Immigration Act 2016

18 (1) Section 124 (convictions coming to light after grant) is amended as follows.

(2) In subsection (1)—

(a) for “(“the offender”)” substitute “(“the licence holder”)”;

(b) at the end insert “or was required during that period to pay an immigration penalty”.

(3) In subsection (3)—

(a) in paragraph (a)—

(i) for “applicant” substitute “licence holder”;

(ii) for “, and” substitute “which occurred before the end of the application period,”;

(b) in paragraph (b), after “relevant offence” insert “and which occurred before the end of the application period”;

(c) at the end of paragraph (b) insert “and

(c) the licence holder having been required before the end of the application period to pay any immigration penalty,”;

(d) in the words after paragraph (b), omit “which occurred before the end of the application period,”.

(4) After subsection (3) insert—

“(3A) Where the licence holder was (during the application period)—

(a) convicted of an immigration offence,

(b) convicted of a foreign offence that the licensing authority considers to be comparable to an immigration offence, or

(c) required to pay an immigration penalty,

the authority must give the Secretary of State a notice to that effect.

(3B) Where, having regard to—

(a) any conviction of the licence holder for an immigration offence which occurred before the end of the application period,

(b) any conviction of the licence holder for a foreign offence which the Secretary of State considers to be comparable to an immigration offence and which occurred before the end of the application period, and

(c) the licence holder having been required before the end of the application period to pay any immigration penalty,

the Secretary of State is satisfied that continuation of the licence would be prejudicial to the prevention of illegal working in licensed premises, the Secretary of State must, within the period of 14 days beginning with the day the Secretary of State received the notice under subsection (3A), give the authority a notice stating the reasons for being so satisfied (an “immigration objection notice”).”

(5) In subsection (4)—

(a) in the words before paragraph (a), for “is given within that period” substitute “or an immigration objection notice is given within the period of 14 days referred to in subsection (3) or (3B), as the case may be,”;

(b) in paragraph (a)—

(i) omit “objection”;

(ii) for “holder of the licence, the chief officer of police” substitute “licence holder, the person who gave the notice”;

(c) in paragraph (b), for the words from “revoke” to the end of the paragraph substitute “—

(i) where the notice is an objection notice, revoke the licence if it considers it appropriate for the promotion of the crime prevention objective to do so, or

(ii) where the notice is an immigration objection notice, revoke the licence if it considers it appropriate for the prevention of illegal working in licensed premises to do so.”

(6) After subsection (5) insert—

“(5A) Where the authority revokes or decides not to revoke a licence under subsection (4)(b)(ii) it must also notify the Secretary of State of the decision and its reasons for making it.”