Labour’s asylum crisis is intensifying with more migrants living in hotels and a growing number of protection claims, shocking figures reveal.

Some 36,273 are staying in taxpayer-funded rooms, a 13% rise compared to June’s figure of 32,041.

And a record number of asylum claims – 110,051 in the year to September – is heaping more pressure on the crumbling system.

This has been fuelled by a sharp rise in Channel migrant crossings and a surge in foreign nationals applying for refuge after arriving on a work, study or visitor visa.

Experts from Oxford University’s Migration Observatory said asylum made up 44% of net migration in the year to June. The true figure will be even higher as asylum claims have increased, whilst net migration has fallen, in the subsequent three months.

Separate research – carried out by the Home Office – showed more than half of refugees are unemployed. The employment rate amongst refugees reaches 45% after two years and 48% after eight, increasing fears they will the taxpayer even more in benefits.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “The government is allowing people into the country with temporary visas who then try to game our asylum system to stay permanently. This is an abuse of our visa system.

“The government must urgently shut this down by being more selective about who they issue visas to and by making sure that only those with genuine asylum claims get it.

“To do this we will need to come out of the ECHR. Only the Conservatives have a proper plan to do that.”

Mr Philp added: “Today’s figures blow apart every claim Labour has made about getting control. More asylum grants, more claims, more illegal immigrants in hotels and almost no removals of small boat migrants.

“This is an asylum system and illegal small boat immigration in freefall under a Labour government that is too weak to get a grip.”

The Home Office revealed a staggering 110,051 migrants claimed asylum in the year to September 2025, up 13% in the previous 12 months. It is also 7% higher than the previous crisis, under Tony Blair in 2002.

Of the 110,000 protection claims, 41% (45,183) arrived on a small boat. Eritreans, Afghans, Iranians, Sudanese and Somalis accounted for almost three-fifths of all small boat arrivals. Another 12,176 (11%) entered the country illegally, either by lorry, in a shipping container or with fake documents.

And 38% of all asylum claims (41,461) came from foreign nationals who entered the UK on a work, study or visitor visa. Of the 41,461 claimants, 34% (14,243) held a study visa, 32% (13,427) arrived on a work visa, 20% (8,258) used a visitor visa and 13% held other forms of leave.

One in 10 asylum seekers was from Pakistan, with 11,618 in total. Most sought protection after arriving on a visa. They were followed by Eritreans (9,037) and Iranians (7,890). And the rise in claims has led to more people living in taxpayer-funded hotel rooms, Home Office figures show.

Some 36,273 were in hotels, up from 32,041 in the year to June 2025 and 29,561 in the previous 12 months. The Home Office insisted it is closing hotels, with fewer than 200 still in use.

Shadow Home Office minister Katie Lam said: “Ministers insist they’re ending the use of migrant hotels, yet usage has jumped 13% in just three months. The British people were told this practice would end, but in reality that’s now another broken Labour promise.

“Putting thousands of mostly young men in hotels with zero local say is unfair on residents, stretches public services and puts local people, particularly women and girls, at risk. We need a system that is firm, not feeble: anyone who comes here illegally should be detained and swiftly deported, either to their own country or a safe third country, not given free rein in taxpayer-funded hotels.

“This government talks tough but delivers nothing, and the British people are paying the price. Just yesterday the budget watchdog said the cost of migrant hotels would be an eye-watering £15.3bn – triple what the Home Office predicted.”

Some 66,232 are living in communities across Britain, down from 66,683 in the year to March 2025. But the number of Channel migrants being deported has fallen to its lowest level since the start of 2023. Only 2,272 small boat arrivals were turned in the year to September, down from 2,462 the previous year.

Research by the Home Office shows how less than half of migrants are working after eight years in the country.

Robert Bates, Research Director at the Centre for Migration Control said: “The asylum system is in chaos, but the data now shows that even once an individual has been granted refugee status they will place a long term burden on the shoulders of the British taxpayer.

“Those crossing on small boats are not doctors and engineers, but individuals with very few deployable skills. Our inability to control the borders is nothing short of a fiscal catastrophe, with public funds being diverted away from British citizens in order to provide welfare and services to uninvited interlopers.”

Analysing a swathe of migration stats published on Thursday, the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford warned asylum is becoming a greater proportion of net migration to the UK.

Researchers revealed: “Relatively few asylum migrants emigrate, so net migration of people seeking asylum was 90,000 in the same period, equivalent 44% of total net migration. This share was also around double the pre-Brexit figure of 22% in 2019.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are furious at the levels of illegal migrants and asylum hotels. There are now fewer than 200 in use and we will close every single one.”