Thursday 24 November 2022 07:17 PM One in three migrants crossing English Channel in small boats is Albanian trends now One in three of migrants crossing English Channel in small boats is Albanian and on some days they are four out of five, new Home Office figures show Albanians accounted for over a third of people in Channel crossings this year On some days in recent months, the figure has been as high as 80 per cent This is a steep increase from three per cent in 2021 and one per cent in 2020 Number of migrants entering UK dried up in November due to poor weather By Stewart Carr For Mailonline Published: 19:11 GMT, 24 November 2022 | Updated: 19:12 GMT, 24 November 2022 Viewcomments Albanians accounted for just over a third of people detected crossing the English Channel in small boats in the first nine months of the year, new figures have shown. They also made up nearly half of those detected in July to September. It is a sharp increase on previous years, with only 3% of arrivals in 2021 being of Albanian nationality, and just 1% in 2020. The figures, which have been published by the Home Office, show there were 33,029 small boat arrivals in the UK from January to September this year. Of this total, 11,241 (35%) were Albanian nationals. Almost all of these have arrived since May. Albanians accounted for just over a third of people detected crossing the English Channel in small boats in the first nine months of the year, new figures have shown It is a sharp increase on previous years, with only 3% of arrivals in 2021 being of Albanian nationality, and just 1% in 2020 In the three months from July to September, 45% of small boat arrivals were Albanian (9,076) and on some days the figure was as high as 80%. A greater mix of nationalities have been detected making the crossing in recent years, the Home Office said. Iranians accounted for the majority of arrivals in both 2018 (80%) and 2019 (66%). But since 2020 arrivals from countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Eritrea have become more common while the number of Albanians has “increased substantially” this year. The new figures also show that of the 35,345 small boat arrivals between October 1 2021 and August 31 2022, 31,891 have claimed asylum in the UK - of which only 139 (2%) have received an initial decision. Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said: “The growing backlog means that people in the asylum system are stuck in limbo for long periods. “There is evidence that these waiting times hurt the long-term integration prospects of those who receive refugee status. “Meanwhile, people with pending asylum claims cannot work and so need to be provided with accommodation so they are not made homeless. “The result is that the backlog also puts pressure on the availability of accommodation and pushes up the cost of the asylum system.” The official figure of 33,029 small boat crossings from January to September, together with separate figures showing 9,125 crossings since October 1, means the provisional total for the year to date currently stands at 42,154. This compares with 28,526 crossings for the whole of 2021. Share or comment on this article: All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility