View source for Immigration Act 1971

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{{Redirect-distinguish|Patriality|Partiality}}

{{Infobox UK legislation
|short_title          = Immigration Act 1971<ref name=st>[[Short title]] as conferred by s. 37 of the act</ref>
|type                 = Act
|parliament           = Parliament of the United Kingdom
|long_title           = An Act to amend and replace the present immigration laws, to make certain related changes in the citizenship law and enable help to be given to those wishing to return abroad, and for purposes connected therewith.
|year                 = 1971
|statute_book_chapter = [[List of acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1971|1971]] c. 77
|introduced_by        = 
|territorial_extent   = 
|royal_assent         = 28 October 1971
|commencement         = 1 January 1973
|repeal_date          = 
|amendments           = 
|related_legislation  = 
|replaces             = {{ubli|[[Aliens Restriction Act 1914]]|[[Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968]]|[[Immigration Appeals Act 1969]]|[[Expiring Laws Continuance Act 1970]]}}
|repealing_legislation= 
|status               = Amended
|original_text        = http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/77/contents/enacted
|legislation_history  = 
|use_new_UK-LEG       =
|revised_text         = http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/77/contents
}}
The '''Immigration Act 1971'''<ref name=st/> (c. 77) is an [[Act of Parliament (United Kingdom)|act]] of the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] concerning [[immigration]] and nearly entirely remaking the field of [[British immigration law]]. The Act, as with the [[Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962]], and that of [[Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968|1968]], restricts immigration, especially [[primary immigration]] into the UK. It introduced the concept of ''patriality or [[Right of Abode (United Kingdom)|right of abode]]''. It was also partly passed to legally clarify the rights of [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth citizens]] within the [[United Kingdom]] in preparation for membership of the [[European Communities|European Communities (EC)]] in which the [[Accession of the United Kingdom to the European Communities|United Kingdom would become a member state from 1 January 1973]]. It was coincidentally the same day which the Act came into full legal force which gave not only new automatic rights to EC member state citizens but would also give them priority over non-EC citizens (including overseas Commonwealth citizens) under the obligations of the [[Treaty of Rome]], of which the UK become a signatory though the [[Treaty of Accession 1972|Treaty of Accession]], signed on 22 January 1972. In relation to deportation notices, the Act is referenced at sections 11 and 23 of the [[Terrorism Act 2000]].

==Background==
[[Harold Wilson]]'s Labour government proposed the [[Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968]] in response to the possibility of 200,000 Asian immigrants leaving Kenya in 1967 due to its attempts at '[[Africanisation]]'.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}} The act was passed in just three days, partly due to the support and fierce drive of then-[[Home Secretary]], [[James Callaghan]]. This broke away from the non-discriminatory immigration policy that had preceded it. The UK Government saw a need to appease [[Canada]], [[New Zealand]], and [[Australia]] over the future negative impact on them when Britain would join the [[European Communities]], a matter which would be hardest on people who had emigrated from Britain in the expectation of continued close ties.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Williams|first1=Callum|title=Patriality, Work Permits and the European Economic Community: The Introduction of the 1971 Immigration Act|journal=Contemporary British History|date=2 October 2015|volume=29|issue=4|pages=508–538|doi=10.1080/13619462.2014.1002775|s2cid=154673380 |issn=1361-9462}}</ref>

==Summary==
One result of the Act was to stop the permanent migration of workers from the overseas members of the [[Commonwealth of Nations]], unless they met certain tests. It elaborated the definition of "patrial" migrants, first introduced in the [[Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968]], as persons born in the United Kingdom and persons who had resided there for the previous five years or longer.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Marmo |first1=Marinella|last2=Smith|first2=Evan|title=The Myth of Sovereignty: British Immigration Control Policy and Practice in the 1970s|journal=Historical Research |date=17 January 2014|volume=87|issue=236|pages=344–369|doi=10.1111/1468-2281.12047}}</ref>

===Right of abode===
The Act limited the right to enter and live in the United Kingdom to certain subsets of [[Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies]] with ties to the UK itself.

That wording of the measure introduced minor confusion into the concept of the right of abode, when it limited right of abode through descent to a CUKC who had a parent who had CUKC status by "birth, adoption, naturalisation or .... registration in the United Kingdom or in any of the islands" or a grandparent CUKC who "at the time of that birth or adoption so had it".<ref name=JZ>{{cite web |title=The Secretary of State for the Home Department v JZ (Zambia) |url=https://webs.um.es/mariajose.marin1/miwiki/doku.php?id=corpus_testing_site&rev=1461852484 |publisher=[[England and Wales Court of Appeal]] |others=[2016] EWCA Civ 116 Case No: C5/2014/3293 |at=paras. 15–19 |date=2 February 2016 |access-date=7 July 2019 |archive-date=7 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190707202256/https://webs.um.es/mariajose.marin1/miwiki/doku.php%3Fid%3Dcorpus_testing_site%26rev%3D1461852484 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=Ize-laymu>{{cite web |title=The Secretary of State for the Home Department v Ize-laymu |url=https://www.casemine.com/judgement/uk/5b2897d82c94e06b9e19c38b |publisher=[[England and Wales Court of Appeal]] |via=Casemine.com |others=[2016] EWCA Civ 118, [2016] Imm AR 771 |at=paras. 17–18 |date=1 March 2016}}</ref>

Whether "so had it" referred to a grandparent who had CUKC status generally or CUKC status from the UK and islands specifically was decided by the courts to refer to the latter.<ref name=JZ /><ref name=Ize-laymu />

The right of abode on 31 December 1982 was necessary to become a British citizen on 1 January 1983 under the automatic transition at commencement of CUKC provisions of the [[British Nationality Act 1981]], so failing to meet the interpretation of the right of abode test above resulted in no British citizenship through that route.<ref name=JZ /><ref name=Ize-laymu />

The British Nationality Act 1981 modified the right of abode section of the Immigration Act 1971 to remove the wording at issue, although the former version still had effect for determinations of British citizenship through right of abode for persons born before 1983, and potentially for their descendants.<ref name=JZ /><ref name=Ize-laymu />

==Immigration Rules==
Section 1 of the act provides for "rules laid down by the Secretary of State as to the practice to be followed in the administration of this Act".<ref name="1971act">{{Cite legislation UK|type=act|year=1971|chapter=77|act=Immigration Act 1971|section=1|accessdate=6 October 2022|date=28 October 1971}}</ref> 

In 1972, the [[Heath administration]] introduced the first proposed Immigration Rules under the 1971 act.<ref name=Partos>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lO6aDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT81 |last=Partos |first=Rebecca |title=The Making of the Conservative Party's Immigration Policy |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2019 |isbn=9781351010634 |pages=PT81–PT82 |edition=electronic}}</ref> The rules proposal drew criticism from Conservative Party [[backbenchers]], because it formally implemented a limit of six months of leave to enter as a visitor for white "[[Old Commonwealth]]" citizens who were "non-patrial" (did not have [[Right of abode in the United Kingdom|Right of Abode]] under the 1971 act, generally because they did not have a parent or grandparent from the UK).<ref name=Partos /> At the same time the proposal opened the door to free movement of certain European workers from European Economic Community member states.<ref name=Partos /> Seven backbenchers voted against the proposed Rules and 53 abstained, leading to defeat.<ref name=Partos /> Minutes from a Cabinet meeting the next day conclude that "anti-European sentiment" among backbenchers, who instead preferred "Old Commonwealth" migration to the UK, was at the core of the result.<ref name=Partos /> The proposal was revised, and the first Rules were passed in January 1973.<ref name=Partos />

By August 2018, the Immigration Rules stood at almost 375,000 words, often so precise and detailed that the service of a lawyer are typically required to navigate them.<ref name=Bozic>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/27/revealed-immigration-rules-have-more-than-doubled-in-length-since-2010 |last1=Bozic |first1=Martha |last2=Barr |first2=Caelainn |last3=McIntyre |first3=Niamh |title=Revealed: immigration rules in UK more than double in length |date=27 August 2018 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=5 October 2022}}</ref> That length represented nearly a doubling in just a decade.<ref name=Bozic /> During the period of the introduction of the "[[Home Office hostile environment policy|hostile environment]]" policy under Prime Minister [[Theresa May]], more than 1,300 changes were made to the Rules in 2012 alone.<ref name=Bozic /> Former [[Lord Justice of Appeal]] [[Stephen Irwin (judge)|Stephen Irwin]] referred to the complexity of the system as "something of a disgrace", and an effort to gradually overhaul the Rules into a more understandable system began to take place.<ref name=Bozic /> The [[Law Commission (England and Wales)|England and Wales Law Commission]] began to make recommendations for clearer rules to be adopted.<ref name=Bozic />

==Contents==
* Part I Regulation of Entry into and Stay in United Kingdom
* Part II Appeals
* Part III Criminal Proceedings
* Part 3A Maritime enforcement
* Part IV Supplementary
* Schedule 1
* Schedule 2 Administrative Provisions as to Control on Entry etc.
* Schedule 3 Supplementary Provisions as to Deportation
* Schedule 4 Integration with United Kingdom Law of Immigration Law of Islands
* Schedule 4A Enforcement powers in relation to ships
* Schedule 5 The Adjudicators and the Tribunal
* Schedule 6 Repeals

{{expand section|date=October 2015}}

==See also==
*[[United Kingdom labour law]]
* [[British nationality law]]
* [[History of British nationality law]]
* [[Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
* Consterdine, Erica. "Community Versus Commonwealth: Reappraising the 1971 Immigration Act." Immigrants & minorities 35, no. 1 (2017), 1–20
* Hamai, Yumiko. "Imperial Burden or Jews of Africa?: An Analysis of Political and Media Discourse in the Ugandan Asian Crisis (1972)", 20th Century British History, 22:3 (2011), 415–436.
* {{cite journal |author=J. M. Evans |title=Immigration Act 1971 |journal=The Modern Law Review |year=1972 |volume=35 |issue=5 |pages=508–524 |jstor=1094478 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-2230.1972.tb02363.x}}
* Smith, Evan, Marmo, Marinella. "The myth of sovereignty: British immigration control in policy and practice in the nineteen-seventies", Historical Research, 87:236 (2014), 344-369.
* Spencer, Ian. British Immigration Policy Since 1939: The Making of Multi Racial Britain (London, 1997).
* {{cite journal | last1 = Williams | first1 = Callum | year = 2015 | title = Patriality, Work Permits and the European Economic Community: The Introduction of the 1971 Immigration Act | journal = Contemporary British History | volume = 29 | issue = 4| pages = 508–538 | doi=10.1080/13619462.2014.1002775| s2cid = 154673380 }}
==External links==
*{{wikisource-inline|single=true}}
{{British nationality law}}

[[Category:United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1971]]
[[Category:Immigration law in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:British Indian history]]
[[Category:Immigration legislation]]