The deportation process in the UK

The deportation process in the UK

The deportation process starts when a non-British citizen receives a custodial sentence which is more than 12 months. The foreign national offender (FNO) is then notified that their conviction has triggered automatic deportation proceedings (known as a ‘one-stop notice’). The defendant is then asked to provide reasons why they should not be deported.

After a written reply and evidence is received in response to the deportation letter, the Home Office investigates the claims made and decides whether the deportation process should continue. The stark reality for the FNO is that they will likely not then hear any more about it until the last calendar month of their custodial sentence when a (usually negative) decision will be received, either with or without the right of appeal attached to it. It is very rare for the Home Office to ask a non-represented person for further information or explanation. Immigration practitioners will often be aware that, in many cases, a period of silence does not result in the investigation which is promised. In fact, quite the opposite is true and at the end of this stage of the deportation process, negative decisions which are received can contain copy and past errors (e.g. wrong country of origin or the inclusion of the names of children not associated with the case). This happens in other areas of immigration law and not just in matters of deportation. One of the reasons for this is because the Home Office uses standard template letters which in some cases aren’t edited correctly before sending out the decision to the FNO, contrary in some cases to the principles of anxious scrutiny.

The consequences of the deportation process

It has become clear that the Home Office often does not properly consider the evidence which is provided in the written reply to the one-stop notice. This is apparent because decisions will make findings on a case without considering the evidence provided - often the evidence directly contradicts the findings made.

The improper consideration of cases means that these decisions become appealable, which in over half of the cases before the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-Tier Tribunal, are successful. This statistic potentially could have been much higher if all of those Appellants had access to a knowledgeable, fully trained, and accredited legal advisor.

Deport first, appeal later

It could be argued that the ‘deport first, appeal later’ ideology is never far away from the minds of Home Office decision makers. However, whilst this practice has somewhat decreased due to case rulings, it has been replaced with ‘make a poor decision first, and justify it at an appeal later’.

It is possible that once the UK leaves the EU, the absence of the regulatory nature of the EU, will create further scandals on the scale of Windrush. A foreseeable impact of Brexit is that the government will always be able to create another Bill to change the Immigration Rules on a whim, which may include enhancing powers for deportation.

A FNO is punished in more than one way: 1) a prison sentence punishes their behaviour; and 2) being detained and deported punishes their presence and being. Politicians know that the deportation of FNOs will make them favourable amongst some voters, which is why deportation will always be at the top of the political agenda. This leads to higher target figures being set which results in hasty, poor decision making.

Two wrongs do not make a right

It is important to remind the Home Secretary that two wrongs do not make a right. Human rights are just that: human, and even those people who have committed crimes are still human. They still deserve to experience a basic level of human decency when dealing with their cases, in order to allow them to facilitate whatever changes are needed to live a good, law-abiding life in future.