Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc) Act 2004 (Royal Assent, 22nd July2004)


NOTES

The Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 received Royal Assent on 22nd July 2004.


The Queen's speech at the opening of the new parliament on 26th November 2003 stated: "My Government is committed to the maintenance of an effective asylum and immigration system. Legislation will therefore be brought forward to establish a single tier of appeal against asylum decisions, to reduce the scope for delay caused by groundless appeals, and to put in place a range of other measures to tackle abuse of the system and fraudulent claims".

The Act has little to do with employment law and is generally not considered further in this proramme.

The Act was mainly in force by early 2005 (see Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 s.48 and commencement orders). The most recent commencement order as at mid-March 2005 is the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 (Commencement No. 5 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2005, SI 2005/565, brings various sections into force on 4th April 2005 and includes details of all earlier commencement dates.

However it should be noted that the Act includes provisions to unify the immigration and asylum appeals system into a single tier of appeal with restricted access to the higher courts. Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 s.26 replaces the two tier asylum adjudicator appeal system established under Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 s.81 with a single-tier tribunal called the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal.

After the Bill received Royal Assent the government started a consultation on new draft Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (Procedure) Rules 2005, October 2004. The new rules were made on 8th February 2005 and are in force from 4th April 2005, the same date as commencement of s.26 (see the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (Procedure) Rules 2005 SI 2005/230, which revoke and replace the Immigration and Asylum Appeals (Procedure) Rules 2003 SI 2003/652 together with the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (Fast Track Procedure) Rules 2005 SI 2005/560 which revoke and replace the Immigration and Asylum Appeals (Fast Track Procedure) Rules 2003 SI 2003/801, also with effect from 4th April 2005 ).

It should be noted that section 4 of the Act creates a new offence of trafficking for exploitation, including forced labour, with a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment plus a fine. This basically means that a person commits an offence if he arranges or facilitates the arrival in the United Kingdom of an individual with a view to exploiting him or her.

See generally notes at Immigration and specifically at Immigration/1999 Immigration and Asylum Act and/or Immigration/2002 Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act and/or Immigration/legal aid .

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updated Feb2005



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