Albanian, Romanian, Brazilian and Indian nationals featured prominently among people subjected to enforced returns from the United Kingdom in the year ending December 2025, latest figures from the UK Home Office have shown.
The statistics showed that 9,914 people were subject to enforced returns from the UK during the period, 21 per cent higher than the 8,169 recorded in the previous year.
The Home Office's data tracks the nationalities most frequently represented in enforced returns over the five years to December 2025, with Albania recording the highest figure in the latest year.
A total of 2,440 Albanian nationals were subject to enforced returns in the year ending December 2025, accounting for roughly 25 per cent of the total.
Despite remaining the leading nationality, the figure represented a seven per cent decline from the previous year.
The Home Office attributed the rise in enforced returns of Albanian nationals in earlier years partly to increased arrivals by small boats in 2022 and the subsequent UK-Albania Joint Communique signed in December that year.
It also reported that foreign national offenders made up more than half of the Albanian nationals subject to enforced returns during the latest 12-month period.
Romanian nationals ranked next, with 1,818 enforced returns recorded in the year ending December 2025.
The number represented a 20 per cent increase from the previous year. More than half of the Romanian nationals returned were also foreign national offenders, according to the Home Office.
Brazil followed with 939 enforced returns, representing a 61 per cent increase compared with the preceding year.
The increase was among the largest recorded for the nationalities highlighted in the Home Office statistics. Foreign national offenders accounted for a much smaller share of the Brazilian enforced returns than was recorded for Albania and Romania.
Brazilian nationals also recorded a significantly higher number of voluntary departures, with 4,759 voluntary returns during the same period.
India recorded 781 enforced returns in the year ending December 2025, with the number almost doubling compared with the previous year.
The Home Office identified India among the nationalities that experienced particularly sharp increases in enforced returns during the period.
Foreign national offenders represented a smaller proportion of Indian enforced returns than among Albanian and Romanian nationals.
At the same time, Indian nationals recorded 8,652 voluntary returns from the UK during the year, considerably higher than the number of enforced returns.
The latest figures reflect the continued increase in enforced returns after numbers fell sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the UK government steps up immigration enforcement and returns.
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