Albanian migrants: Why are they coming to the UK
Albanian
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick has highlighted the number of Albanian migrants arriving in the UK this year.
On some small boats, “80% of the individuals are coming from Albania”, he told MPs.
So how many have arrived and why are they leaving Albania, which Mr Jenrick called a “safe country”.
How many Albanian migrants come to the UK?
There has been a rapid increase in the number of Albanians migrants crossing the English Channel:
- In 2020, 50 arrived on small boats
- In 2021, 800 made the crossing
- In 2022, 12,000 have arrived so far
“The rise has been exponential and we think that is in the main due to the fact that Albanian criminal gangs have gained a foothold in the north of France,” Clandestine Channel Threat Commander Dan O’Mahoney told the Home Affairs Select Committee last week.
Of this year’s Albanian migrants, about 10,000 were single, adult men, he said.
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How many Albanian migrants are granted asylum?
In the year to June 2022, 7,267 asylum applications were submitted by Albanian migrants, double the number the previous year.
In general, 53% of claims by Albanians are accepted.
About 14% of successful claims were by single, adult men. Most were by women and children.
Some Albanian migrants are believed to make asylum claims on the grounds they have been trafficked to the UK.
Albanians are the most commonly referred nationality for trafficking support in the UK.
Rather than claiming asylum, some Albanian migrants choose to disappear and work illegally in the UK, before returning to their home country, Mr O’Mahoney said.
Eligible Albanian citizens can apply for visas, of varying length, to enter the UK for tourism, business, study and other activities.
How many Albanians are sent back?
In 2022, in the months to June, 440 people were returned to Albania – almost all were single, adult men.
Albanians represent the highest number of foreign offenders sent back in the year to March 2022.
A bilateral agreement signed in 2021 by then-Home Secretary Priti Patel aimed to speed up the removal of Albanian criminals and failed asylum seekers from the UK.
“More than 1,000 Albanians, including some who crossed the Channel illegally to come to the UK” have been sent back under this agreement, the Home Office says .
The deal does not allow the government to remove Albanians with a current asylum case in the UK.
