Immigration Act 1971

[F1 Searching persons arrested by immigration officers] U.K.

Textual Amendments

F1 Heading inserted (14.2.2000) by 1999 c. 33, s. 134(2); S.I. 2000/168, art. 2, Sch

[F2 25B (1) This paragraph applies if a person is arrested under this Schedule. U.K.

(2) An immigration officer may search the arrested person if he has reasonable grounds for believing that the arrested person may present a danger to himself or others.

(3) The officer may search the arrested person for—

(a) anything which he might use to assist his escape from lawful custody; or

(b) any document which might—

(i) establish his identity, nationality or citizenship; or

(ii) indicate the place from which he has travelled to the United Kingdom or to which he is proposing to go.

(4) The power conferred by sub-paragraph (3) may be exercised—

(a) only if the officer has reasonable grounds for believing that the arrested person may have concealed on him anything of a kind mentioned in that sub-paragraph; and

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

(5) A power conferred by this paragraph to search a person is not to be read as authorising an officer to require a person to remove any of his clothing in public other than an outer coat, jacket or glove; but it does authorise the search of a person’s mouth.

(6) An officer searching a person under sub-paragraph (2) may seize and retain anything he finds, if he has reasonable grounds for believing that the person searched might use it to cause physical injury to himself or to another person.

(7) An officer searching a person under sub-paragraph (3)(a) may seize and retain anything he finds, if he has reasonable grounds for believing that he might use it to assist his escape from lawful custody.

(8) An officer searching a person under sub-paragraph (3)(b) may seize and retain anything he finds, other than an item subject to legal privilege, if he has reasonable grounds for believing that it might be a document falling within that sub-paragraph.

[F3 (8A) Sub-paragraph (8B) applies where—

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

(b) any document the officer has reasonable grounds for believing is a document within sub-paragraph (3)(b) is stored in any electronic form on a device or medium found on the person.

(8B) The 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.

(8C) If a requirement under sub-paragraph (8B) 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 officer may seize the device or medium on which it is stored.

(8D) Sub-paragraphs (8B) and (8C) do not apply to a document which the officer has reasonable grounds for believing is an item subject to legal privilege.]

(9) Nothing seized under sub-paragraph (6) or (7) may be retained when the person from whom it was seized—

(a) is no longer in custody, or

(b) is in the custody of a court but has been released on bail.]

Textual Amendments

F2 Sch. 2 para. 25B inserted (14.2.2000) by 1999 c. 33, s. 134(2); S.I. 2000/168, art. 2, Sch. (which amending provision is extended (with modifications) to Jersey (5.6.2003) by S.I. 2003/1252, art. 2, Sch.)

F3 Sch. 2 paras. 25B(8A)-(8D) inserted (12.7.2016) by Immigration Act 2016 (c. 19), ss. 46(5), 94(1); S.I. 2016/603, reg. 3(g)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 Sch. 2 paras. 25A-25E applied by Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (c. 33), s. 10(9)(j) (as substituted (20.10.2014) by Immigration Act 2014 (c. 22), ss. 1, 75(3); S.I. 2014/2771, art. 2(a) (with arts. 9-11) (as amended (2.3.2015 and 6.4.2015) by S.I. 2015/371, arts. 1(2)(3), 7, 8; and with transitional provisions and savings in S.I. 2014/2928, art. 2 (which S.I. is revoked (6.4.2015) by S.I. 2015/371, arts. 1(3), 9)))

C2 Sch. 2 paras. 25A-25C applied (15.1.2018) by Immigration Act 2016 (c. 19), s. 94(1), Sch. 10 para. 10(8); S.I. 2017/1241, reg. 2(c) (with Sch.) (as amended by S.I. 2018/31, reg. 2)