The number of Portuguese criminals deported from the United Kingdom rose 68% in 2025 compared to the previous year, according to official statistics published this Thursday, February 26, by the British Home Office.
Last year, 141 Portuguese people convicted of crimes were deported, compared to 84 in 2024, with Portugal behind only Albania, Romania, Poland, Lithuania and Bulgaria in the number of deportations of this type.
Conversely, the number of Portuguese citizens prevented from entering the United Kingdom upon arrival at the border and subsequently sent back decreased by 30%, falling from 424 in 2024 to 298 in 2025.
Denial of entry at ports and airports to European citizens has increased since 2020, when freedom of movement ceased due to ‘Brexit’ and a visa began to be required for those who intend to stay and work in the United Kingdom.
The same data also indicates that the total number of Portuguese people forced to return to their country of origin grew by 38% in 2025 (145 cases), compared to 107 in 2024.
Voluntary returns, which cover people subject to immigration control or action, but who leave on their own initiative, sometimes with logistical or financial support from the British authorities, registered an increase of 52%, rising from 54 in 2024 to 82 in 2025.
Altogether, 592 Portuguese people without legal right to remain in the United Kingdom, and subject to administrative expatriation or an expulsion order from the country, returned in 2025, 14% less than the 688 registered in the previous year.
The increase in Portuguese returns is part of a line of gradual tightening of British migration policy, which the Labor Government has been implementing.
Since 2024, more than a thousand employees have been transferred to border services, with the aim of “protecting the borders” by increasing the number of repatriations.
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