# Deportation

Being deported from the UK is a grave matter, and often comes with distress and shock for people who the Home Office is seeking to deport, as well as the visitors who are visiting them. The shock is usually a response to the realisation that people who may have lived in the UK for years - decades even - can be forcibly removed even if they entered the UK lawfully and had leave to remain. Long term residence and family connections - including marriage - offer no automatic protection, meaning that parents can be deported without their children.&#x20;

The opportunities for challenging deportation have shrunk significantly over recent years.  The most common means of appeal against deportation is under the European Convention of Human Rights, right to family and private life.  However - in a policy known as - ‘deport first, appeal later’ - certain human rights appeals can only be lodged outside of the UK, after deportation \[1]. This policy was declared unlawful in a Supreme Court ruling in 2017 because it deprived people of their right to an effective appeal. However in 2023 the Home Office announced its intentions to restart this policy. In August 2025, the Home Office announced that the list of countries of origin to which this policy applies will be expanded from 8 to 23 \[2].&#x20;

Anyone who the Home Office is seeking to deport, should be encouraged to seek immigration legal advice without delay. Deportation is now out of the scope of legal aid, so legal advice will either have to be paid for or covered by Exceptional Case Funding (ECF) from the Legal Aid Agency. ECF is available for people for whom their human rights would be breached if they did not have access to a lawyer.&#x20;

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## Resource Tip&#x20;

[The Public Law Project has useful guides on ECF and how to apply](https://publiclawproject.org.uk/exceptional-case-funding/).
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For people facing deportation who cannot get a lawyer, BID produces self help materials on deportation and has a project providing legal advice and representation to people facing deportation. Right to Remain’s Toolkit sets out this complex process very clearly. Given the current state of legal aid, if a person facing deportation cannot afford to pay for immigration advice and/or cannot obtain exceptional case funding, it is better to provide responses themselves to Home Office documents than to do nothing at all.&#x20;

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## Self-help resources on deportation

[Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID) publish self-help guides](https://www.biduk.org/pages/guides-and-resources#TK5) including:&#x20;

* Deportation Appeals – Fees for Deportation Appeals
* Exceptional Funding – Applying for Legal Aid in Deportation Cases
* Deportation Appeals – Revoking a Deportation Order for Non EEA Nationals based on family or private life in the UK&#x20;
* Deportation appeals – the best interests of the child in deportation cases.&#x20;
* The One Stop Notice of Decision to Deport  - What it is and how to reply&#x20;
* Deportation Appeals  - Deportation of Nationals of the European Union
* Deportation Appeals – The EUSS (European Union Settlement Scheme): A basic guide for people with criminal convictions&#x20;
* Deportation Appeals – EEA Nationals and Length of Residence&#x20;
* Deportation Appeals – Challenging the Home Office decision to deport you before you can appeal (certification under Section 94B)
* Deportation Appeals – Preparing your Article 8 Deportation Appeal&#x20;
* List of organisations assisting with EUSS applications <br>

**Right To Remains Online Toolkit**\
See the section, ‘If You Are Facing Removal or Deportation from the UK- <https://righttoremain.org.uk/toolkit/removal/>

Visitors can print off these materials to take in to people you are visiting in detention. People held in IRCs should be able to access these materials online themselves.
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***

1. [Certification under section 94B of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, Home Office guidance to decision makers on certifying a refused human rights claim for an appeal to be lodged outside of the UK](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/appeals/certification-under-section-94b-of-the-nationality-immigration-and-asylum-act-2002-accessible)
2. ["More foreign criminals to be deported before appeals heard", Home Office press release, August 2025](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/more-foreign-criminals-to-be-deported-before-appeals-heard)&#x20;


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