Immigration and asylum appeals
10.The White Paper set out details of the multiplicity of appeal rights under the current system and the delays that this engenders. The Act includes provisions to reform the immigration and asylum appeals system to address these issues. The current system, which provides for successive avenues of appeal, will be replaced by a comprehensive one-stop right of appeal for those who were lawfully present (or, in the case of an applicant for leave to enter, held a valid entry clearance). Persons making an asylum or human rights claim who are refused and required to leave the United Kingdom will have a right of appeal even if they made their claim when not lawfully present here; they too will be expected to raise all relevant issues at the time of application. The Act also contains provisions to replace section 2 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 regarding the certification of asylum claims by the Secretary of State in third country cases, and gives a right of appeal to all those refused asylum who have been granted exceptional leave to remain. Otherwise, rights of appeal are limited to those who are to be removed from the United Kingdom: there will no longer be a right of appeal for those who are given leave to remain on ceasing to be exempt from control, or those who are given less favourable leave than that which they had requested.
11.The Act provides that for those applicants who are lawfully present when seeking leave to remain or hold a valid entry clearance or work permit when they make their claim for entry, the comprehensive one-stop appeal will address all factors in a case falling under the Immigration Rules which appellants will be expected to set out with the grounds of appeal. By the time Part IV of the Act is brought into force, many immigration matters currently dealt with as published extra-statutory concessions will have been incorporated into the Rules. In most cases, those who are in the United Kingdom unlawfully (ie overstayers and illegal entrants) will have no right of appeal and will be subject to administrative removal under section 10 rather than deportation.
12.The Act makes provision for people who have overstayed their leave to enter or remain to make applications for leave to remain within a prescribed period of at least three months before section 10 comes into force. The effect for those who apply is to preserve the current deportation process and ensuing appeal rights if necessary after section 10 comes into force.
