English Channel illegal migrant crossings (2018–present)

An increasing number of refugees and migrants have been entering the United Kingdom by crossing the English Channel (La Manche) since 2018. The Strait of Dover section between Dover in England and Calais in France represents the shortest sea crossing, and is a long-established shipping route. The shortest distance across the strait, at approximately 20 miles (32 kilometres), is from the South Foreland, northeast of Dover in the English county of Kent, to Cap Gris Nez, a cape near to Calais in the French département of Pas-de-Calais.

As of 15 March 2026, the Home Office has detected 196,067 migrants who have crossed the English Channel in small boats since 2018. Crossing the Channel without permission is a criminal offence under UK law, as is to attempt to use a dangerous type of vessel or any unregistered craft under French law. International refugee law protects most persons who present a particularised claim to seek refugee status (asylum seekers) from being penalised, where their dominant purpose can be shown to be seeking entry to an initial, or further, safe country. More than 130 people are confirmed to have died in the northern French marine, as opposed to roads, sector during this period of shift to maritime routes. Many more deaths of people attempting to enter Europe without prior permission occur on the Mediterranean routes each year.