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Immigration officers have a number of statutorily-conferred powers to enter premises to search for persons and evidence and, on entry, to arrest persons and seize evidence. These powers have increased significantly with the entry into force of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (Application to immigration officers and designated customs officials in England and Wales) Order 2013, SI 2013/1542, and again with the enactment of the Immigration Act 2014 (IA 2014) and the Immigration Act 2016 (IA 2016).

Closely linked to immigration officers’ powers of entry, search and seizure is their power to ‘conduct examinations’—ie to stop and question individuals at the port of entry in order to determine their immigration status on arrival, or whether their existing status should be cancelled.

This Practice Note looks at all of these powers. The High Court decision in R(HM) v SSHD (Privacy International intervening), as well as the significant concessions made by the Home Office in advance of that hearing, and the subsequent order which was published on GOV.UK, provides a