The home nation of the largest number of small boat migrants currently arriving in Britain is facing a visa crackdown by the Home Office.
Nearly 5,900 Eritreans illegally crossed the Channel by small boat in the year to June, and now Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has issued an ‘ultimatum’ to their home country.
However, it triggered a diplomatic row with Eritrea blaming the British asylum system for attracting migrants to this country in the first place.
Eritrean diplomats and VIPs have been stripped of their access to the UK’s fast-track visa system from Thursday in a bid to encourage co-operation with the Home Office’s efforts to deport illegal migrants and criminals.
If the east African nation fails to agree to accept the return of its nationals the next step could be a complete block on all UK visas, the Home Secretary warned.
‘Eritrea has had every chance to accept the return of criminals and those with no right to be in the UK. Unlike other countries, it has refused,’ she said.
‘My message to the Eritrean government is simple: take back your nationals or face a complete ban on your citizens entering the UK.
‘I will not hesitate to impose further measures on other countries refusing to co-operate.’
In addition, Eritrean diplomats will be barred from travelling more than 37 miles beyond London without permission from the Foreign Office as part of a tit-for-tat row.
Small boat migrants attempt to board a smuggler's dinghy off Boulogne, France on October 5
Similar restrictions were placed on British officials in Asmara by the Eritrean authorities.
There are currently 230 Eritrean criminals the Home Office is seeking to deport.
The number of failed asylum seekers from the country is unknown, but is likely to run into thousands.
Ms Mahmood’s actions against Eritrea – using powers introduced under the Conservatives – come after small boat arrivals from the country appear to have peaked.
The number of Eritreans crossing the Channel rose from 2,000 in 2022 to 7,600 in 2025.
But latest data covering a partly-overlapping period of the year ending June this year showed 5,875 Eritrean arrivals.
The Home Office said Eritrea ‘abruptly withdrew returns co-operation’ earlier this year.
Ms Mahmood’s decision to impose the visa restrictions sparked a diplomatic row, with Eritrea claiming the UK’s asylum system was to blame.
Eritrea’s London embassy said Britain’s offering of ‘blanket asylum to anyone who claims to be Eritrean’ was a ‘pull factor’ attracting migrants.
It described the Home Secretary’s moves as a ‘perfunctory political gimmick’ and added that it ‘categorically rejected’ her suggestion that it had abruptly ceased co-operating with removals.
‘Despite Eritrea’s repeated requests for constructive discussion with relevant UK authorities on the dignified return of its citizens, the UK has shown no interest to engage in meaningful and appropriate dialogue,’ it said in a statement.
‘The fundamental core issue behind this matter is the UK's decision to politicise its asylum system and extend blanket asylum to anyone who claims to be Eritrean in a bid to undermine the government of the state of Eritrea.
‘Invariably, this policy of offering prima facia asylum has served as a pull factor to the UK for mostly underage Eritreans, as well as non-Eritrean asylum seekers masquerading as Eritreans.’
The embassy’s press release added: ‘The act is nothing more than a perfunctory political gimmick. The fact is, the UK has not issued a single visa to an Eritrean official since 2023.’
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘The Eritrean Government's press notice misrepresents the UK's position and contains numerous factual inaccuracies.’
It is understood an Eritrean official was exempted from immigration control by the Home Office as recently as August.
Only last month an Eritrean illegal migrant was jailed for raping a woman following his release from jail for a previous sex crime.
Former soldier Radiet Meles had been told he was likely to be deported after completing his initial five-year sentence for the 2018 attempted rape of an unconscious woman at a house party in Newport, South Wales.
Former Eritrean soldier Radiet Meles raped a woman after being freed from jail in the UK for another sex attack
But Meles, now 35, was not monitored after his release from prison and attacked another woman.
He was found guilty of rape and assault by beating after a five-day trial at Cardiff Crown Court last month and is due to be sentenced on November 20.
Meles arrived in Britain in 2015 by hiding in a lorry from France via the Channel Tunnel.
In December last year the Home Office threatened similar visa restrictions against Angola and Namibia but both later agreed ‘enhanced’ returns arrangements with the UK.
Visa restrictions were imposed on the Democratic Republic of Congo after it failed to co-operate, but after six months it capitulated. Returns flights are now running again and the restrictions have been lifted.
The powers to impose visa penalties on non-compliant nations were introduced by Dame Priti Patel when she was home secretary in Boris Johnson’s government.
