United Kingdom: UK Government publishes new Immigration Bill

The new Bill published on 10 October 2013 is designed, according to the Home Secretary, to create a ‘hostile environment for illegal migrants’. The Bill will require private landlords and banks to carry out checks on immigration status and gives more search and data recording powers to police and immigration officers. In addition, UK courts, when considering deportation appeals, must accord ‘little weight’ to the appellant’s family life established while their status was ‘precarious’ or unlawful. The Bill proposes a policy of ‘deport first, appeal later’ for claims certified as ‘clearly unfounded’ or, in the case of ‘foreign criminals’, for appellants who would not face ‘a real risk of serious irreversible harm’ if required to appeal after deportation.

Read the Bill in full, additional overarching documents, and track the progress of the Bill through Parliament.

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