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Immigrants: Somalia

Answer

No estimate has been made regarding the number of Somali nationals in the UK who have no leave to remain. As the Home Secretary set out in his evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 23 May 2006, no government has been able to produce an accurate figure for the number of people who are in the country illegally, and that remains the case.The following table shows the number of Somali nationals removed from the UK in 2004 and 2005, broken down by type of applicant and type of removal.The information provided comes from published statistics. Information on removals in 2006 will be published in the summer on the Home Office's research development and statistics website at:"http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html."

Removals, voluntary departures and assisted returns¹, ² of Somalia to Somalia, 2004-05³, 4
Number of persons
	2004	2005	Total
Total persons removed¹, ²	30	20	55
Of whom:
Principal asylum applicants5	25	15	40
Dependants of asylum applicants	5	5	15
Non-asylum cases	*	—	*
Persons removed and voluntary departures6, 7	15	5	20
Of whom:
Principal asylum applicants5	10	5	15
Dependants of asylum applicants	*	—	*
Non-asylum cases	*	—	*
Persons leaving under assisted voluntary return programmes8	15	15	35
Of whom:
Principal asylum applicants5	10	10	20
Dependants of asylum applicants	5	5	10
Non-asylum cases9	—	—	—
¹ Includes enforced removals, persons departing ‘voluntarily’ after enforcement action had been initiated against them, persons leaving under assisted voluntary return programmes run by the International Organization for Migration and in 2005 those who it is established have left the UK without informing authorities.
² Includes cases dealt with at juxtaposed controls.
³ Figures rounded to the nearest five, with — = 0, * = 1 or 2, and may not sum due to rounding.
4 Provisional figures.
5 Persons who had sought asylum at some stage, excluding dependants.
6 Includes persons departing ‘voluntarily’ after enforcement action had been initiated against them and in 2005 those who it is established have left the UK without informing the immigration authorities.
7 Excludes assisted voluntary returns.
8 Persons leaving under assisted voluntary return programmes run by the International Organization for Migration. May include some cases where enforcement action has been initiated.
9 Persons leaving under the assisted voluntary return for irregular migrants programme run by the International Organisation for Migration. May include some on-entry cases and some cases where enforcement action has been initiated. Removals under this scheme began in December 2004.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

119891; 458 c1066-7W

Session

2006-07

Subjects

Deportation Migrants Somalia

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk