Thank you for contacting me about the upcoming Immigration Bill.
The Immigration Bill builds on the reforms the last Conservative-led Government made through the Immigration Act 2014 to tackle illegal immigration from the bottom up
The Bill will create a new offence of illegal working to ensure that the act of illegal working is always an offence. This will enable the earnings of illegal workers to be seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Employers of illegal workers will also face tougher enforcement, with increased custodial sentences for those who persistently use illegal workers as a source of cheap labour. The Bill also ensures that we satisfy our manifesto commitment to ensure that front-line public sector workers can speak English.
The new Bill will build on the Immigration Act 2014 to ensure that only those migrants who are lawfully present in the UK can access services, such as renting accommodation, holding a driving licence and using UK bank accounts. New powers will make it easier for landlords to evict those with no right to be in UK, and enable immigration staff to seize driving licences from illegal migrants. Banks and building societies will be able to close accounts where a person is known to be here unlawfully. The Bill will also restrict the level of financial support we give to those found not to have valid claims for asylum and their dependants to those who face a genuine obstacle to leaving the UK.
Finally, the Bill will build on one of the key measures in the Immigration Act 2014, which was to enable the Government to deport more foreign criminals before they can appeal. Legislation introduced in 2014 made it harder for people to live in the UK illegally - with nearly 36,000 immigration offenders removed from the UK in 2014. This Bill will deliver on our manifesto commitment to extend this power to apply to all immigration cases where removal would not breach a person's human rights, except asylum claims.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
