Full Fact investigates claims and misinformation about asylum seekers in the UK and beyond.
Our fact checks examine statements from politicians, media reports and social media posts about numbers arriving, government policy, housing, and community impact.
Each article uses transparent data, verified official statistics and expert evidence to clarify what’s accurate, what’s misleading and what’s unproven.
Thousands have shared a Facebook post falsely claiming “every illegal immigrant” receives a card preloaded weekly with £175, as well as free daily meals. Read
Immigration
A post circulating on social media falsely claims that there are 1.6 million asylum seekers receiving “long term benefits”. Read
Immigration
A figure used by Robert Jenrick MP refers to a study which estimated the lifetime net cost of asylum seekers in the Netherlands, not the UK. Read
Immigration
Rishi Sunak’s claim that small boat crossings are “down by a third” since he became Prime Minister is only true when looking at arrivals in 2023. Read
Immigration
The Prime Minister claimed on social media that the government had achieved its commitment to “clear the backlog of asylum decisions by the end of 2023”. Read
Immigration
A Facebook post calls for “illegal immigrants” to be deterred by stopping benefits—but people in the UK without a right to be here aren’t entitled to benefits already. Read
Immigration
We’ve looked into the detail of the government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, and whether other governments are considering similar schemes. Read
Immigration
The Conservative party deputy chair’s claim that Labour’s immigration plans would “give hundreds of thousands of migrants a golden ticket” to the UK is similar to recent comments from other ministers. Read
Immigration
Headlines about the home secretary’s speech last week were misleading, with the think tank figure she quoted a broad estimate for the number of people who may have a “notional” right to move country. Read
Immigration
Reform UK party leader Richard Tice wrongly claimed in a social media post that 50% of children seeking asylum were found to be adults. Read
