Immigration, Illegal entry by sea and air and removals

Summary

A request for monthly data on illegal immigration entries to the Isle of Man from January 2025 was partially fulfilled, with the Treasury disclosing the total number of individuals and their nationalities while withholding specific port, mode of arrival, and cost data due to lack of records or personal information exemptions.

Key Facts

• The Treasury identified 13 individuals entering or attempting to enter the Isle of Man without valid immigration permission since January 2025.
• Information on port of departure and mode of arrival was partially withheld because it was unknown for 5 individuals or not held.
• Specific costs per person were not disclosed as no costs were attributed to some cases.
• Data was not provided on a monthly basis to prevent the identification of individuals due to the small sample size.
• A list of nationalities was provided, but specific counts per nationality were withheld under absolute exemption for personal information.

Data Disclosed

• 13 individuals
• January 2025
• 6 January 2026
• 30 January 2026
• Heysham port x 6
• Liverpool port x 2
• Unknown x 5

Exemptions Cited

• Section 11(3)(a) - Information not held
• Section 25(2)(a) - Absolutely exempt personal information
• Section 25(2)(b) - Absolutely exempt personal information

Original Request

Since January 2025 to the date of this request, how many people have been identified as entering or attempting to enter the Isle of Man from the UK or Republic of Ireland who did not have an immigration permission which was valid in the Isle of Man. Please provide the information by month and information on: a) the number of individuals identified b) port of departure c) whether the arrival was by scheduled airline, private flight, IOMSPC or other seacraft b) the nationality of the individuals c) their status eg expired leave/overstayer, rejected or failed asylum seeker, illegal entrant, person subject to temporary admission, immigration bail etc. d) the action undertaken in relation to the individual in the Isle of Man (eg returned to the UK without further action, arrested, charged, convicted or acquitted, removed, deported or excluded, allowed to remain in the Isle of Man (with or without valid permission) or allowed to continue to another destination etc). e) whether the case was reported to the UK Home Office e) associated costs per person. If the information is not available in the above format, then provide the nearest equivalent information.

Data Tables (1)

Data Tables (reformatted)

Full Response Text

Freedom of Information
Seyrsnys Fysseree

The Treasury Government Office,
Douglas Isle of Man, IM1 3PU

Telephone: (01624) 685605 Email: FOI.Treasury@gov.im

Government Website: www.gov.im

Our ref: 5208161 30 January 2026

Dear ###,

We write further to your request, received 6 January 2026, which states:

"Since January 2025 to the date of this request, how many people have been identified as entering or attempting to enter the Isle of Man from the UK or Republic of Ireland who did not have an immigration permission which was valid in the Isle of Man.

Please provide the information by month and information on:

a) the number of individuals identified

b) port of departure

c) whether the arrival was by scheduled airline, private flight, IOMSPC or other seacraft

d) the nationality of the individuals

e) their status e.g. expired leave/overstayer, rejected or failed asylum seeker, illegal entrant, person subject to temporary admission, immigration bail etc.

f) the action undertaken in relation to the individual in the Isle of Man (eg returned to the UK without further action, arrested, charged, convicted or acquitted, removed, deported or excluded, allowed to remain in the Isle of Man (with or without valid permission) or allowed to continue to another destination etc).

g) whether the case was reported to the UK Home Office

h) associated costs per person.

If the information is not available in the above format, then provide the nearest equivalent information."

Our response to your request is as follows:
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Treasury does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find some of the information that you have requested. This relates to some of the information for parts b, c and h of your request, specifically the port of departure, mode of arrival and the associated costs per person. This is because the port of departure and mode of arrival for some individuals is unknown and there are some cases where no costs have been attributed. Therefore, as previously advised, a practical refusal reason applies to these parts of your request, section 11(3)(a), information not held.
Furthermore, the information which is subject to disclosure contains personal information. As a result we have provided the information for each part of the request separately to prevent the risk of identifying individuals compared to if it was presented on a monthly basis. In addition to this we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because it is absolutely exempt under section 25(2)(a)&(b) of the Act (absolutely exempt personal information).

This exemption applies to some of the information for part (d) of your request, specifically the number of individuals that relate to the different nationalities who have illegally entered the Isle of Man. However a list of the nationalities of the individuals have been provided.

The nationality and some of the information collated as part of this request is personal data, because it can identify individuals, especially when it is combined with other data. The information relates to a small number of individuals, and alongside the information requested, could be combined with other information in the public domain, personal information of the individual or information from other sources, which increases the risk of individuals being identified.

In addition to the above, the information is not only disclosed to you it is also disclosed to the world at large, when it is published on the FoI disclosure log. Therefore someone with some existing knowledge or someone with motivation to identify an individual would be able to do so from other available resources. You may not wish to identify the individuals from the information disclosed, however there is a risk that others might have the motivation and know how to do so.

The information requested for each part of your request since January 2025 to the date of the request is as follows:

Part A 13 individuals

Part B Heysham port x 6 Liverpool port x 2
Unknown x 5

Part C Isle of Man Steam Packet Company x 8
Unknown x 5

Part D Bangladeshi
Chinese
Ghanian
Indian
Pakistani
Polish

Part E Asylum seeker x 4 Cancelled via x 4
No permission x 1 Overstayer x 4

Part F Enforced removal x 2
Refusal of entry x 4 Voluntary departure x 7

Part G Yes (in all cases)

Part H £22,305.86 x 1 £7,066.36 x 1
£105.23 x 1 No associated costs x 10

*These figures are based on costs incurred by the Customs and Immigration Division plus the an estimated cost for detaining the individuals. The estimated cost for detaining individuals has been calculated using a 2022 figure of the daily cost per prisoner multiplied by the number of days spent in custody.

Please quote the reference number 5208161 in any future communications.

Your right to request a review

If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post.

An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/Review . If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact me and I will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded.

If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.
In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im. Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi.

I will now close your request as of this date.