What do the latest asylum and resettlement figures show?

Here are the key figures from the latest UK asylum and resettlement statistics, which have been published by the Home Office.

– Backlog

A total of 160,919 people were waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application in the UK at the end of December 2022, up 60% from 100,564 at the end of December 2021 and the highest figure since current records began in 2010.

The number of people waiting more than six months for an initial decision stood at 109,641 at the end of 2022, up 77% year-on-year from 61,864.

– Asylum applications

There were 74,751 asylum applications in the UK in 2022, relating to 89,398 people.

This is the highest total for any 12-month period since the year to March 2003, when it stood at 80,736 applications relating to 99,338 people.

– Initial decisions

Some 18,699 initial decisions were made on asylum applications in the UK in 2022, up 29% on 14,532 in 2021 but 10% below the 20,766 in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

– Grants

The number of people granted protection, resettlement or another form of leave in the UK in 2022 was 23,841, down 24% on 31,448 in 2021 but up 15% on 20,692 in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

The 2022 figure includes 5,792 resettled to the UK through resettlement schemes.

– Grant rate

More than three quarters (76%) of initial decisions on asylum applications in 2022 were grants of refugee status, humanitarian protection or alternative forms of leave.

This is a “substantially higher grant rate” than in pre-pandemic years, when around a third of initial decisions were grants, the Home Office said.

The grant rate in 2022 is the highest since 1990, when it stood at 82% – although the volume of applications was much lower at that time, with 4,025 initial decisions made in 1990 compared with 18,699 in 2022.

– Nationality of asylum applicants

Albania was the most common nationality applying for asylum in the UK in 2022, with 14,223 applications by Albanian nationals, 9,573 of which came from arrivals on boats crossing the English Channel.

The majority of Albanian applicants in 2022 (83%) were adult males.

Afghans were the second most common nationality applying for asylum last year, with 10,011 applications, more than six times the number in the pre-pandemic year of 2019 (1,573).

– Small boats

Some 90% of people arriving in the UK in 2022 on small boats claimed asylum or were recorded as a dependant on an asylum application.

Overall, just under half (45%) of total asylum applications in the UK last year were from people who arrived on a small boat.

Of the 45,755 small boat arrivals in 2022, 43,794 have had their nationality recorded and of this total, 28% were Albanian nationals, 20% Afghan, 13% Iranian and 10% Iraqi.

In 2021, Albanians accounted for just 3% of small boat arrivals whose nationality was recorded, while Afghan nationals accounted for 5%, Iranians 30% and Iraqis 22%.

– Visas

Nearly one-and-a-half million visas were issued in 2022 to people coming to the UK for work, study or family reasons, or through one of the Government’s settlement schemes.

Some 423,013 work visas were granted, along with 626,551 study visas and 48,107 family visas, plus 5,055 visas for dependants joining or accompanying others.

In addition, 210,906 were issued under the Ukraine visa schemes, 53,836 were granted to British National (Overseas) status holders from Hong Kong, 34,338 were under the EU Settlement Scheme, and 3,903 were under other settlement schemes.

The combined total of 1,405,709 visas in 2022 is up 64% from 858,869 in 2021 and is the sixth successive record high for a 12-month period since current figures began in 2005.