Nearly 5,000 migrants 'go missing' before asylum claims are processed as thousands remain unaccounted for

Nearly 5,000 migrants have gone missing before their asylum claims were processed over the past six years, with more than 3,000 still unaccounted for.

A total of 4,838 people were recorded as absconders between January 2020 and December 2025, according to figures obtained by The Sun through a Freedom of Information request.

Only around a third were subsequently located, leaving 3,158 whose whereabouts remained unknown as of January.

The figures include asylum seekers who escaped from ports or immigration detention, as well as people on immigration bail who stopped complying with reporting requirements.

Individuals are officially recorded as absconders only after attempts by the authorities to contact them have been exhausted.

The Government does not know whether those still missing remain undetected in Britain or have left the country voluntarily.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp warned that "illegal immigration is putting the British public in danger".

Mr Philp told The Sun: “The majority of asylum claims come from illegal immigrants. We have no idea who these people are when they enter our country illegally and we don’t even know where thousands of them are.

“Illegal immigration is putting the British public in danger. We must leave the ECHR and any other obligation that gets in the way so we can deport all illegal immigrants and foreign criminals.

“We must double the funding for Immigration Enforcement so they have the resources they need to track down and remove those with no right to be here. It is a shame Andy Burnham and Shabana Mahmood are too weak to do this.”

Migrants who fail to comply with the asylum process can have their claims implicitly withdrawn and lose asylum support.

However, they can later resurface and make fresh claims, including on human rights grounds.

Albanian national Gentian Hallaci claimed asylum after entering Britain illegally in 2018 before disappearing for four years.

Mr Hallaci resurfaced in 2022 and sought permission to remain on the basis of his family life, but his appeal was ultimately rejected last year.

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Afghan national Asif Khan similarly lost contact with authorities after claiming asylum following his illegal arrival in 2008, resulting in his claim being withdrawn.

Mr Khan later resurfaced and pursued attempts to remain in Britain, including on Article 8 family-life grounds, before his final appeal was rejected in 2022.

The true number of asylum seekers who have disappeared could be higher because many migrants housed in hotels or former military sites are neither detained nor subject to immigration bail.

In 2023, then-Clandestine Channel Threat Commander Dan O’Mahoney told MPs some Albanian migrants were exploiting delays, saying: “We typically put them in a hotel for a couple of days, and then they will disappear.

“They work illegally in the UK for maybe six months or a year, they send the money home, and then they go back to Albania.”

The Government acknowledged in June that some failed asylum seekers had disappeared, saying officials knew the whereabouts of the “vast majority”.

The Public Accounts Committee has said the system used to monitor migrants requires a “complete overhaul”.

The Home Office said more than 80,000 people living illegally in Britain have been removed or returned since Labour came to power in 2024, with removals of foreign national offenders also rising.

A spokesman for the department said: “Individuals who have no legal basis to remain in the UK should be deported and we are committed to making this happen.

“We have a dedicated tracing capability in the Home Office who work with the police and other enforcement agencies to trace those who abscond.

“The number of absconders is 70 per cent lower than the peak year under the previous government. But we must go further.

“The Home Secretary will double the Immigration Enforcement budget to support tens of thousands more raids, arrests and deportations of those here illegally.”

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