PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Asylum (29 June 2020)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum applications have been made in each of the last five years by people who entered the UK on a student visa; what the top 10 countries of nationality are for those people; and what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of that information.

Asked by:
Sir John Hayes (Conservative)

The Home Office is unable to provide information on how many asylum applications have been made in each of the last five years by people who entered the UK on a student visa, on a family-related visa, a work visa, as visitors and those as dependents of people coming to the UK on other types of visas or what the top 10 countries of nationality are of those people, as this information does not form part of any routinely published data.

However, The Home Office do publish data on the number of asylum applications lodged, by main applicants, broken down by nationality and can be found at Asy_01_c of the published Immigration Statistics:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2020/list-of-tables#asylum-and-resettlement

The Home Office also publishes data on the number of entry clearance visas, broken down by visa type and can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2020/list-of-tables#entry-clearance-visas

The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those who need it, in accordance with our international obligations under the Refugee Convention and European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Every asylum claim is carefully considered on its individual merits.

Answered by:
Chris Philp (Conservative)
7 July 2020