the year to June 2025 to come to the UK legally for employment, study, family or humanitarian reasons, according to the latest available data from the Home Office.

Of this figure, the most common nationality was Indian, accounting for almost one in five (165,970 visas issued or 19.9% of the total).

The next most common countries were China (114,128 visas, 13.7% of the total); Pakistan (69,580, 8.3%); Nigeria (45,966, 5.5%) and the United States (30,898, 3.7%).

The three countries identified by the UK Government as facing a possible ban on visas accounted for a tiny number of those issued in the year to June.

Nationals from the Democratic Republic of Congo were granted 299 visas in this period (0.04% of the total), with 273 for nationals from Angola (0.03%) and 140 for those from Namibia (0.02%).

The overall number of UK visas granted for employment, study, family or humanitarian reasons has fallen by nearly a third, from 1,231,899 in the year to June 2024 to 834,977 in the year to June 2025, a drop of 32%.

– Who is coming to the UK illegally?

The most common nationalities of migrants arriving in the UK illegally are among the least common nationalities of those granted visas to come to the country legally.

Five countries together accounted for more than half of those detected entering the country through so-called “irregular” routes in the year to June, according to Home Office data.

These were Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Sudan and Syria.

But while these five countries together make up 55% of the total irregular migration to the UK, where nationality is known, they account for only 3% of visas issued to foreign nationals in the same period coming to the UK legally for employment, study, family or humanitarian reasons.

A total of 48,478 people whose nationality is known were detected in the 12 months to June as having arrived in the UK through an irregular route.

The majority (42,446) had crossed the English Channel, while the remainder had arrived another way – such as inside a lorry or shipping container – or had been discovered as not having the correct documentation to be in the UK legally.

Afghan nationals accounted for 6,589 arrivals (13.6% of the total), followed by nationals from Eritrea (6,267, 12.9%), Iran (5,367, 11.1%), Sudan (4,318, 8.9%) and Syria (4,216, 8.7%).

There were just 11 nationals from the Democratic Republic of Congo who arrived this way in the year to June (0.02% of the total), along with three from Angola (0.01%) and none from Namibia.

– Who is claiming asylum in the UK?

A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.

Pakistani was the most common nationality among applicants, accounting for 11,234 people, or 10.1% of the total.

Afghan was the second most common nationality (8,281 or 7.5%), followed by Iranian (7,746 or 7.0%), Eritrean (7,433 or 6.7%) and Bangladeshi (6,649 or 6.0%).

There were 134 people from the Democratic Republic of Congo who applied for asylum (0.12% of the total), 104 from Namibia (0.09%) and 27 from Angola (0.02%).

Some 90,812 people were waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application in the UK at the end of June 2025.

The most common nationality was Pakistani (8,200 or 9.0% of the total backlog), followed by Syrian (7,331 or 8.1%), Bangladeshi (6,838 or 7.5%), Afghan (6,784 or 7.5%) and Indian (5,073 or 5.6%).

There were 220 people from Namibia in the asylum backlog (0.24% of the total), 161 from the Democratic Republic of Congo (0.18%) and 52 from Angola (0.06%).

– How many foreign nationals are in prison?

There were 10,737 foreign nationals in prisons in England and Wales at the end of September, down from 10,772 at the end of June but higher than 10,418 a year earlier in September 2024, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Justice.

The proportion of the total prison population who are foreign nationals has increased slightly year on year, from 12.0% in September 2024 to 12.3% in September 2025.

This figure has remained around 12% for much of the past decade and reached 12.5% in June 2021.

The most common foreign nationality among the prison population as of the end of September is Albanian (1,086 prisoners or 1.2% of the total), followed by Polish (776, 0.9%), Irish (677, 0.8%), Romanian (675, 0.8%) and Indian (364, 0.4%).

There were 56 (0.06%) nationals from the Democratic Republic of Congo, 39 (0.04%) from Angola and nine (0.01%) from Namibia.