Immigration Act 2016

The Immigration Bill 2015 received Royal Assent on 12 May 2016 and is now known as the Immigration Act 2016. It will introduce new sanctions on illegal working, prevent illegal migrants accessing services and introduce new measures to enforce immigration laws.

It will:

introduce new sanctions on illegal workers and rogue employers provide better co-ordination of regulators that enforce workers’ rights prevent illegal migrants in the UK from accessing housing, driving licences and bank accounts introduce new measures to make it easier to enforce immigration laws and remove illegal migrants

Full details of all the measures in the Immigration Act 2016, including the various amendments to the original bill, will be updated on GOV.UK shortly.

Measures in the act will be implemented over the coming months.

The Act introduces several changes which, in particular, strengthen the enforcement regime

Gangmasters

The Gangmasters Licensing Authority is renamed the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority. The Authority has powers to issue labour market enforcement (LME) notices and to call for support from the Police, National Crime Agency or immigration officials if they believe offences have been committed. An LME has a maximum period of two years for which it can remain in force A person against whom an LME order is made commits an offence if the person, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with the order. Offences and penalties – A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years, to a fine or to both; on summary conviction in England and Wales, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, to a fine or to both; on summary conviction in Scotland, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to both; on summary conviction in Northern Ireland, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to both. Illegal working – it is in this area that there are significant changes:

Individuals

There are totally new offences created for individuals and not just their employers Individual – will be committing an offence if they are subject to immigration control and: They work at a time when they are disqualified from working by reason of their immigration status, and at that time they knew or had reasonable cause to believe that they were disqualified from working by reason of their immigration status. For these purposes a person is disqualified from working by reason of their immigration status if—

the person has not been granted leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom, or

the person’s leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom—

is invalid,

has ceased to have effect (whether by reason of curtailment, revocation, cancellation, passage of time or otherwise), or

is subject to a condition preventing the person from doing work of that kind.

Penalties

A person who is guilty of an offence under subsection (1) is liable on summary conviction:

(a)in England and Wales, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 51 weeks or a fine, or both, (b)in Scotland or Northern Ireland, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or both.

Employers

Section 21 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 (offence of knowingly employing illegal worker) is amended so that a person commits an offence if the person:

employs another person (“the employee”) who is disqualified from employment by reason of the employee’s immigration status, and has reasonable cause to believe that the employee is disqualified from employment by reason of the employee’s immigration status.

For these purposes a person is disqualified from employment by reason of the person’s immigration status if:

the person is an adult subject to immigration control and the person has not been granted leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom, or the person’s leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom is invalid, has ceased to have effect (whether by reason of curtailment, revocation, cancellation, passage of time or otherwise), or is subject to a condition preventing the person from accepting the employment.” On conviction, the maximum term of imprisonment increases from two years to five years

This is only a very brief summary of the legislation as it potentially impacts on employers. There are many other provisions covering:

Landlords and tenancy agreements Illegal working in relation to private hire vehicles Bank accounts Powers of immigration officials

The full Act can be found here