NCADC Campaigning Toolkit
It is very difficult to gain re-entry to the UK after a forced removal/deportation.
The Immigration Rules include general grounds for refusing to allow anyone to enter and re-entry bans are applied to certain categories of people who breached immigration law in a previous attempt to enter or stay in the UK, such as if you overstay your visa by more than 28 days or you enter the UK illegally.
The length of the re-entry ban depends on whether you leave the UK voluntary and at public expense, and whether UKBA decides you used deception in an application for entry clearance/leave to remain. The ban starts from the date of your departure from the UK.
The re-entry bans do not apply if:
But even if one of these exemptions applies to your situation, and so a re-entry ban would not be in place, you may still be refused leave to enter the UK. This is because the Immigration Rules allows for a discretionary refusal of an application if UKBA decide you have “previously contrived in a significant way to frustrate the intentions” of the Immigration Rules.
This is a vague and potentially broad definition, and could affect many people forcibly removed from the UK who are attempting to re-enter to join family members.
If you were deported from the UK after being served with a deportation order (and were not just issued removal directions for an administrative removal – see entries in glossary for more information), you must first apply for the deportation order to be revoked before you can apply for leave to enter the UK.
Most people are issued with a deportation order if they have committed a criminal offence in the UK. In these situations, if the sentence for the offence was 30 months or less, a deportation order will normally not be revoked before ten years has passed. This is called an exclusion period. If UKBA consider that you 'considerably delayed' your deportation by not cooperating, they can extend this time period even more.
If a refusal to revoke your deportation order would breach your human rights, however, this period of time should not apply. Remember that you might still be subject to a re-entry ban even if a deportation order is revoked, unless one of the exemptions listed above apply to your situation.
If you were issued with a deportation order because UKBA decided it was 'conducive to the public good' but this was not because of a criminal offence, there will not usually be an exclusion period in applying for your deportation order to be revoked. The re-entry ban may still apply, however, and the discretionary power of refusal for 'frustrating the Immigration Rules' may be used.
If your application to revoke your deportation order is refused, you should have the right to appeal this decision.
