Boris Johnson is the new Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party.  Whilst campaigning to become the United Kingdom’s next Prime Minister, he announced his support for the idea of an Amnesty for illegal migrants.  Mr Johnson suggested that there are around 500,000 people in London alone who have lived there for a decade or more but who were never registered and “are not able to pay taxes”.  He further stated that “I don’t think it’s commonsensical to think we can deport such a large number of people.  We do need to think of how to regularise their status”.  Mr Johnson has supported the idea of an Amnesty for those who have lived in the United Kingdom for 15 years or more, subject to them having “played by the rules”.

Mr Johnson had previously suggested the idea of an Amnesty when he was Mayor of London.  He seems committed to the idea of an Amnesty and in the height of Windrush Scandal in April 2018, he suggested to the former Prime Minister, Theresa May, that an Amnesty should be granted for anyone in the United Kingdom for 10 years or more, provided that they are “squeaky clean”.

Mr Johnson has been quoted as saying “what we want is a democratically controlled immigration system whereby we can continue to welcome people who can contribute to the UK economy, but done by an Australia-Style points system”.

What is an ‘Amnesty’?

The word Amnesty is often associated with the idea of all migrants present in the UK without permission instantly being granted lawful residence and that  an Amnesty would legally declare that any individual currently in the United Kingdom without a visa is automatically granted lawful leave to stay and to live here going forward.  However, the reality of how an Amnesty is likely to work in practice would probably be very different.

In the past Mr Johnson has already suggested that an Amnesty should be granted to individuals who have a clean criminal record and who are able to meet a qualifying period of residence in the United Kingdom.  In 2009, he suggested a period of 5 years of residence in order to qualify.  He later suggested 10-year and then 12-year periods. In his latest suggestion Mr Johnson indicated that only migrants who have lived in the United Kingdom for at least 15 years would be eligible. 

In fact, the idea of meeting a criterion of lengthy residence in order to qualify for leave is not new or different. We previously had the 14-year long residence rule, which was in force between 2003 and 2012.  Under that rule, migrants who had spent a continuous period of 14 years residence in the United Kingdom were eligible for Indefinite Leave to Remain.  There are also specific provisions under the current Immigration Rules, which allow grant of limited leave to remain to those who have spent more than 20 years in the United Kingdom, to children under the age of 18 who have been in the UK over seven years and for young people aged between 18 to 24 year of age who have spent most of their lives in the UK.  Mr Johnson’s idea is hardly new, but by calling it an Amnesty he is likely to cause concern for those who are opposed to immigrants and immigration. 

In any event, Mr Johnson’s proposal sound very similar to existing provisions and it therefore begs the question of why he had to make such an announcement?  Those who are sceptical may suggest he simply has a much wider political agenda.

Practical issues

If the proposal is accepted, a 15-year period of residence would of course represent an improvement for those who are currently waiting to qualify under the 20-year route.  This would also reduce the documentary burden on applicants who are required to provide evidence to show that they have lived in the United Kingdom for the entire qualifying period. 

It is unclear, however whether these proposals could take shape as a one-off Amnesty or rather as a rolling, long residence qualification route. If the Amnesty is a one-off measure, a question mark would be left over what would happen to people who have lived in the United Kingdom for less than 15 years, say 14 or 13 years.  The option of a singular Amnesty seems unlikely at this stage as Mr Johnson’s suggestion seems to indicate support for an ongoing right to regularise, rather than any limited one-off measure.

The Future

We must remember that Mr Johnson has only just taken up his office as Prime Minister.  It is likely that he will be busy dealing with more imminent issues such as Brexit.  Furthermore, he would no doubt face strong opposition from his own party, given their generally hostile stance on immigration, as seen in the last few years. 

An Amnesty of any sort sounds very appealing, but it must be borne in mind that we already have provisions in place that are very similar to the type of Amnesty that Mr Johnson has proposed.  At present, it seems unlikely that an Amnesty is actually going to take place, but migrants should beware of those claiming that the Amnesty described by Mr Johnson has already been implemented into law. 

Any further developments in relation to an Amnesty will be reported on our website.