FREE 2101 The Illegal Migration Act 2023: An Overview

ILPA is acutely aware of the need to bring legal practitioners and other individuals in frontline roles assisting and working with migrants, up to speed on the Illegal Migration Act 2023.

Levels: Intermediate – some familiarity with the immigration and asylum system, and a keen interest to understand how the Illegal Migration Act 2023 will impact it.

Audience:

• Advisors, caseworkers, solicitors and barristers intending to advise and represent individuals affected by the Illegal Migration Act 2023
• Frontline organisations, local authorities, and social workers wishing to understand how the Act may affect individuals they assist and with whom they interact

Topics this course will briefly cover:

• the purpose of the Act;
• the cohorts of individuals that are likely to be affected by the Act;
• provisions that have been commenced;
• provisions that may retrospectively affect individuals, if they are commenced, and upon which individuals should be advised;
• the new duty and power to make arrangements for removal;
• the inadmissibility regime the Act introduces, explaining how the provisions differ from the current inadmissibility regime brought into force by the Nationality and Borders Act 2022;
• some circumstances in which individuals should be signposted to a legal representative for assistance;
• applications and claims that can be made by people affected by the Act, including human rights claims, applications for discretionary leave and suspensive claims and appeals;
• new detention powers, principles, and methods of seeking release;
• provisions affecting protection for victims and survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking, including support and recovery;
• how legal aid advice and representation is impacted by this Act;
• other likely practical implications of the Act; and
• reflection and discussion, looking forward to the future under this Act.

The course will signpost to other parts of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 including provisions pertaining to:

• accommodation of unaccompanied children;
• age assessment;
• electronic devices;
• “safe and legal” routes.

Aim of the course

• To provide attendees with a brief overview of the Illegal Migration Act 2023;
• To provide very initial guidance to understand when an individual may need legal advice;
• To help individuals understand how their work, and the migrants they assist, may be impacted by the Act so that they may offer the best possible support to people impacted by the Bill.

Tutor: Zoe Bantleman, Legal Director, ILPA.

Zoe Bantleman is a barrister, the Legal Director of the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA), and an editor of the Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law.Working closely with ILPA members, colleagues in the third sector, and Parliamentarians, she led ILPA’s work on the Illegal Migration Bill, drafting amendments that were tabled and debated throughout its passage. ILPA produced a number of briefings, particularly joint briefings that brought together a range of civil society actors to advocate for improvements to the Bill, before the Illegal Migration Bill received royal assent. Zoe was a panelist in the GLA Emergency Summit on the Illegal Migration Bill on 25 May 2023. She sits on the Greater London Authority’s Illegal Migration Act Advisory Board. Zoe has discussed the Illegal Migration Act 2023 with the Home Office in stakeholder meetings, chaired Strategic Legal Advice Committee Meetings on the Act, responded to the Ministry of Justice’s consultation on ‘Legal Aid Fees in the Illegal Migration Bill’, presented on the Act at Public Policy Exchange’s webinar ‘Asylum Seekers & Refugees in the UK: Seeking a More Effective, Supportive & Humane Migration System’ and at the Refugee and Migrant Children’s Consortium’s Conference ‘The Illegal Migration Act, local authorities and separated children’.

Her intention, in providing this training, is to share the knowledge she has gained through her work on the Act with the widest possible audience.