Migrant returns from Britain to France are expect to start within days, after the ratification of a new deal aimed at curbing small boat crossings, UK officials said.
Under the arrangement, the UK will accept an equal number of asylum seekers from France who have family ties to Britain, according to government officials.
French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer had previously endorsed the agreement in a bilateral pilot scheme announced last month. The two leaders announced the "one in, one out" framework at a joint press conference in London on 10 July, 2025.
UK authorities say more than 25,000 individuals have arrived by sea this year. Starmer has vowed to disrupt smuggling operations and has faced mounting pressure from Nigel Farage's Reform UK party, which currently leads national opinion polls.
Protests have recently taken place near facilities housing new arrivals, drawing both anti- and pro-immigration demonstrators.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said the deal aims to dismantle trafficking networks. British Interior Minister Yvette Cooper confirmed the scheme will initially apply only to newly arrived individuals, but declined to give specific figures.Returns will focus on those who arrived via small boats and are not already residing in the UK.
“The numbers will start lower and then build up,” Cooper told Sky News, referring to the scope of returns.
Officials estimate around 50 individuals may be transferred each week, totalling roughly 2,600 annually, a small share of last year’s 35,000 total arrivals. The scheme is expected to run as a pilot until June 2026.
While some critics argue the scale is too limited to act as a deterrent, Cooper emphasised that this is one part of a broader migration control strategy.
The government has also targeted people smugglers with sanctions, clamped down on social media adverts and is working with delivery firms to tackle the illegal work that is often promised to migrants.
The European Commission and EU member states have signalled approval for the UK–France plan, government sources said.
According to the UK Home Office, more than 25,000 people have arrived in the UK by small boat so far in 2025. Since 2018, more 126,000 people have made the crossing in total, UK Home Office reports. Fewer than 5,000 of them have been returned, mostly to Albania, according to the Migration Observatory.
The government hopes the agreement will deter future crossings and ease pressure on asylum system.
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