UK warns Eritrea of entry ban unless it accepts migrant returns
Britain has warned Eritrea that its citizens could be barred entirely from entering the United Kingdom unless it accepts the return of criminals and people with no right to remain.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood issued the warning after Eritrea refused to cooperate with returns of its nationals. Eritrean VIPs and officials have already been stripped of fast-track access to British visas as a result, The Guardian reported.
The Home Office said Eritrea abruptly withdrew cooperation on returns earlier in 2026. London describes visa sanctions, meaning restrictions on visas for a country's nationals, as a tool to press governments to take back their citizens.
The dispute involves a large share of Channel crossings. Nearly 6,000 Eritreans reached Britain across the Channel in the year to June 2026, making them the most common nationality arriving by small boat over that period.
Enforcement figures show limited returns. Just over 100 refused Eritrean asylum seekers were deported out of 2,626 rejected cases in the past four years, fewer than 4%.
Many Eritrean claims succeed. About 7,000 British asylum applications came from Eritreans, about 8% of the total, according to Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory. She said about 84% of Eritrean applications are successful at the first stage.
Eritrea is the latest country to face this pressure. Britain threatened Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo with visa sanctions over returns cooperation in 2025. Angola and Namibia then agreed to cooperate, while the Democratic Republic of the Congo faced visa restrictions before reaching a returns agreement with London in February.
In March, Britain halted study visas for nationals from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan and halted work visas for Afghans. India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Somalia, Egypt and Gabon have been identified as resistant to taking back migrants without legal status and could face similar sanctions.
