Paths to citizenship - the new draft Immigration and Citizenship Bill
The government yesterday published a draft version of its immigration and citizenship Bill. Back in February we reported the government’s Green Paper Path to Citizenship. The consultation period announced then closed at the end of May. The Bill’s consultation period now begins. If the timetable announced in February is met the Bill will commence its passage through parliament at the end of this year.
The draft Bill is accompanied by various other documents which are intended to assist anyone who wants to take part in the consultation process. In Making Change Stick: An introduction to the Immigration And citizenship Bill the immigration minister Mr Liam Byrne re-emphasises the now very familiar claim that we are living through “the biggest shake-up to our border protection and immigration system for over 45 years.” The shake up includes the gradual implementation this year of the points based system via successive changes in the immigration rules – all of which have been reported on this site.
The Green Paper promised to replace almost all existing immigration laws, and the draft bill clearly shows that a year hence terms which have formed part of key UK immigration law (like “leave to enter” , “indefinite leave to remain” and “entry clearance”) will vanish into history. Asylum applications will become “protection applications”. Deportation and removal will come under the umbrella term “expulsion”. Temporary admission will be replaced by “immigration bail”.
In “Making Change Stick” the measures at the heart of the Bill are identified as indicated below. (The shake up of the immigration system is however also achieved by changes to the immigration rules, which are currently being implemented. The minister makes clear that only two thirds of the proposed changes are included in the draft Bill).
• “strong borders” – new measures include creating new laws whereby “juxtaposed controls” – which currently operate in France to enable United Kingdom Borders Agency staff to work there – can be operated elsewhere in the world. The minister refers to this as “exporting our border”. As far as control after entry to the UK is concerned, clause 7 creates a duty to apply for permission for anyone who is in the UK and who does not have permission. Clause 14 of the Bill enables the Secretary of State to cancel a person’s “immigration permission” whether or not he or she is in or out of the UK at the time. There are also proposals to regulate the movement of people throughout the Common Travel Area (the UK, Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man). These will be included in the final Bill.
• “selective migration” - under clauses 4 to 20 of the Bill the terms leave to enter and leave to remain are to be replaced by “immigration permission”, which may be temporary or permanent. Anyone who is neither a British national or an national of the European Economic Area will need to have permission to be in or to enter the UK. If they do not have permission they will liable to the penalties set out in clauses 97 to 99 of the Bill. Similarly the terms deportation and removal are replaced by “expulsion”. This has the effect of removing the distinction between removal and deportation.
• “earning the right to stay” – clauses 31 to 34 of the Bill change section 6 of the British Nationality Act so that people who do not integrate have a slower path to UK citizenship than those who do. The minister explains that the controversial provisions in the immigration rules whereby re-entry bans are imposed on people who breach the UK's immigration laws chime with this principle.
• “playing by the rules” – clauses 152 to 160 define illegal workers and create offences for employers who give them work. The provisions are very similar to those in the Immigration and Nationality Act 2006 . A new appeals regime is set up by part 10 of the Bill (clauses 163 to 188), and most of the sections of the Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 which relate to appeals are to be repealed.
• “managing any local impacts” – the proposals to limit immigrants’ access to services enjoyed by people settled in the UK are not yet included in the Bill
Despite the fact that much of the bold ideas to shake up the UK’s immigration system have not yet been included in this draft form of the Bill – it nonetheless does look like a determined attempt to put all the UK’s main immigration legislation in one place.
However there doesn’t really seem to be very much in the Bill which is particularly new. The words have been changed, but the regime looks pretty much the same as that which it replaces.
