Section 117C — Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002: Article 8: additional considerations in cases involving foreign criminals

Article 8: additional considerations in cases involving foreign criminals 117C 1 The deportation of foreign criminals is in the public interest.

2 The more serious the offence committed by a foreign criminal, the greater is the public interest in deportation of the criminal.

3 In the case of a foreign criminal (“C”) who has not been sentenced to a period of imprisonment of four years or more, the public interest requires C's deportation unless Exception 1 or Exception 2 applies.

4 Exception 1 applies where—

a C has been lawfully resident in the United Kingdom for most of C's life, b C is socially and culturally integrated in the United Kingdom, and c there would be very significant obstacles to C's integration into the country to which C is proposed to be deported.

5 Exception 2 applies where C has a genuine and subsisting relationship with a qualifying partner, or a genuine and subsisting parental relationship with a qualifying child, and the effect of C's deportation on the partner or child would be unduly harsh.

6 In the case of a foreign criminal who has been sentenced to a period of imprisonment of at least four years, the public interest requires deportation unless there are very compelling circumstances, over and above those described in Exceptions 1 and 2.

7 The considerations in subsections (1) to (6) are to be taken into account where a court or tribunal is considering a decision to deport a foreign criminal only to the extent that the reason for the decision was the offence or offences for which the criminal has been convicted.