UK Immigration Acts 2014 and 2016 — Hostile Environment

Summary

The Immigration Acts 2014 and 2016 created the 'hostile environment' policy framework, restricting access to banking, housing, driving, employment, and NHS services for those without immigration status. Introduced removal of citizenship and statelessness provisions. Tamil asylum seekers with precarious status are directly affected.

Relevance to the diaspora

Tamil asylum seekers and overstayers face practical barriers to banking (preventing receipt of diaspora remittances), employment, and healthcare under the hostile environment; Tamil community organisations in the UK provide welfare support to individuals caught in the hostile environment framework.

Key provisions

• Immigration Act 2014 s.20 — landlord right-to-rent checks
• Immigration Act 2014 s.37 — bank account checks
• Immigration Act 2014 s.40A — deprivation of citizenship (British Nationality Act 1981 amendment)
• Immigration Act 2016 — labour market enforcement and illegal working offence

Primary source

Related entries

• → Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees 1951 and Protocol 1967 (UN)
• → Human Rights Act 1998 (UK)
• → ECHR Article 3 — Prohibition of Torture (Non-Refoulement) (ECHR)