The House of Commons Library published a briefing on 24 September 2026 on the United Kingdom aid budget and support for refugees in the United Kingdom from 2022 to 2026. It said the United Kingdom spent 18% of its aid budget supporting refugees in the United Kingdom in 2025.

The UK aid budget and support for refugees in the UK, 2022 to 2026

Commons Library briefing, 24 Sep 2026. The UK spent 18% of its aid budget supporting refugees in the UK in 2025. Via Free Movement's Immigration Updates Dashboard.

updates.freemovement.org.uk

Local management information indicates that from the introduction of the [EU Settlement Scheme] in 2018 to 30 June 2026, 1,473 individuals have been notified that their pre-settled status was granted in error".

HO Answers@ho-answers.bsky.social · 3d ago

A question on #Immigration #EUNationals tabled by Lord German on 10-09-2026 has been answered by Lord Hanson of Flint. https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2026-09-10/HL3398

Interesting report by the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee on how the Home Office managed to accidently delete a section of the immigration rules, and the workaround that highlights the lack of parliamentary scrutiny of the Home Secretary's powers publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5902/ld...

Citizenship tests are coming to Ireland, along with a longer residence period (eight years) before people qualify in the first place www.gov.ie/en/departmen...

Updated this mostly to note that final decisions on the "earned settlement" policy of having migrants wait longer for permanent residence are coming "very soon", the Home Secretary says

Second Reading@commonslibrary.bsky.social · 6d ago

Changes to UK visa and settlement rules after the 2025 immigration white paper https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10267/

The transcript of the Home Secretary's answers to questions from MPs on 15 September has now been published (Q53 onward for immigration): committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence...

A committee of MPs heard evidence on the Immigration and Asylum Bill this week. This is one important concern about the proposed new appeal system with non-lawyers as judges:

How does immigration affect public finances? Is the OBR getting it right? Which migration policies are fiscally costly vs beneficial? Much enjoyed discussing all this - and my new book, "What is immigration policy for?" with @theifs.bsky.social on their excellent IFS Zooms In podcast

The Institute for Fiscal Studies@theifs.bsky.social · 2w ago

NEW PODCAST: How does immigration affect the public finances? 🎙️ @helenmiller.bsky.social, @msumption.bsky.social, and @maxwarner.bsky.social sit down to discuss the impact of migration on the economy and the public finances ⬇️

Our reader survey is currently live and we’d love to hear from you. freemovement.org.uk/reader-surve...

The Free Movement reader survey 2026: how are we doing? - Free Movement

This week, we are running our sixth reader survey since we started surveying in 2013. We are very interested in what you think of Free Movement, and what you

freemovement.org.uk

'International students..."visa hoppers" and backpackers will be targeted under stricter rules announced by Australia...in a bid to curb immigration. Foreign students will no longer be able to bring their families with them and those who want to extend their stay must choose a higher qualification.

Australia immigration crackdown: visas for international students and backpackers targeted

The government wants to reduce net overseas migration to 225,000 people by 2028.

bbc.co.uk

PISA results suggest that “the UK will continue to have a ‘small boats‘ issue. Why on earth would a migrant - genuine refugee or not - want to stop in France? We offer them and their children a bright future, and France does not” timleunig.substack.com/p/pisa?r=27b...

PISA

The education test, not the place in Italy

timleunig.substack.com

"Staff told inspectors that Border Force gave priority to the management of queues over refusals casework and that they had experienced pressure from managers to grant passengers permission to enter the UK when they felt further examination was appropriate." www.gov.uk/government/p...

An inspection of refusals and cancellations of permission to enter the UK (September 2025 – February 2026)

This inspection report contains two recommendations.

gov.uk

Chris Rowe: Requalifying Article 8: The Immigration and Asylum Bill ukconstitutionallaw.org/2026/09/10/c...

New tribunal stats are out this morning. Asylum appeals backlog is up but not by much - seems to have started to stabilise. Was 87,450 last quarter, is 90,341 this quarter www.gov.uk/government/s...

Tribunals statistics quarterly: April to June 2026

Type and volume of tribunal cases received, disposed of or outstanding. This also includes statistics on the Gender Recognition Certificate applied for and granted by HMCTS Gender Recognition Panel.

gov.uk

UPDATED BRIEFING: Public opinion has become less supportive of immigration recently, but the picture is nuanced, and the UK is still more positive than many European neighbours UK Public Opinion toward Immigration: Overall Attitudes and Level of Concern migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/br...

UK Public Opinion toward Immigration: Overall Attitudes and Level of Concern - Migration Observatory

This briefing provides an overview of attitudes toward immigration in Britain.

migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk

I helped out with this project a little - thought it went well and this video gives a good sense of how much the participants got into it on the day

Channel 4 News@channel4news.bsky.social · 3w ago

Citizens’ Assembly: an exclusive glimpse into a rare form of democracy www.channel4.com/news/citizen...

Planned changes to the requirements for Irish citizenship will ensure that new citizens have an 'understanding' of Ireland and the country's values, the Taoiseach said today jrnl.ie/7154915

Citizenship rules to be tightened with longer residency and language test

Those seeking Irish citizenship will be required be resident in the country for eight years, up from the current five.

jrnl.ie

📣 New Report | Your Voice on #Immigration What happens if you give people the time, information and space to discuss one of the most contested issues in British politics? 🗣️ ‘Your Voice on Immigration’ did just that. demos.co.uk/research/you...

Your Voice on Immigration: Report on the findings from public deliberation on work-related immigration for the home affairs committee

Demos is Britain’s leading cross-party think-tank. We produce original research, publish innovative thinkers and host thought-provoking events.

demos.co.uk

UN Refugee Agency says it's "concerned that the limitations on the interpretation of Article 8 ECHR proposed in the Bill could further restrict an important avenue through which refugee families may seek to preserve family unity". www.unhcr.org/uk/media/unh...

"Today, the gangs are quoting up to €2,000 (£1,700) per person. It used to be around €1,300 just a year ago. Their passengers also have to now pay in cash, to ensure commitment" www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Channel smuggling gangs resort to 'mega-dinghies' as crackdown limits small boat supply

Once-rival criminal groups are being forced to work together because of a shortage of small boats, a BBC investigation has found.

bbc.co.uk

More main applicant long-term work visas for entry now granted to EU nationals than to South Asians and Africans combined. This is including health and care.

Potentially quite a significant change for people who've lost their work visa sponsorship because of employer misconduct, although tied to formal recognition through the modern slavery system questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-stat...

"A new specialist unit of 75 officers dedicated to tackling small boat crossings is now active in Northern France, taking the total number of officers to nearly 1050" www.gov.uk/government/n...

‘Working alongside Europe is the key to driving a stronger Britain’- Burnham

The Prime Minister will host President Macron in Downing Street today (Thursday 3 September) to discuss shared challenges facing both countries.

gov.uk

Long thread alert 🧵 1. The High Court has upheld the Home Secretary's student visa brake, dismissing a judicial review brought by seven women from Afghanistan, Cameroon, and Sudan who had secured university places and scholarships before the measure took effect.

Statistics on small boat Channel crossings https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10590/

A striking parliamentary question

Huh: the Home Office says “no change has been made to the requirements needed to travel to the UK. Requiring a passport to provide this information was a decision made by the ferry companies operating international routes between Ireland and Britain" www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/...

New barriers in Common Travel Area as passport now required for Britain-Ireland ferry

Passengers must provide an official government document to cross between the two countries for the first time in over 100 years

telegraph.co.uk

"The Home Office told inspectors that staff used 23 systems to identify and manage overstayers, but during the onsite phase of this inspection, inspectors were made aware of more systems"🫠 www.gov.uk/government/p...

An inspection of overstayers (March – October 2025)

This inspection report contains five recommendations.

gov.uk

📊New migration stats: asylum applications are down, while UK citizenship applications hit a record high. 315,000+ applied in the year to June 2026 (+17%). Non-EU nationals drove the numbers, but growth was sharper among EU nationals. Check our analysis: migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/press/citize...

Breaking the human smuggling policy trap globalinitiative.net/analysis/bre... "This note argues that the Channel is not an anomaly but the current British manifestation of a pattern that recurs wherever a high-demand migration corridor meets a hardened border. That pattern is a policy trap."

Breaking the human smuggling policy trap

This policy note explains how the UK can break the human smuggling policy trap through enforcement, legal routes, returns and international cooperation.

globalinitiative.net