Migrants are arriving in the United Kingdom not only by small boat across the Channel but also by air, on both scheduled commercial flights and chartered aircraft. Some come through official legal routes such as refugee resettlement, community or university sponsorship schemes, family reunion, work or study visas that later become asylum claims, and the limited “one in, one out” arrangement with France. Others arrive as inadequately documented passengers who then claim asylum after landing. These air arrivals sit alongside the more visible small-boat crossings. Official figures for 2026 so far show Channel boat numbers down sharply on the previous year, yet tens of thousands of people still enter the asylum system after arriving by plane or other means. The government has announced new capped sponsorship routes that will bring selected refugees in by air from later this year and into 2027, subject to security, biometric and health checks, while simultaneously running return flights for those whose claims fail or who entered illegally. The result is a mixed picture: some migrants are flown in under controlled, pre-screened programmes; others reach UK airports independently and then claim protection; and a smaller but highly publicised group still attempts the Channel crossing. Public debate often collapses these different pathways into a single phrase “migrants being flown in” even though the legal status, numbers, costs and policy intent vary considerably between them.