UK threatens to block all visas for Eritreans
Eritreans were the most common nationality arriving by small boat in the year ending June 2026, the Home Office said.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has threatened to block all visas for Eritreans unless Eritrea rapidly agrees to take back nationals with no right to be in the UK, the Home Office said.
“Eritrea has had every chance to accept the return of criminals and those with no right to be in the UK. Unlike other countries, it has refused,” Mahmood said. “My message to the Eritrean government is simple: take back your nationals or face a complete ban on your citizens entering the UK.”
From 15 October, the Home Office is scrapping preferential visa processing for Eritrean VIPs and government officials. Eritrean diplomats are also barred from travelling 60 kilometres (37 miles) beyond London without permission from the Foreign Office, a restriction the department said mirrors similar limits placed on British officials in Asmara.
The Home Office said the measures follow Eritrea’s abrupt withdrawal of returns co-operation earlier in 2026. The UK had spent months trying to settle the matter privately, the department said, but the Eritrean government had refused to engage constructively.
Returns arrangements are vital to removing failed asylum seekers and foreign criminals, the department said.
The statement carried no response from the Eritrean government.
Other countries
The Home Office said Mahmood vowed in the first week of the job to impose visa penalties on countries that refuse to take back their citizens. Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have all been threatened since, and all three have chosen to improve co-operation, it said. Angola and Namibia quickly agreed enhanced arrangements after the threat.
The DRC was slower to act, which prompted visa measures including restrictions on officials and visas. Those have now been lifted after six months of sustained co-operation, with returns flights running.
“I will not hesitate to impose further measures on other countries refusing to co-operate,” Mahmood said.
The government is also strengthening returns co-operation with other countries. A new migration deal with Egypt will cut the time taken to return Egyptian nationals with no right to be in the UK by around 90%, from around 30 weeks to three weeks, according to the Home Office.
