startnewlife Mendee CIC · London

Asylum in the UK — statistics for Belarus

Updated: 21 May 2026
In short

Belarus nationals in the UK asylum system: how many apply, who gets protection, how long the wait is. Latest Home Office data for the year ending March 2026.

Key facts
53%
Get protection
decisions in 2024
2
Awaiting a decision
as of 31 March 2026
6
Applications in 2025
-67% vs 2024
29
Returned to Belarus
enforced + voluntary in 2025

This is not legal advice. The numbers show what happens on average — your case may be different. For advice on your situation, ask an IAA‑accredited lawyer.

Small data volume. Very few applications come from Belarus (tens or fewer per year), so some charts may not be informative. The statistics below are the best available from open Home Office data.

How applications from Belarus are changing

Year‑by‑year trend of main applicants (excluding family members). Helps to see whether the flow is growing or shrinking.

Applications per year, 2015–2025

📊

No data — too few applications for a chart

Source: Home Office

Outcomes by year, 2019–2024

📊

No data — too few applications for a chart

Source: Home Office

How long people wait for a decision

As of 31 March 2026, 2 people from Belarus are waiting for an initial decision. Below is how long they have been waiting.

Distribution by waiting time

📊

No data — too few applications for a chart

Source: Home Office

What happens after

Figures on outcomes and returns for 2025.

162
ILR (settlement) granted in 2025
85
Citizenship granted in year to March 2026
10
Enforced returns
19
Voluntary returns

Case outcomes

How case outcomes break down for Belarus — compared with the UK average and post‑Soviet countries.

Decisions on cases from Belarus

17 initial decisions on 2024 cases

📊

Too few decisions (17) to show shares — percentages would be misleading.

Source: Home Office, 2024 cases

Rank among the 12 countries

How Belarus compares with the other post‑Soviet countries by number of applications.

Applications ranking, 2020–2025

1-е место 12-е 202020212022202320242025 4 12 Belarus

Source: Home Office

Share of the total flow

Ukraine 886
Georgia 866
Uzbekistan 354
Kazakhstan 320
Tajikistan 311
Kyrgyzstan 193
Russia 95
Azerbaijan 73
Moldova 12
Armenia 8
Turkmenistan 7
Belarus — you are here 6

Source: Home Office, 2025 applications

Frequently asked questions

How many Belarus nationals apply for asylum in the UK?

In 2025 — 6. This is a small flow compared to the other 12 countries. Full 10‑year chart above.

What is the success rate for Belarus nationals?

According to Home Office data for 2024 — 53%. This is above the UK average (41%).

How long do people typically wait for a decision?

As of 31 March 2026, 2 people from Belarus are in the queue. Of these, roughly 100% have been waiting more than a year. The average UK decision time is 12–18 months.

What happens after a refusal for Belarus nationals?

In 2025 the Home Office carried out 10 enforced and 19 voluntary returns to Belarus. In parallel: refusals can be appealed to the Tribunal (14‑day deadline); about half of appeals succeed. → More at /en/asylum-support/appeals/

Where can I find a lawyer for Belarus cases?

On the /en/database/lawyers/ page — filter by specialisation and language. Importantly: free legal aid (Legal Aid) is available to those at initial decision stage who have not been refused a financial eligibility check.

What this means

Claims are nearly absent: 6 in 2025 against the 2022 peak of 55.

The grant rate is formally the highest in this overview: 53% in 2024 — but that is 9 positive decisions of 17, so the percentage is fragile at these numbers.

The queue is 2 cases. 85 people received citizenship in 2025 — the Belarusian diaspora in the UK mostly lives on other statuses.

Where these numbers come from

All data on this page is official Home Office statistics (Immigration System Statistics, quarterly release; current cut — year ending March 2026).

We count main applicants — as in the release tables.

We don't recalculate or estimate anything — we show the official figures in plain words and update the page after every release. Next release: 27 August 2026.

Download the data: CSV (asylum) · CSV (citizenship) · CSV (returns) · JSON

Data licence: Open Government Licence v3

Source: gov.uk — Immigration system statistics

Information current
21 May 2026
Next review: 27 Aug 2026

Data: Home Office, release 21 May 2026 (year ending March 2026). Country source — Data_Asy_D01/D04/D03.