Nationality and Borders Bill: maximum sentences for people smugglers factsheet
Updated 13 October 2023
© Crown copyright 2023
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-and-borders-bill-maximum-sentences-for-people-smugglers-factsheet/nationality-and-borders-bill-maximum-sentences-for-people-smugglers-factsheet
1. What is the problem?
- Criminal gangs are taking advantage of the immigration system, placing people’s lives at risk and facilitating the arrival of irregular migrants into the UK.
- Under current legislation (section 25A), it is an offence for a person, knowingly and for gain, to facilitate the arrival or entry (or attempted arrival or entry) of an asylum seeker into the UK. However, gains from facilitation may be cash-in-hand, taken while abroad, or otherwise difficult to link back to facilitation, making this challenging to evidence in some prosecutions.
2. What does the Bill do to increase sentences?
- The Bill adds the new arrival offences to the section 25 offence of facilitation in breach of immigration law and, for the section 25A offence, removes the requirement to prove gain, broadening the section 25A offence, to allow the Home Office to consider a wider range of evidence and behaviour where financial gain is concealed. It remains the case that this offence does not apply to persons acting on behalf of an organisation assists asylum seekers and does not charge for its services.
- Section 25 offences currently attract a prison sentence of up to 14 years. This Bill increases the penalty to life imprisonment in order to discourage unlawful facilitation of migrants to the UK.
- The Bill puts it beyond doubt that organisations and individuals who rescue those in danger or distress at sea will not be convicted of people smuggling offences.
3. What are you doing on criminal offences more broadly?
- We are also introducing new offences and tougher criminal penalties for those attempting to arrive in or enter the country illegally, or overstaying their visa, by raising the penalties from 6 months to 4 years.