On Thursday 12 May 2016, the Immigration Bill received Royal Assent and will now be known as the Immigration Act 2016.
The Immigration Act will:
- introduce new sanctions on illegal workers and rogue employers;
- provide better co-ordination of regulators than enforce workers’ rights;
- prevent illegal migrants accessing services such as housing, driving licences and bank accounts;
- and introduce new measures to enforce immigration laws easier and to remove illegal migrants.
This new Immigration Act has been designed to further strengthen the UK immigration system, and to make it even harder for illegal migrants to stay in the UK.
There will be a crackdown on the exploitation of low-skilled workers by making it an offence to employ illegal migrants and to increase powers to make it easier to remove people who have no right to be in the UK.
The 2016 Act includes a range of new powers to:
- tackle illegal employment, including creating a new offence of illegal working;
- prosecute rogue landlords and agents who repeatedly fail to carry out right to rent checks or fail to take steps to remove illegal migrants from their property;
- immigration enforcement officers will have new powers to search individuals and properties and seize identity documents if they suspect someone to be in the UK illegally;
- electronically tag foreign national offenders who are on immigration bail;
- restrict the support given to people whose claims for asylum have been rejected;
- resettle unaccompanied children impacted by the ongoing migration crisis;
- ensure all public employees in customer-facing roles speak good English;
- impose a new skills levy on businesses bringing migrant labour into the country so the UK can reduce reliance on imported labour, and boost the skills of young people in the UK.
The government has also committed to place new limitations on the detention of pregnant women and will introduce regular bail hearings to ensure those entering detention stay there for the shortest period possible.
If you would like further information on how the Immigration Act 2016 may impact you, please do not hesitate to contact us for your free 15 minute Consultation. We can be contacted via our website form, email: info@elm-rose.com, telephone: 0141 283 0190/020 7112 8528. Our specialist advisers are waiting to assist you.