Refugees and migrants have been entering the United Kingdom by crossing the English Channel since 2018. The Strait of Dover section between Dover in England and Calais in France represents the shortest sea crossing, and is a long-established shipping route. The shortest distance across the strait, at approximately 20 miles (32 kilometres), is from the South Foreland, northeast of Dover in the English county of Kent, to Cap Gris-Nez, a cape near to Calais in the French département of Pas-de-Calais.
As of 14 November 2026, the Home Office has detected 216,592 migrants who have crossed the English Channel in small boats since 2018. Crossing the Channel without permission is a criminal offence under UK law, as is to attempt to use a dangerous type of vessel or any unregistered craft under French law. International refugee law protects most persons who present a particularised claim to seek refugee status (asylum seekers) from being penalised, where their dominant purpose can be shown to be seeking entry to an initial, or further, safe country. More than 130 people are confirmed to have died in the northern French marine, as opposed to roads, sector during this period of shift to maritime routes. Many more deaths of people attempting to enter Europe without prior permission occur on the Mediterranean routes each year; for example in 2025 over 1,500 deaths occurred on the central Mediterranean route, while 36 were listed as missing between mainland Europe and the UK.
Background
Seaborne crossings aboard small boats by both credible refugees and people not legally entitled to regularise their intended new residency were rare before 2018; however, some crossings were recorded in the summer of 2016 during the European migrant crisis. More commonly, migrants stowed away aboard trains, lorries, or ferry boats, a technique that has become more difficult in recent years as British authorities have intensified searches of such vehicles and funded the construction of border fences in France. Prices charged by smugglers for illegal rides across the Channel in lorries, trains and ferries have risen sharply. Rumours that entering and claiming asylum in the UK would become more difficult once Brexit went into effect circulated in migrant encampments in France, possibly fomented by people smugglers hoping to drum up business. Brexit resulted in the UK leaving the Dublin regulations, removing the right to return those unlawful entrants with a provable tie or their own stated non-transit presence in other EU member states.
If migrants who prove themselves to be from several countries arrive in England through illegal means, upon arrival the UK Government is unlikely to reject their claims to asylum. In 2019, at least 1,890 migrants arrived from France via small boats; the Home Office reported that only around 125 were returned to other European countries.
Since November 2018, the number of migrants crossing has grown. The total number of migrants arriving by this route during 2018 was 297. In 2019 and 2020 the numbers grew significantly, and by September 2020 an estimated total of 7,500 had entered Britain by this route. The number of crossings rose further to 45,755 in 2022 before declining to 29,437 in 2023. Others continue to arrive via other routes some of which at least during entry and an initial period unnoticed.
Until the dispersal of the Calais Jungle in 2016, which contained an estimated 3,000 would-be immigrants to the UK, the majority of asylum seekers entering the country via the English Channel did so through the Channel Tunnel, mostly by hiding in vehicles.
With the increase in numbers crossing the channel in 2019, politicians attached the label "crisis" to the sudden increase in seaborne crossings. Former home secretary Sajid Javid preferred to describe the increase in crossings as a "major incident." Journalist and former Scottish Labour Party MP Tom Harris argued that the small boat crossings that are occurring are not a "crisis."
In 2023, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak raised the profile of the channel crossings with his campaign to 'Stop the boats', and his subsequent failed attempt to implement the Conservative Party's planned relocation of migrants and asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Timeline
Before 2015 to 2016
The BBC first reported on small, sporadic numbers of boats with migrants on board arriving off the Kent coast from France in 2015.
Although there were boats before this they were not seen as an issue. Tony Smith said during his time as gold commander for the London 2012 Olympics and head of Border Force, he was unaware of any arrivals by boat and had been "advised that it wasn't a threat" given the difficulty of the currents and activity levels of shipping lanes. The focus at the time had been more on arrivals via ferries and lorries, and Smith said that "I think the reason people shifted to the boats was because we'd done quite well in stopping them coming in by other routes".
Smith said he was "very surprised" to see small boats and dinghies arriving, and speculates that "As soon as the migrants and smugglers realised this was a viable route, they were getting ashore, they weren't being sent back and more started to come."
BBC South East first reported on a handful of boat arrivals in 2014 and 2015, with around 100 people arriving in 2016 - but at that stage the incidents weren't published by the Home Office.
2018
The first migrants to have been recorded landing in the UK by small boat as recorded by the government was on 31 January 2018 when seven people crossed in a single boat. In 2018, 539 refugees and migrants "tried to reach Britain on small boats." Many were intercepted and returned to France. As many as 434 migrants are known to have made the crossing in small boats in October, November and December 2018, 100 in November 2018, 230 in December.
Following the surge in migrant crossing incidents in November and December, on 28 December 2018 the UK Home secretary declared a major incident regarding refugees attempting to cross the channel. As many as 227 refugees and migrants were intercepted and returned to the continent by French authorities in 2018, "at least" 95 refugees and migrants in December alone. By way of comparison, 26,547 asylum claims were filed by would be refugees in the UK in 2017.
2019
During the course of 2019, almost 1,900 had made the crossing by the end of the year.
From July to December 2019, an average of approximately 200 people made the crossing per month.
2020
In April 2020, boat arrivals for that month was over 400 – the highest monthly total ever recorded.
In July, the number of people crossing almost matched the combined total of May and June, with more migrants encouraged by good weather and calm seas.
In August, it was reported that in 2020 so far almost 4,000 people had crossed the Channel illegally, using at least 300 small boats. On 6 August a record number of migrants arrived, at least 235. It has also been observed that while it was originally mostly men that were arriving, young children and pregnant women and babies are now often among those arriving.
The total number of migrants recorded to have crossed into the UK in 2020 was 3,948 as of 7 August.
According to analysis by PA Media, the number of migrants reaching the UK shore has gone beyond 4,100 people in 2020. The Home Office confirmed that 151 migrants came ashore on 8 August. French authorities claimed that in the first six months of 2020, the number of migrants crossing the English Channel increased by five times, as compared to the last year.
On 19 August a Sudanese man, Abdulfatah Hamdallah, drowned in the Channel making the journey from France. He died after his and his friend's inflatable dinghy, which they were powering using shovels as oars, capsized. While his companion and British news media claimed he was 16 years old, Boulogne-sur-Mer's deputy public prosecutor Philippe Sabatier said a travel document provided by Hamdallah gave his age as 28. The pair had previously been living in the Calais Jungle for at least two months prior.
By 20 October, the total number of crossings in 2020 reached 7,294.
On 27 October, a Kurdish-Iranian family of five from Sardasht died after a boat capsized outside France on way to reach the UK. Artin Irannezhad, a 15-month old toddler from the shipwreck, washed up on Karmøy island on 1 January 2021.
By the end of the year, about 635 boats had crossed the Channel, carrying 8,438 people.
2021
On 1 January 2021, the UK officially left the Dublin regulations as part of the UK's departure from the EU (Brexit). This removed the UK from legislation that legally allowed the UK to return migrants to other EU member states.
Illegal crossings continued in 2021, including 103 people on 10 January and 77 people on 24 February.
On 19 July 430 people crossed the channel, making it the largest crossing on record. 1,850 people had crossed in July alone, which is more than the total for the whole of 2019.
On 11 November, a new record daily number of migrant crossings occurred, with around 1,000 people intercepted by border patrols. The cumulative total of 23,000 for the year was reported as far higher than previous years.
On 24 November, the deadliest incident on record occurred. An inflatable dinghy carrying 30 migrants capsized while attempting to reach the UK, resulting in 27 deaths and one person missing. The victims included a pregnant woman and three children. In September 2026, after a four week trial in Paris, six people were found guilty of involuntary homicide in relation to the November 2021 disaster: they were sentenced to prison terms of between six and 10 years. Seven further people were sentenced for lesser crimes in relation to the case.
2022
On one day in January, 271 migrants crossed the Channel.
In March 2022, More than 3,000 people arrived in small boats, compared to 831 in March 2021.
In April 2022 Boris Johnson announced the Rwanda asylum plan in an attempt to deter people from making Channel crossings.
In the first week of August 1,886 people crossed the Channel.
On 14 August, government figures showed that 20,000 people had crossed the channel in small boats since the start of the year. They stated 60,000 were expected to make the crossing in 2022.
On 22 August, a total of 1,295 migrants crossed the Channel in 27 boats, setting a new record for crossings in a single day.
As at 30 October, the total for the year of 2022 stood at 39,430.
The BBC reported that 45,755 people crossed the Channel in small boats for the year 2022.
2023
The Home Office predicted that the number of people arriving on small boats could reach 85,000 for the whole of 2023. In the first three months of the year, 675 Indians arrived by small boats becoming the second most common nationality after Afghans (909). The number of Albanians arriving by small boats fell to 29.
On 12 August, an overloaded boat sank resulting in the death of six people, all believed to be Afghan men in their 30s.
In the first eight months of the year, just over 20,000 migrants have arrived using small boats. This figure is 20% lower than at the same point of time in 2022, with the month of August seeing a 38% reduction in crossings compared to 2022 (8,631 migrants in 2022 compared to 5,369 in 2023). By the middle of November 2023, the number of people arriving by small boat crossings has continued to fall with a 33% reduction recorded compared to the same point of time last year. The Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick has stated the fall in numbers was achieved in spite of better weather conditions and a significant rise in irregular arrivals across Europe, with the number of people crossing the Mediterranean to Italy more than doubling compared to the previous year.
Overall, 2023 saw a 36% fall in crossings compared to 2022, however the Immigration Services Union described the fall as a "glitch" with "higher numbers" expected for 2024.
2024
On 14 January, five migrants trying to cross the channel were found dead on a beach on the channel coast of northern France.
On 28 February, the death of three migrants attempting to cross the channel from Cap Gris Nez was confirmed by French authorities. The number of Channel crossings is 32% lower than the total recorded at the same point of time last year, but 49% higher than the total at this stage in 2022.
For the first quarter of 2024, the most common nationality of people arriving from small boats was from Vietnam, with the 1,266 Vietnamese arrivals making up 20% of arrivals so far. In a statement delivered by Rishi Sunak, he stated “Vietnamese arrivals have increased ten-fold and account for almost all of the increase in small boat numbers we have seen this year".
On 23 April, the same day that the Safety of Rwanda bill passed, a French coast guard official reported the death of five migrants from 'crowd panic' during an attempt to cross the channel.
James Cleverly accused Labour of enabling people smugglers through ineffective policies, citing the arrival of over 700 migrants and two deaths in the Channel on 11 August 2024. He called on Labour to reverse these decisions and strengthen border control.
On 3 September, the bottom of a boat overcrowded with migrants ripped open, resulting in 12 deaths. During the year to date, more than 21,000 people had crossed the channel.