New Immigration Provisions In Force

Over the Summer some of the new employment-related parts of the Immigration Act 2016 began to apply.

The main points to be aware of are that since 12 July 2016:

• it is a criminal offence for a person to work when he or she reasonably believes that their immigration status prevents them from doing so. The earnings of illegal workers can be seized.
• employers of illegal workers could be convicted if they had reasonable cause to believe that the employee's immigration status was a bar to them working. This extends the previous offence of knowingly employing an illegal migrant. A maximum prison sentence of five years could be imposed, and a fine. In some circumstances, the business could be closed down for up to 48 hours.