What are your chances of getting asylum in the UK?
Pick your country — find out in 10 seconds. Figures from the Home Office, latest release June 2026.
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.
Need help, not numbers?
Post-Soviet countries in the UK asylum system — what the numbers show
Six charts — six simple questions. Your country is highlighted.
Who applies from where?
Main applicants (excluding family members) by country, 2025. In brackets — change over 5 years.
Source: Home Office
Who gets protection, who gets refused?
Share of people granted protection at initial decision, latest full year (2024). The black dashed line is the UK average (39%).
Source: Home Office
Why are there so few asylum cases from Ukraine?
Ukrainians in the UK after February 2022 mostly come through the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme — a separate visa route (3 years of legal stay + work + benefits), not asylum. That is why asylum numbers are low. As of December 2025, more than 300,000 Ukrainians live in the UK under this scheme. Discussions are ongoing about extension and transition conditions. → More about Ukrainian schemes
Legal vs asylum — the scale of two flows
Visas (work + study + family, excluding tourism) vs asylum applications in 2025. Logarithmic scale. Your country is highlighted.
For most of the 12 countries, legal visas are the main route to the UK. Asylum is a separate, smaller flow for those who cannot return.
Source: Home Office
How long do people wait for a decision?
Distribution of waiting times for those still waiting for an initial decision. Data as of 31 June 2026.
Source: Home Office
What happens after getting asylum?
ILR (Indefinite Leave to Remain, usually after 5 years) and citizenship — granted in 2025 to citizens of these 12 countries.
Source: Home Office
What happens after refusal? Returns to country of origin
Enforced (with escort or under guard) vs voluntary (under the VRS programme) returns in 2025.
Source: Home Office
UK-wide picture
To understand the scale, here are the overall figures for the year to June 2026 (Home Office, release 27 August 2026).
Detailed statistics by country
Pick a country — get a dedicated page with charts, FAQ and comparison with other post-Soviet countries.
Frequently asked questions
How is the ‘grant rate’ calculated?
It is the percentage of cases where the Home Office granted refugee status or humanitarian protection out of all initial decisions in a year. It does not include refusals at the appeal stage, withdrawals, or administrative outcomes.
What is an initial decision?
This is the Home Office's first decision on your case. If you're refused, you can appeal to the Tribunal. ≈40% of refusals are overturned on appeal, but that's a different set of data.
What does ‘backlog’ mean?
It refers to people whose cases have not yet received an initial decision from the Home Office. As of 31 June 2026, there were about 49,000 people across all countries. On average, a case waits 12–18 months for a decision.
Can I work while waiting for a decision?
Only in a very narrow list of professions (Appendix Skilled Occupations list, RQF level 6 or above, for claims made from 26 March 2026) and only if you have been waiting more than 12 months. Basic right to work starts after you get status. → More on the /en/work-rights/ page.
What happens after a refusal?
You can appeal to the Tribunal (14-day deadline), then the Upper Tribunal, then Judicial Review. ≈40% of appeals succeed (according to MoJ Tribunal statistics). In parallel, you can submit "further submissions" under para 353 if new evidence has come up.
What is UASC and why separate statistics?
UASC stands for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. They have a separate procedure, separate age checks, and separate statistics.
Why are the numbers for some countries close to zero?
From Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Moldova there are very few applications — single or tens per year. This is statistical noise, not that they do not apply.
How often is this page updated?
After each quarterly Home Office release (February, May, August, November). Last update: 27 August 2026.
Where these numbers come from
All data on this page is official Home Office statistics (Immigration System Statistics, quarterly release; current cut — year ending June 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.
Download the data: CSV (asylum) · CSV (citizenship) · CSV (returns) · JSON
Data: Home Office, release 27 August 2026 (year to December 2025). Page updated: 27 August 2026. Next release: 27 August 2026.