Changes aim to increase and speed up deportations and cut time foreign offenders spend in UK prisons
The Government has announced new measures to expand its powers to deport foreign nationals convicted of crimes, allowing more to be removed from the UK before appeal hearings and, in some cases, allowing immediate deportation after sentencing.
Under an expansion of the Deport Now, Appeal Later policy, the number of countries whose nationals can be removed before their appeals are heard will rise from 8 to 23. Individuals from these countries who have had human rights claims refused will be deported before they can appeal and will be allowed to participate in appeal hearings remotely via video link.
In a Home Office press release, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper was quoted as saying: "For far too long, foreign criminals have been exploiting our immigration system, remaining in the UK for months or even years while their appeals drag on. That has to end. Those who commit crimes in our country cannot be allowed to manipulate the system, which is why we are restoring control and sending a clear message that our laws must be respected and will be enforced."
According to Sky News, the fifteen new countries added to the Deport Now, Appeal Later scheme will be Angola, Australia, Botswana, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Latvia, Lebanon, Malaysia, Uganda, and Zambia. They will join the existing eight countries of Albania, Belize, Estonia, Finland, Kosovo, Mauritius, Nigeria, and Tanzania, which were added when the policy was restarted in 2023.
The Home Office says the measure will avoid offenders from the 15 countries in question remaining in the UK for months or years while their cases are worked through the appeals system.
In last month's notable case of Kapikanya v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWCA Civ 987, the Court of Appeal dismissed a Zambian national's challenge to a deportation order that had been pursued, in various forms, for more than 25 years. Lord Justice Bean noted that the appellant had been the subject of five separate deportation decisions since 1998, but a combination of appeals and reconsiderations had allowed him to remain in the UK throughout that period.
Separately, the Ministry of Justice announced plans yesterday for legislation enabling the immediate deportation of certain foreign national offenders after sentencing. This would apply to prisoners serving determinate sentences, but it will exclude offenders serving life sentences and cases where national security concerns apply.
If follows changes expected to take effect next month under the draft Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Removal of Prisoners for Deportation) Order 2025 that will allow deportations after 30% of a sentence is served, down from the current 50%. Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood spoke to The Sun on Sunday to announce the plan to reduce this further to 0%, with the article reporting that it is set to come into force in the New Year. The change will require primary legislation, which ministers say will be brought before Parliament in due course.
According to The Times, those deported will be permanently barred from returning to the UK, though the Government's press release did not mention this. The Times also noted that the measure would mean criminals returning to their home country will often serve no prison time. A government source told The Times that the Justice Secretary is "firmly of the philosophy that exile is punishment".
Former Conservative Justice Secretary Alex Chalk KC expressed concern at the measure and urged Parliament to scrutinise it extremely carefully.
The Guardian quoted Chalk as saying: "I have real misgivings about this, and it could make people in Britain a magnet for crime from foreign national offenders. … If you have been the victim of an appalling rape that has shattered your life, and you pluck up the courage to go to court, the jury convict this guy [and] within two weeks he's in Tirana, drinking a cocktail paid by the British taxpayer, and on TikTok laughing at his victim. … The real danger is you're giving a green light to foreign national offenders. You come to Britain, you're not going to get punished. You're thinking: the worst that happens to me is I'm released immediately and put on a plane."