Foreign nationals will normally be considered for deportation if they have been involved in criminal activity in the UK and have been sentenced to imprisonment for 12 months or more when their deportation is said to be “conducive to the public good and in the public interest”. There are of course a number of other circumstances, under which the Home Office may enforce deportation. The rules also say that your deportation is “conducive to the public good and in the public interest” if your offending “caused serious harm” or you are a “persistent offender who shows a particular disregard for the law”.
A deportation order can be enforced, even if you hold a valid visa. You will be prohibited from re-entering the UK while the deportation order remains in force. If you are liable to deportation, you will normally be detained until you are deported. Your dependents are also liable to be deported with you unless they are British citizens or settled in the UK in their own right, or have been living apart from you.
The Home Office will normally send you a ‘notice of intention to deport’ stating that they are intending to issue you with a deportation order. You have the right to submit representations along with supporting documents within 20 days to challenge the decision.
If the Home Office rejects your representations, they will state that they are maintaining deportation and will not revoke the deportation order. There is no automatic right of appeal unless the Home Office has granted you that right in their decision letter. However, you may still challenge the deportation by way of judicial review.
If you were sentenced to imprisonment for more than 4 years, you need to show that there are “very compelling circumstances” to revoke the deportation order. If you have been sentenced for less than 4 years but more than one year or your offense is deemed to fall under ‘causing serious harm’, you will need to provide evidence to show that deportation would breach your Article 8 right to a family and private life in the UK. If you are forcibly removed from the UK, you will be subject to a mandatory 10-year re-entry ban.
