Another year, another Immigration Bill. This Bill does not even pretend to be fair. It is designed to make the UK so hostile that the legal, not the illegal will suffer the most. More regulations to adhere to, reduced oversight by judges, more fines and in short the removal of all safety nets.
Ending of interim rights to remain whilst pursuing legal options
For several years applicants who are awaiting for appeals or reviews are allowed to stay on until the outcome is known. A worrying aspect of this Bill and completely against any sense of proportion is that they will no longer be able to remain legally once a decision has been made to refuse, regardless of who is at fault. So if a Home Office caseworker makes a mistake the applicant will pay for it by being required to leave the country immediately. No account is taken of the rights of the families, their situation including the period of their residence or the impact of having to leave suddenly. It would be necessary to advise clients to pack their bags when they make an application as they would be required to leave, if refused immediately. Most of all is the fact that an injustice may have been caused through no fault of their own. There are now very few rights of appeal with the majority of cases reviewed by the Home Office. Before the restrictions were introduced 40% of the cases were successful on appeal.
Landlords beware
The scheme set up in the last Immigration Act is to be extended throughout the country. The Bill will give landlords the power to evict people without having to go to court. There is also a new criminal offence with a maximum of 5 years in prison for landlords who know or have reasonable grounds to believe that their property is being occupied by a person whose status is not legal.
Banks and Building Societies
They will be required to check the immigration status of current account holders and notify the Home Office and close accounts of those without legal status. Judging by the harassment applicants already suffer with banks, expect this to get even worse.
Driving
There is to be a new offence for driving whilst not lawfully resident in the UK an increased powers to enable immigration officers to search for a seize driving licences.
Human rights appeals
The Bill will seek to remove in country rights of appeal unless leaving the UK would cause “serious and irreversible harm”. This would mean that applicants will not be able to give live evidence. It will turn human rights appeals into technical issues and over time judges will process this without having the benefit of hearing and seeing and evaluating cases properly.
These changes remind me of the issues that Jeremy Corbyn raised about the fact that we continue to do business with Saudi Arabia despite their appalling record on human rights and more that we appear that we are following the example set by a lawless country in the way we treat people.