Record number of migrants cross English Channel in first four months of year

There have been 8,064 arrivals so far in 2025, including 656 on Saturday, according to provisional Home Office figures.

By contributor Anahita Hossein-Pour, PA

Published Apr 13

Last updated Apr 13

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the Channel on Friday April 11 2025 — There were 656 arrivals on Saturday (Gareth Fuller/PA)

The number of migrants arriving in the UK after crossing the English Channel has set a new record for the first four months of the year.

There have been 8,064 arrivals so far in 2025, including 656 on Saturday, according to provisional Home Office figures.

This is already higher than the 7,567 people who crossed the Channel over January, February, March and April in 2024 – at the time, a record number for that period.

It is also a jump on the 5,946 arrivals in the first four months of 2023, and the 6,691 in the same period in 2022.

The cumulative total for 2025 so far of 8,064 people is up 46% on this point last year as of Saturday (5,517) and 65% higher than at this stage in 2023 (4,899), according to PA news agency analysis of latest data.