Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether citizens of Commonwealth countries may be deported after serving custodial sentences for criminal offences in the UK; and if so, what assessment they have made of the effect of this policy on UK residents who arrived from Commonwealth countries before 1973 and may therefore be without documentation of their residential status.

Commonwealth citizens convicted of a crime in the UK and given a prison sentence will be considered for deportation at the earliest opportunity. Deportation will be pursued where it is conducive to the public good including where a person receives a custodial sentence of 12 months or more, commits an offence that caused serious harm or is a persistent offender. Section 7 of the Immigration Act 1971 provides an exemption from deportation for Commonwealth citizens resident in the UK on 1 January 1973 and ordinarily resident in the UK for at least 5 years before the decision to make a deportation order. The onus is on the person claiming an exemption under section 7 to prove they meet the criteria.