Channel Arrivals — Live Small Boat Arrivals

ABOUT THE LIVE COUNTER

The counter uses the Home Office's final annual totals through 2025 as its historical baseline, then combines the latest 2026 operational data with the Home Office's daily “last 7 days” feed. The Home Office says the daily figures are provisional and subject to revision.

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Live browser access uses CORS-enabled proxy fallbacks to read the public Home Office page; the displayed source remains the Home Office. Official source: GOV.UK — Small boat activity in the English Channel.

ARRIVALS BY NATIONALITY

Latest published Home Office small-boat nationality breakdown. The nationality dataset is updated less frequently than the live daily arrivals feed, so these figures are shown for the latest available year rather than presented as live month-to-date counts. The IQ figures are separate published national-IQ estimates and are not Home Office data.

Eritrea

7,042

YEAR ENDING MARCH 2026

Published national-IQ estimate: 68.77

Afghanistan

12%

OF NATIONALITY-RECORDED SMALL BOAT ARRIVALS

Published national-IQ estimate: 81.75

Sudan

4,389

YEAR ENDING MARCH 2026

Published national-IQ estimate: 78.87

Somalia

3,740

YEAR ENDING MARCH 2026

Published national-IQ estimate: 68.87

Iran

12%

OF NATIONALITY-RECORDED SMALL BOAT ARRIVALS

Published national-IQ estimate: 80.01

Syria

1,329

YEAR ENDING MARCH 2026

Published national-IQ estimate: 74.41

The Home Office summary gives exact counts for Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia and Syria, while Afghanistan and Iran are shown as 12% each of nationality-recorded small-boat arrivals in the latest published year. The underlying IER_D01 detailed dataset contains the full nationality breakdown.

Source: Home Office, Illegal entry routes to the UK detailed dataset (IER_D01), year ending March 2026. IQ source: Lynn & Becker (2019), The Intelligence of Nations. These IQ figures are published estimates, not official statistics about the abilities of individuals, and the underlying national-IQ dataset has been subject to substantial methodological criticism. The research literature notes that some country estimates rely on small or unrepresentative samples and, in some cases, geographic imputation. The Home Office states that the top five small-boat nationalities were Eritrean, Afghan, Sudanese, Iranian and Somali, accounting for more than three-fifths of arrivals.

UK FCDO TRAVEL ADVICE

The countries below are included because the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) currently advises against all travel or against travel to specified parts of the country. This describes security and travel risk in the country, not the character or behaviour of people of that nationality.

Afghanistan

ADVISES AGAINST ALL TRAVEL

FCDO says the security situation is volatile and travel throughout Afghanistan is extremely dangerous.

FCDO travel advice ↗

Iran

ADVISES AGAINST ALL TRAVEL

FCDO advises against all travel to Iran and warns of serious security, arrest and detention risks.

FCDO travel advice ↗

Syria

ADVISES AGAINST ALL TRAVEL

FCDO advises against all travel because of unpredictable security conditions and the threat of terrorist attacks.

FCDO travel advice ↗

Sudan

ADVISES AGAINST ALL TRAVEL IN MOST AREAS

FCDO advises against all travel to Sudan because of the ongoing military conflict, with limited exceptions.

FCDO travel advice ↗

Somalia

ADVISES AGAINST ALL TRAVEL IN MOST AREAS

FCDO advises against all travel to most of Somalia, with different advice for three regions.

FCDO travel advice ↗

Eritrea

ADVISES AGAINST TRAVEL IN BORDER AREAS

FCDO advises against all travel within 25km of Eritrea's land borders because of security and military risks.

FCDO travel advice ↗

Source: UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office travel advice, checked August 2026. Travel advice can change; the links above provide the current official guidance.

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