16. Removal

Abstract

This chapter describes the development of the grounds in law for exercising the power to remove a person from the UK, from Immigration Act 1971 to Immigration Act 2014. These include people who have overstayed the limit of their leave or have breached conditions of leave or obtained leave to remain by deception, and the families of such people. The Immigration Act 2014 s 1 abolished the historic distinction between overstayers and illegal entrants and replaced a number of separate powers with a single power to remove a person who requires leave to enter or remain in the UK but does not have it. The chapter also examines the practical obstacles to removal. These are often as important to the individual as the legal ones.