Pakistan is facing the prospect of a UK visa ban after government figures revealed that only a fraction of failed Pakistani asylum seekers were successfully returned to the country last year, with the Home Secretary now issuing a direct warning to Islamabad to cooperate or face consequences.
Of the 10,638 asylum claims lodged by Pakistani nationals in the UK last year — more than from any other single country, and double the figure recorded in 2023 — just 4.1 per cent were returned, according to Home Office data. The total number of Pakistani asylum seekers now accounts for one in ten of all those in the UK asylum system, outnumbering claimants from Eritrea, Iran and Afghanistan.
A significant proportion of those claimants are understood to have entered Britain legally on temporary visitor, work or student visas before switching to asylum claims in an attempt to secure permanent residency.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has now placed Pakistan under the same pressure previously applied to other countries, several of which agreed to accept returns after being threatened with visa restrictions. Namibia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola all reached agreements with the UK following similar warnings. A Home Office spokesman said: “While the UK and Pakistan are working in partnership on shared migration and returns priorities, our message is clear — co-operate on returns or face consequences.”
A visa ban would carry significant practical implications, potentially covering the removal of fast-track visa services and restrictions on entry documents for a wide range of Pakistani nationals, from tourists to politicians.
The situation has been further complicated by the cases of two high-profile individuals. Grooming gang leaders Adil Khan, 55, and Qari Abdul Rauf, 56 — jailed in 2012 for sexually assaulting 47 girls, some as young as 12 — have not been returned to Pakistan, with both men having renounced their Pakistani citizenship in an apparent effort to frustrate removal proceedings.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp described the returns figures as “pathetic” and called for a significant reduction in visas granted to Pakistani nationals, as well as withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights to enable deportations that are currently legally contested.
Whether Pakistan agrees to increase cooperation on returns — and on what terms — is expected to become clearer in the coming weeks as diplomatic discussions between the two governments continue.
