Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill

As I understand it, where the passport had been retained and someone wanted to leave voluntarily, it is not our desire to hold them up. Passports are retained where there is a question of forgery or of criminal proceedings. We would seek to get such people re-documented as soon as possible. We would need to ensure that the documentation was valid for wherever they sought to go and would suffice for their purposes. I imagine that that would normally require us to refer to the issuing country. There may be circumstances in which we could issue other documentation. I can assure the noble Lord that it is not our desire to hang on to people who wish to leave voluntarily. They are perfectly at liberty to go. That is a critical point that we should put on the record.