Immigration Act 1971

[F1 15A (1) This paragraph applies if— U.K.

(a) an immigration officer is lawfully on any premises, and

(b) a person who is liable to be detained under paragraph 16(2) is on the premises.

(2) The immigration officer may search the premises for documents which—

(a) relate to the person, and

(b) may be evidence for a ground on which the person's leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom may be curtailed.

(3) The power may be exercised—

(a) only if the immigration officer has reasonable grounds for believing there are documents within sub-paragraph (2) on the premises, and

(b) only to the extent that it is reasonably required for the purpose of discovering such documents.

(4) An immigration officer searching premises under this paragraph may seize any document the officer finds which the officer has reasonable grounds for believing is a document within sub-paragraph (2).

(5) Sub-paragraph (6) applies where—

(a) an immigration officer is searching premises under this paragraph, and

(b) any document the officer has reasonable grounds for believing is a document within sub-paragraph (2) is stored in any electronic form and is accessible from the premises.

(6) The immigration officer may require the document to be produced in a form in which it can be taken away and in which it is visible and legible or from which it can readily be produced in a visible and legible form.

(7) If a requirement under sub-paragraph (6) is not complied with or a document to which that sub-paragraph applies cannot be produced in a form of the kind mentioned in that sub-paragraph, the immigration officer may seize the device or medium on which it is stored.

(8) But sub-paragraphs (4) to (7) do not apply to a document which the immigration officer has reasonable grounds for believing is an item subject to legal privilege.

(9) An immigration officer may retain a document seized under this paragraph while—

(a) the person to whom the document relates is liable to be detained under paragraph 16(2), and

(b) the document falls within sub-paragraph (2)(b).

(10) But a document may not be retained for the purpose mentioned in sub-paragraph (9) if a photograph or copy would be sufficient for that purpose.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Sch. 2 para. 15A inserted (12.7.2016) by Immigration Act 2016 (c. 19), ss. 46(3), 94(1); S.I. 2016/603, reg. 3(g)