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Immigration bill - Implications for solicitors

The Immigration Bill was introduced on the 10th October 2013. This bill is expected to become law in early 2014 which will have implications for solicitors and lawyers.

It is aimed at limiting the right of appeal only to circumstances where there has been a refusal of a human rights, asylum or humanitarian protection claim, or where refugee status or humanitarian protection has been revoked.

Landlords will be liable to a civil penalty if they rent out premises to migrants who are not lawfully present in the UK. The fines will be £1000 per person in occupation without a right to remain, rising to £3000 per person if the landlord has contravened the legislation already in the past three years.

Where a tenant has a time-limited right to remain in the UK, the landlord will be required to repeat the document check periodically. However, landlords won’t have to repeat these checks more than once a year. If a landlord doesn’t keep up with the periodic checks, and the tenant’s right to remain expires, the landlord will be liable to pay a fine.

Landlords will be able to delegate the responsibility for the checks to a letting agent, provided the agent agrees in writing.

Migrants with limited leave to remain in the UK, such as workers and students, can be required to make a contribution to the National Health Service (NHS) via a charge payable when applying for entry clearance or an extension of their leave to remain.

Banks will be required to undertake an immigration status check before opening a current account and will be prohibited from opening new accounts for those who are known to be unlawfully in the UK and who are disqualified from opening an account, and those unlawfully here will be unable to obtain or retain a driving licence.

One of the most radical changes is the reduction of appeal rights which needs to be noted by both solicitors and lawyers. This means that all other categories of appeals will not pass through the courts but will only be ‘administratively reviewed’ by another immigration caseworker. This begs the question whether another Home Office member of staff will be genuinely impartial in the reconsideration process. There is a potential risk of an engagement of Article 6 of the ECHR (European Convention of Human Rights) if this process were to follow through.

There is also a danger that landlords may overtly or subconsciously discriminate against non-UK nationals in a bid to avoid immigration fines even if the tenant may have the correct documentation. Those non-UK nationals whose applications are awaiting consideration at the Home Office may not benefit from renting an accommodation until their applications are determined.

Stephens Scown Solicitors in Exeter have a vastly experienced team of legal experts that specialise in a wide range of subjects particularly when it comes to understanding the rules and regulations of immigration.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jason Tucker .