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Migrants arrive in UK for first time this year after Channel crossing

Pictures show people disembarking a Border Force boat in Dover on Monday, becoming the first to arrive in 2026 amid a cold spell of weather.

By contributor Anahita Hossein-Pour, Press Association
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Supporting image for story: Migrants arrive in UK for first time this year after Channel crossing
A group of people thought to be migrants are brought into the Border Force compound in Dover, Kent, by a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the Channel (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Migrants have arrived in the UK for the first time this year after crossing the English Channel in bitterly cold temperatures.

Pictures show people disembarking a Border Force boat in Dover on Monday, becoming the first to arrive in 2026 by small boat.

The Met Office forecast occasional sleet across the Dover Strait and a temperature of 1C, feeling like minus 3C, in the Kent town amid weather warnings in place across the country.

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought into the Border Force compound in Dover, Kent, by a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the Channel
A group of people thought to be migrants are brought into the Border Force compound in Dover, Kent (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Pictures and video footage of the arrivals show what appear to be officials taking a stretcher on and off the boat.

The Home Office has been contacted for comment.

Home Office figures show 41,472 migrants arrived in the UK in 2025 after crossing the English Channel – the second highest annual figure on record.

The yearly total was 13% higher than the figure for 2024, when 36,816 migrants made the journey, and 41% higher than 2023’s total of 29,437.

Migrant Channel crossing incidents
A stretcher appears to be used as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover (Gareth Fuller/PA)

It was also 9% below the all-time high of 45,774 in 2022.

The earliest point in the calendar year to record crossings was on January 2 in 2021 and 2023 of 10 and 44 people respectively.

Last year the first arrivals of 61 people were recorded on January 4.

Official figures from the Home Office on the latest number of arrivals will be published on Tuesday.

It comes as new powers to seize mobile phones and sim cards from migrants making the journey come into force on Monday, as part of efforts to gather intelligence and crack down on people smugglers.

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought into the Border Force compound in Dover, Kent, by a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the Channel
The Met Office forecast occasional sleet across the Dover Strait (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Officers will be able to take electronic devices from people at Manston processing centre in Kent, without needing to arrest them, and can search someone’s mouth for hidden sim cards.

The Home Office said there is technology ready on site to download data from the phones.

The new powers for law enforcement agencies are hoped to speed up investigations and come after the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act became law in December.

The UK’s Border Security Commander Martin Hewitt, tasked with curbing Channel crossings, said the move marks a “key moment” to go further with extra tools to crack down on smugglers.

But shadow home secretary Chris Philp said it may help “at the margins” but “it will not fix the small boats crisis”.

Meanwhile the charity Freedom From Torture said subjecting migrants to “invasive searches” immediately after they have survived a journey across the Channel was “profoundly inhumane” and called for ministers to expand safe and legal routes to prevent dangerous crossings.