Offenders: Foreign Nationals

The number of foreign national offenders (FNOs) in prison in England and Wales is published quarterly in table 1_Q_9 of Offender Management Statistics, with the latest data (30 September 2024) available from: prison-population-30-Sept-2024.ods.

Any FNO convicted of a crime who receives a custodial sentence in the UK is referred to the Home Office for deportation consideration following sentencing. We are focussing resources on those cases currently serving custodial sentences and maximising removals directly from prison.

We will pursue deportation action against individuals living in the community rigorously, actively monitoring and managing cases through the legal process and negotiating barriers to removal.

Between 5 July and 28 October 2024, there were 1,520 enforced and voluntary returns of FNOs, this is an increase of 14% compared to 1,330 FNO returns in the same period of 2023. Further information can be found here: Returns from the UK between July and October 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

The Home Office publishes the quarterly statistics on the returns of FNOs by nationality and year. These returns are published in the Returns Detailed Datasets, Year Ending June 2024, which are available at: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

The published statistics refer to enforced returns which include deportations, as well as cases where a person has breached UK immigration laws, and those removed under other administrative and illegal entry powers that have declined to leave voluntarily.