Foreign National Offenders
A Foreign National Offender (FNO) is a non-British citizen who has been convicted of a criminal offence in the UK. This page combines three official series: FNO returns from the UK by nationality, offence group and sentence length, published by the Home Office in the quarterly Immigration System Statistics release (2010 to 2026 Q1); first receptions of foreign nationals into prison in England and Wales, published annually by the Ministry of Justice; and a snapshot of foreign nationals held in prison, published quarterly by the Ministry of Justice as part of the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly release.
Returns and receptions are flows (counts over a period); the custody figure is a stock (people in prison on a given date) — the three measure different things and are not directly comparable. Nationality is recorded at the point of return or reception. It is not the same as country of birth, ethnicity, religion, or immigration status. The offence-group and sentence-length breakdowns cover the year ending December 2025 only. The latest seven quarters of returns data are provisional and may be revised.
FNO Returns - By Year #
Annual count of foreign national offenders returned from the UK. The current year is marked as incomplete ( ~) when the latest quarterly release does not yet cover Q4.
- Last sync:
- Source:
- GOV.UK | Returns - Detailed datasets (Foreign National Offenders)
- returns-datasets-mar-2026.xlsx | (Data_Ret_D03)
FNO Returns - By Nationality #
The top 12 nationalities of foreign national offenders returned from the UK, broken down by year.
- Last sync:
- Source:
- GOV.UK | Returns - Detailed datasets (Foreign National Offenders)
- returns-datasets-mar-2026.xlsx | (Data_Ret_D03)
FNO Returns - By Offence Group #
Foreign national offenders returned from the UK in the year ending December 2025, broken down by offence group. Single-period snapshot — not a time series.
- Last sync:
- Source:
- GOV.UK | Returns - Summary tables (Foreign National Offenders by offence group and sentence length)
- returns-summary-mar-2026-tables.ods | (Ret_02d)
FNO Returns - By Sentence Length #
The same 5,683 FNO returns broken down by the length of the custodial sentence served.
- Last sync:
- Source:
- GOV.UK | Returns - Summary tables (Foreign National Offenders by offence group and sentence length)
- returns-summary-mar-2026-tables.ods | (Ret_02d)
Foreign Nationals First Received into Prison #
Annual count of foreign nationals first entering prison custody in England and Wales (on remand or sentence). The closest published proxy for "crimes by foreign nationals" — but it only counts cases that result in custody, not those given community sentences, fines, or that don't reach conviction.
- Last sync:
- Source:
- GOV.UK | Offender Management Statistics Annual — Prison receptions by nationality group (England and Wales)
- prison-receptions-2025.ods | (Table_2_A_4)
Foreign Nationals in Custody #
Snapshot of foreign nationals held in prison in England and Wales on the last day of each quarter, split by custody type. This is a point-in-time stock, not a flow — it measures who is in prison today, not how many were charged in the year. The published time-series covers a rolling five-quarter window.
- Last sync:
- Source:
- GOV.UK | Offender Management Statistics Quarterly — Prison population (England and Wales)
- prison-population-31-Mar-2026.ods | (Table_1_Q_9)