Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Wood of Anfield on 27 July (HL1989), whether they will commence the recording by data fields of (1) the nationality of asylum seekers, (2) how they entered or came to be in the United Kingdom, and (3) which country they travelled from most recently before reaching the UK.

The Home Office publishes the number of asylum claims raised by nationality, and the number of people claiming asylum by prior route, by nationality in the Asy_D01 and Asy_D01a tables available here: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK

Asylum seekers arrive in the UK through a range of routes before claiming asylum. In the year ending June 2026, 41% had previously entered on a visa or other leave, 40% arrived by small boat, 12% arrived via other illegal entry routes, and 8% entered via other routes or could not be matched to a route of entry.

Information on countries asylum seekers travelled from before reaching the UK this information is not published. It is held as “free text” on individual case files and can only be extracted manually at disproportionate cost.

The number of people claiming asylum in the previous three years, and to date in the current year is shown below:

Source: Asy_D01 Asylum claims raised, by nationality, age, sex, UASC, applicant type, and location of claim.