People will often mistakenly use 'deportation' instead of 'removal'. The media reinforces this mistake because 'deportation' sounds more dramatic than 'removal'. Both terms involve the involuntary departure of a person from the UK's jurisdiction. Deportation in the UK is a grave event, there have only been a handful this year. The profile of a deportee generally looks like this: the person was remanded in custody for a criminal offence; they were convicted in a court and sentenced to a prison term exceeding one year. After serving their sentence but before their release, the Home Office asked the Crown Prosecution Service for a deportation hearing. At the hearing, the judge decided whether or not to hand down a deportation order. Removal, on the other hand, happens all the time. Almost every week a charter flight leaves for Pakistan (among other places) with 40 - 50 passengers who have been served removal papers. The profile of an inland removal case usually looks like this: the person was caught violating the terms of their visa (or caught as an illegal entrant). The person was detained until the authorities decided if they would exercise discretion in the person's favour or not. If the decision was adverse, the person was escorted to an exit port (e.g., Gatwick) and put on a flight home. The profile for a removal from port looks like this: the person arrived at a port of entry and failed their landing interview. As a result they got 'turned around', 'bounced', 'refused', 'denied entry', or to be precise: 'removed'. ---------- The Home Office does not (to my knowledge) have a glossary page that explains the difference (it's not their job to do that). The definitions are contained in [textbooks like Macdonalds][1] and these exist in hard-copy only. So there is no 'official' source for me to refer to. However, the [Migration Observatory][2] gives some reliable definitions... Deportation ---------- > The first of these three categories, deportations, is a specific term > that applies to people and their children whose removal from the > country is deemed 'conducive to the public good' by the Secretary of > State. Deportation can also be recommended by a court in connection > with a conviction of a criminal offence that carries a prison term. Removal ---------- > The second category, administrative removals (or just 'removals'), > refers to a larger set of cases involving the enforced removal of > non-citizens who have either entered the country illegally or > deceptively, stayed in the country longer than their visa permitted, > or otherwise violated the conditions of their leave to remain in the > UK. Some of these administrative removals are individuals 'refused > entry at port and subsequently removed'. People in this category have > been refused legal permission to enter upon arrival and removed, often > after a single overnight stay (UKBA 2010). In a way, those removed in > this manner have never actually entered the country: although > physically present on UK territory, they have neither passed through > border controls legally nor evaded them illegally. So, they may be > excluded from totals, such as in Figure 1 below. However, this > category of removals is included in Home Office reports on 'removals > and departures'. Therefore it is included in some of the figures in > this briefing, as specified. ---------- Summary: As I mentioned, people will use the terms interchangeably and it's generally harmless. But problems can arise when people research 'deportation' for something that is actually a 'removal'. [TSE][3] (in keeping with other SO sites) likes precision and using the correct terminology elevates the site's credibility. See also the [wiki entry for 'removal'][4]. ---------- A note on terminology: The UK Government never 'denies' someone, it's not in the corpus. They 'refuse'. ---------- Adding... Part of a letter dated earlier this month from the Home Office compliance unit showing the term(s) as they occur in the wild... [![enter image description here][5]][5] ---------- Adding... In most cases the terminology is generally expandable to Schengen. [1]: https://www.wildy.com/isbn/9781405754750/macdonald-s-immigration-law-and-practice-8th-ed-with-1st-suppements-to-both-volumes-hardback-2-volumes-2-supplements-lexisnexis-butterworths [2]: http://www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/briefings/deportations-removals-and-voluntary-departures-uk [3]: http://travel.stackexchange.com/ [4]: http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/removal [5]: https://i.sstatic.net/sRvre.jpg