British Punjabis are citizens or residents of the United Kingdom whose heritage originates wholly or partly in the Punjab, a region in South Asia, which is divided between Pakistan and India.

[3] The first significant Punjabi migration began in the 1950s when labour shortages in the UK following the Second World War led the British administration to encourage recruitment from across the Commonwealth.

[4][5] The vast majority of these migrants were men from India and Pakistan, who after a period of acclimatisation began to settle permanently and invite their friends, wives and children to join them.

[6] These migrants often found work in the manufacturing, textile and service sectors, including a significant number at Heathrow Airport.

East African Punjabis are known as twice migrants, and came to the UK amidst growing discrimination at home, symbolised by the Expulsion of Asians from Uganda in 1972.

[14] The majority originate from the northern and central parts of Punjab, such as: Pothwar, Rawalpindi, Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum, Jhang, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Chiniot, Sargodha, Toba Tek Singh and Lahore.

[15][16] Punjabis are estimated to comprise one-third of the British Pakistani population, making up the second largest sub-group after Mirpuri Kashmiris.