Downing Street has announced a bilateral migration agreement with Vietnam to accelerate the removal of Vietnamese nationals who have no legal right to remain in the UK. The government describes it as the strongest agreement Hanoi has entered with another country, with Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood signing the deal on 29 October. Ministers say it will streamline casework and speed up decisions on return.
Under an Enhanced Migration Partnership Plan, both countries will increase biometric data sharing and simplify documentation, with the Home Office stating that document processing times for supported cases will reduce by around 75% initially and by almost 90% once new procedures are fully established. The agreement is expected, according to the UK government, to enable up to four times as many returns of Vietnamese nationals.
The policy context is clear in official statistics. Vietnamese nationals were the most common small‑boat nationality in early 2024, accounting for 20% of arrivals between 1 January and 21 April, before their share fell later in the year; across 2024 as a whole, Vietnam ranked fourth by nationality among small‑boat arrivals. The government adds that 1,026 Vietnamese arrivals were recorded in January–June 2025, less than half the equivalent period in 2024.
Officials present the deal as complementary to the UK–France treaty that came into force in August 2025. That treaty allows the UK to detain and rapidly return people who enter illegally via small boats and establishes a controlled ‘one‑in, one‑out’ pilot route from France, blocking access to the UK asylum system for those arriving irregularly. Initial detentions began on 6 August and the first group returns to France took place in early October.
Ministers say the Franco‑British arrangements are reducing reliance on hotel accommodation and creating a clearer removal pathway from arrival to return. Faster identity verification and travel documentation with Vietnam should shorten the time individuals spend in the returns pipeline once inadmissibility is established under the treaty framework.
The Vietnam agreement also commits to intensified intelligence sharing to disrupt immigration crime groups and targeted communications to deter would‑be migrants before journeys commence. These elements build on a joint communiqué issued in March 2025 that set out returns working groups and commitments to expedite Vietnamese travel documents.
Alongside the migration deal, London and Hanoi agreed to upgrade their bilateral relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, with cooperation flagged across defence, security, trade, climate and growth. This elevates ties to Vietnam’s highest diplomatic tier, aligning the UK with a select group of partners.
The Home Office reports that in the government’s first year more than 35,000 people with no legal right to remain have been removed, with removals of foreign national offenders and asylum‑related returns both rising on the previous year. Officials argue the Vietnam agreement will contribute further to those totals as case throughput increases.
Policy Wire analysis: delivery rests on execution. The projected time savings apply where supporting evidence is available and identity is uncontested; complex cases will still require full consideration. The department has indicated it will defend legal challenges to removal robustly, but removal timeframes will depend on case complexity, detention capacity and judicial outcomes.