New block on accounts for illegal migrants

Under the Government’s centrepiece Immigration Bill, which is introduced today, banks will have to check against a database of known immigration offenders before opening accounts.

Elsewhere, the bill will slash the number of grounds on which migrants can lodge an appeal, from 17 to just four – a move drawn up in response to the 12 years it took to deport radical cleric Abu Qatada.

As previously disclosed, a new requirement will also be introduced for temporary migrants such as overseas students, to make a contribution to the National Health Service.

Immigration Minister Mark Harper said: “The Immigration Bill will stop migrants using public services to which they are not entitled, reduce the pull factors which encourage people to come to the UK and make it easier to remove people who should not be here.

“We will continue to welcome the brightest and best migrants who want to contribute to our economy and society and play by the rules. But the law must be on the side of people who respect it, not those who break it.”

The Immigration Bill will aim to curb the number of migrants who block deportation using Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the right to a private or family life.

Private landlords will be required to check the status of their tenants, to prevent those with no right to live in the UK from accessing private rented housing, while new powers to check driving licence applicants’ immigration status will be introduced.

Home Secretary Theresa May and Prime Minister David Cameron want to reduce net migration from non-EU countries to less than 100,000 before the next election in 2015. Most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics showed a net flow of 176,000 migrants came to the UK in the year to December 2012.