Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. What is interesting about the group of amendments is that we have all tried to approach the matter from different angles, to move the Minister in the direction we thought he was taking in Committee. He will have a bit of work to do when he responds to both the hon. Gentleman and me. The Immigration Law Practitioners Association looked at the issue and has set out one element of our disappointment. The association believes that new clause 1 does not even rectify the problem in the limited context of the criminal offence. The Minister acknowledged that there is a long time between refusal of leave and the making of removal decisions. The effect of the new clause is to suspend the chance of prosecution until the appeal is finally determined. However, subsection (3) means that during the time between refusal of leave and the removal decision there is no protection from criminal prosecution—certainly as I read it. The Minister’s defence could be that it is not usual to prosecute, but if that is his line the provision looks more like window dressing than real movement. There is further confusion. People with out-of-country appeals, even if they rapidly leave the UK, could have applications prejudiced by risk of endorsement as an overstayer. Under the immigration rules, leave to enter would normally be refused if the time limits on previous entries had failed to be observed, yet that person has no control over whether he overstays; he is simply in the hands of the Home Office and the timing of its decisions, with no redress. I hope that the Minister will deal with the issues raised by new clause 1 on the position of overstayers, which is still confusing, especially in respect of their entitlements. I want to move on to some of the amendments tabled by my hon. Friends and me. As I pointed out earlier, about 30 per cent. of international students—about 45,000—apply for variation or extension to their leave. Common reasons for those applications, as I am sure the Minister is well aware, are to complete PhD studies, to transfer courses from one university or college to another, to attend graduation ceremonies or even to attend vivas. With the amendments, I am trying to probe the Government to find out whether they will consider the position of students in those catch-22 situations. The educational world is seriously concerned, and so am I. I hope that the Minister agrees that, over several years, there has been broad cross-party support for the principle that where a subjective decision-making process could lead to mistakes there should be a right of appeal. That is really not an excessive request in the United Kingdom. However, under the legislation, thousands of individuals could be left on the wrong side of the law through no fault of their own, by becoming illegal overstayers the moment that the decision to refuse their application has been made. Concern in the education sector has been driven by an awareness of the reputational damage that such a change could have on the UK as a study destination. Already, as we discussed in Committee, a raft of recent measures, which includes substantial increases in fees for leave-to-remain applications and initial visas, has had an impact—possibly damaging—on international student recruitment. There is growing evidence to suggest that international students are beginning to choose to study elsewhere.