How many asylum seekers and refugees are there in mid Wales?

The Westminster Labour government is planning major changes to immigration that would impact Wales.

As the country is sucked into the immigration debate, protestors have clashed, and Reform UK was close to winning Caerphilly’s recent by-election on an anti-immigration ticket.

With Reform UK polling well for the 2026 Senedd elections, First Minister Eluned Morgan this week sought to distance herself from the newly tough-on-immigration Westminster.

Amidst the political mayhem, the Cambrian News asked - how many refugees and asylum seekers are there in rural mid and north of Wales?

The answer is that surprisingly few refugees and asylum seekers call Wales their home right now.

The Home Office data, accurate as of the end of June 2025, counts 45 asylum seekers in supported housing across Gwynedd (40), Ceredigion (0) and Powys (5).

Of these 45 asylum seekers, none were being housed in ‘asylum hotels’.

Under the Home Office’s two main resettlement schemes for people fleeing war in Ukraine and violence in Afghanistan, 913 people live across the three counties.

Please note - this data only looks at the number of asylum seekers in supported housing, the people housed via the Homes for Ukraine Scheme (in which UK residents offer to house Ukrainians), and Afghans resettled under three different Home Office resettlement schemes.

It doesn’t include asylum seekers not in supported housing, or refugees given status via other routes, but gives a representative overview of numbers - for example, 88 per cent of the 7,400 refugees resettled in the year ending June 2025 came from the Afghan Resettlement Programme.

In Ceredigion, 151 Ukrainians are now calling the coastal county their home, along with 11 Afghans.

Gwynedd houses 285 Ukrainians and 15 Afghans, and Powys houses 376 Ukrainians and 30 Afghans.

For supported asylum seekers, those who are waiting for their asylum claims to be processed and assessed as entitled to supported housing whilst they wait, 40 live in Gwynedd, five in Powys and none in Ceredigion.

An estimated 600 people turned out in Newtown in September to express their displeasure at the number of immigrants arriving in ‘this country’, with an estimated 300 turning up to tell the asylum seekers that live in Newtown, which include Syrians fleeing war, that ‘refugees are welcome’ in Wales.

Powys County Councillor Elwyn Vaughan, who was at the protest, said “the data helps to dispel the myths and misinformation, adding: “This is the reality as compared to the hype...

“What we need to focus on is the cost of living crisis, the state of public services, the need for investment in our communities and economic development, rather than be led astray by misinformation.”

A spokesperson for centre-right Welsh nationalist party Gwlad also admitted that for mid-Wales, immigration wasn’t “affecting the area very much or neighbouring counties”, adding that “we’re more worried about emigration from these parts of Wales – young people leaving because they can’t find good jobs, or see any future for themselves here”.

Speaking to the Financial Times, First Minister Morgan said Wales was a “nation built on waves of immigration,” adding that in west Wales, 48 per cent of doctors and dentists were trained overseas.

A Gwlad spokesperson echoed called to “improve the economy of rural Wales”, adding: “If we do that, then our young people will stay.

“House prices will hold up, so they’re no longer bargains for people coming from Birmingham or Manchester.

“We can assimilate outsiders who’ve moved here already, teaching their children Welsh, and making them take part fully in our rural communities.”