Immigration Act 1971

Temporary admission or release of persons liable to detention U.K.

21 (1) A person liable to detention or detained under paragraph 16 above may, under the written authority of an immigration officer, be temporarily admitted to the United Kingdom without being detained or be released from detention; but this shall not prejudice a later exercise of the power to detain him.

(2) So long as a person is at large in the United Kingdom by virtue of this paragraph, he shall be subject to such restrictions as to residence [F1 , as to his employment or occupation] and as to reporting to the police or an immigration officer as may from time to time be notified to him in writing by an immigration officer.

[F2 (2A) The provisions that may be included in restrictions as to residence imposed under sub-paragraph (2) include provisions of such a description as may be prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State.

(2B) The regulations may, among other things, provide for the inclusion of provisions—

(a) prohibiting residence in one or more particular areas;

(b) requiring the person concerned to reside in accommodation provided under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 and prohibiting him from being absent from that accommodation except in accordance with the restrictions imposed on him.

(2C) The regulations may provide that a particular description of provision may be imposed only for prescribed purposes.

(2D) The power to make regulations conferred by this paragraph is exercisable by statutory instrument and includes a power to make different provision for different cases.

(2E) But no regulations under this paragraph are to be made unless a draft of the regulations has been laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House.]

[F3 (3) Sub-paragraph (4) below applies where a person who is at large in the United Kingdom by virtue of this paragraph is subject to a restriction as to reporting to an immigration officer with a view to the conclusion of his examination under paragraph 2 above.

(4) If the person fails at any time to comply with that restriction—

(a) an immigration officer may direct that the person’s examination under paragraph 2 above shall be treated as concluded at that time; but

(b) nothing in paragraph 6 above shall require the notice giving or refusing him leave to enter the United Kingdom to be given within twenty-four hours after that time.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Words inserted by Immigration Act 1988 (c. 14, SIF 62), s. 10, Sch. para. 10(1)(4)

F2 Sch. 2 para. 21(2A)-(2E) inserted (11.11.1999) by 1999 c. 33, ss. 169(1), 170(3), Sch. 14 paras. 43, 62(2)

F3 Sch. 2 para. 21(3)(4) inserted (1.9.1996) by 1996 c. 49, s. 12(1), Sch. 2 para. 10; S.I. 1996/2053, art. 2, Sch. Pt. II

22 [F4 (1) The following, namely—

(a) a person detained under paragraph 16(1) above pending examination; and

(b) a person detained under paragraph 16(2) above pending the giving of directions,

may be released on bail in accordance with this paragraph.

(1A) An immigration officer not below the rank of chief immigration officer or an adjudicator may release a person so detained on his entering into a recognizance or, in Scotland, bail bond conditioned for his appearance before an immigration officer at a time and place named in the recognizance or bail bond or at such other time and place as may in the meantime be notified to him in writing by an immigration officer.

(1B) Sub-paragraph (1)(a) above shall not apply unless seven days have elapsed since the date of the person’s arrival in the United Kingdom.]

(2) The conditions of a recognizance or bail bond taken under this paragraph may include conditions appearing to the [F5 immigration officer or adjudicator] to be likely to result in the appearance of the person bailed at the required time and place; and any recognizance shall be with or without sureties as the [F5 officer or adjudicator] may determine.

(3) In any case in which an [F6 immigration officer or adjudicator] has power under this paragraph to release a person on bail, the [F6 officer or adjudicator] may, instead of taking the bail, fix the amount and conditions of the bail (including the amount in which any sureties are to be bound) with a view to its being taken subsequently by any such person as may be specified by the [F6 officer or adjudicator]; and on the recognizance or bail bond being so taken the person to be bailed shall be released.

Textual Amendments

F4 Sch. 2 para. 22(1)(1A)(1B) substituted (1.9.1996) for para. 22(1) by 1996 c. 49, s. 12(1), Sch. 2 para. 11(1); S.I. 1996/2053, art. 2, Sch. Pt.II

F5 Words in Sch. 2 para. 22(2) substituted (1.9.1996) by 1996 c. 49, s. 12(1), Sch. 2 para. 11(2); S.I. 1996/2053, art. 2, Sch. Pt.II

F6 Words in Sch. 2 para. 22(3) substituted (1.9.1996) by 1996 c. 49, s. 12(1), Sch. 2 para. 11(3); S.I. 1996/2053, art. 2, Sch. Pt.II

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 Sch. 2 para. 22 modified (retrospectively and temp.) by Immigration Act 2016 (c. 19), ss. 61(3)-(5), 94(3) (with s. 61(6))

C2 Sch. 2 para. 22 modified (3.8.1998) by 1997 c. 68, s. 3, Sch. 3 para.1; S.I. 1998/1892, art.2

23 (1) Where a recognizance entered into under paragraph 22 above appears to an adjudicator to be forfeited, the adjudicator may by order declare it to be forfeited and adjudge the persons bound thereby, whether as principal or sureties, or any of them, to pay the sum in which they are respectively bound or such part of it, if any, as the adjudicator thinks fit; and an order under this sub-paragraph shall specify a magistrates’ court or, in Northern Ireland, court of summary jurisdiction, and—

(a) the recognizance shall be treated for the purposes of collection, enforcement and remission of the sum forfeited as having been forfeited by the court so specified; and

(b) the adjudicator shall, as soon as practicable, give particulars of the recognizance to the clerk of that court.

(2) Where a person released on bail under paragraph 22 above as it applies in Scotland fails to comply with the terms of his bail bond, an adjudicator may declare the bail to be forfeited, and any bail so forfeited shall be transmitted by the adjudicator to the sheriff court having jurisdiction in the area where the proceedings took place, and shall be treated as having been forfeited by that court.

(3) Any sum the payment of which is enforceable by a magistrates’ court in England or Wales by virtue of this paragraph shall be treated for the [F7 purposes of the Justices of the Peace Act 1997 and, in particular, section 60 of that Act, as being] due under a recognizance forfeited by such a court . . . F8

(4) Any sum the payment of which is enforceable by virtue of this paragraph by a court of summary jurisdiction in Northern Ireland shall, for the purposes of section 20(5) of the M1 Administration of Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1954, be treated as a forfeited recognizance.

Textual Amendments

F7 Words in Sch. 2 para. 23(3) substituted (19.6.1997) by virtue of 1997 c. 25, ss. 73(2), 74(1), Sch. 5 para.10

F8 Words repealed by Criminal Justice Act 1972 (c. 71), Sch. 6 Pt. II

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C3 Sch. 2 para. 23 modified (3.8.1998) by 1997 c. 68, s. 3, Sch. 3 para.2; S.I. 1998/1892, art.2

Sch. 2 para. 23 applied (2.10.2000) by 1999 c. 33, ss. 9(4), 10(7); S.I. 2000/2444, art. 2, Sch. 1 (subject to transitional provisions in art. 3, Sch. 2 para. 2)

C4 Sch. 2 paras. 2-4, 7, 16-18, 21-24 applied (with modifications) (2.10.2000) by S.I. 2000/2326, reg. 24(2) (with regs. 9, 28)

Sch. 2 para. 23 applied (2.10.2000) by S.I. 2000/2326, reg. 25(3)(a) (with regs. 9, 28)

Marginal Citations

M1 1954 c. 9 (N.I.)

24 (1) An immigration officer or constable may arrest without warrant a person who has been released by virtue of paragraph 22 above—

(a) if he has reasonable grounds for believing that that person is likely to break the condition of his recognizance or bail bond that he will appear at the time and place required or to break any other condition of it, or has reasonable ground to suspect that that person is breaking or has broken any such other condition; or

(b) if, a recognizance with sureties having been taken, he is notified in writing by any surety of the surety’s belief that that person is likely to break the first-mentioned condition, and of the surety’s wish for that reason to be relieved of his obligations as a surety;

and paragraph 17(2) above shall apply for the arrest of a person under this paragraph as it applies for the arrest of a person under paragraph 17.

(2) A person arrested under this paragraph—

(a) if not required by a condition on which he was released to appear before an immigration officer within twenty-four hours after the time of his arrest, shall as soon as practicable be brought before an adjudicator or, if that is not practicable within those twenty-four hours, before a justice of the peace acting for the petty sessions area in which he is arrested or, in Scotland, the sheriff; and

(b) if required by such a condition to appear within those twenty-four hours before an immigration officer, shall be brought before that officer.

(3) An adjudicator, justice of the peace or sheriff before whom a person is brought by virtue of sub-paragraph (2)(a) above—

(a) if of the opinion that that person has broken or is likely to break any condition on which he was released, may either—

(i) direct that he be detained under the authority of the person by whom he was arrested; or

(ii) release him, on his original recognizance or on a new recognizance, with or without sureties, or, in Scotland, on his original bail or on new bail; and

(b) if not of that opinion, shall release him on his original recognizance or bail.

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C5 Sch. 2 para. 24 modified (3.8.1998) by 1997 c. 68, s. 3, Sch. 3 para.3; S.I. 1998/1892, art.2

Sch. 2 para. 24 applied (2.10.2000) by 1999 c. 33, ss. 9(4), 10(7); S.I. 2000/2444, art. 2, Sch. 1 (subject to transitional provisions in art. 3, Sch. 2 para. 2)

Sch. 2 para. 24 applied (with modifications) (14.12.2001) by 2001 c. 24, ss. 24(2)(c), 127(2)

C6 Sch. 2 paras. 2-4, 7, 16-18, 21-24 applied (with modifications) (2.10.2000) by S.I. 2000/2326, reg. 24(2) (with regs. 9, 28)

Sch. 2 para. 24 applied (2.10.2000) by S.I. 2000/2326, reg. 25(3)(a) (with regs. 9, 28)

25 The power to make rules of procedure conferred by section 22 of this Act shall include power to make rules with respect to applications to an adjudicator under paragraphs 22 to 24 above and matters arising out of such applications.