Record 7,225 Bangladeshis Applied for UK Asylum in 2024

Flags of Bangladesh and the UK

A record 7,225 Bangladeshis sought asylum in the United Kingdom in 2024, according to data from the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford.

The figure marks a 42 per cent increase compared to 2023, when 5,097 Bangladeshi nationals filed asylum claims.

Asylum applications by Bangladeshis have steadily grown over the past decade. In 2014, just over 900 claims were made. The number rose to 2,256 in 2016 before dropping to 895 in 2020. However, applications surged by 318 per cent to 4,522 in 2022, reaching their highest level in 2024.

Applications from other South Asian countries also showed mixed trends. In 2024, Pakistanis filed 10,542 claims, a sharp 79 per cent rise from the previous year. In contrast, asylum applications by Indians fell to 5,312 in 2024 from 5,612 in 2023, though still higher than 1,216 in 2022.

The UK and Bangladesh signed an agreement in March last year to speed up the deportation of undocumented Bangladeshi migrants. The deal was finalised during a meeting of the joint working group on home affairs in London.

In addition to asylum claims, nearly 11,000 Bangladeshis applied for permanent residency in the UK in 2023 after arriving on student, work, and travel visas. However, UK immigration authorities rejected 95 per cent of those applications.