Over 1,000 Indians crossed into UK illegally, over 5,000 applied for asylum in 2023: Data

Surge in Indian migrants crossing English Channel to U.K. for jobs and asylum sparks political debate.

In 2023, more than 1,000 Indians risked their lives to reach the U.K. by crossing the English Channel from Europe in inflatable small boats, searching for jobs and seeking asylum. The number of Indians who took this dangerous journey has surged in recent years. In 2023, the number more than doubled from the previous year. The share of illegal migrants from India aged 18-29 has shot up in recent years; they formed close to 60% of the total number of illegal Indian migrants in 2023. In parallel, the number of Indians applying for asylum in the U.K. has also surged in recent years, crossing the 5,000-mark for the first time in 2023. Notably, the number of Indians crossing into the U.S. illegally has also surged recently, with close to 1 lakh people doing so in 2023.

The U.K. has been grappling with the problem of a sudden surge in the inflow of illegal migrants in recent years. There has been a notable rise in the number of asylum-seekers arriving in the U.K. by small boats from the European mainland. Through most of 2021 and 2022, daily crossings of the perilous English Channel by thousands of migrants were recorded. Although the number of these crossings decreased in 2023 compared with the previous two years, the incidence of such events remained substantially higher than what was observed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. This trend continues in 2024, with over 2,000 people crossing into the U.K. until February 27 this year.

Chart 1 | The chart shows the number of Indians who arrived in small boats between 2018 and 2023.

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In 2023, most of those who crossed into the U.K. were from Afghanistan (5,545 people), Iran (3,562), and Turkey (3,060). Indians featured ninth on the list with 1,192 crossings, similar to the number of people from Albania and Egypt. In 2022, Albania recorded 12,600 crossings, the highest that year, as its economy had turned anaemic, impacting jobs and wages.

Chart 2 | The chart shows the number of U.K. asylum applications raised by Indians over the years.

The number skyrocketed post-pandemic, with 5,253 Indians applying for asylum in the U.K. in 2023. In total, close to 84,500 people from around the world applied for asylum last year. Close to 9,300 were from Afghanistan, the highest, followed by Iran (7,397), Pakistan (5,273), and India (5,253).