Aliens Act 1905
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1905 c. 13 |
| Year | 1905 |
Aliens Act, 1905
(5 Edw. 7.) CHAPTER 13.
An Act to amend the Law with regard to Aliens.
[11th August 1905]
B E it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Regulations of Alien Immigration.
1 Power to prevent the landing of undesirable immigrants.
(1) An immigrant shall not be landed in the United Kingdom from an immigrant ship except at a port at which there is an immigration officer appointed under this Act, and shall not be landed at any such port without the leave of that officer given after an inspection of the immigrants made by him on the ship, or elsewhere if the immigrants are conditionally disembarked for the purpose, in company with a medical inspector, such inspection to be made as soon as practicable, and the immigration officer shall withhold leave in the case of any immigrant who appears to him to be an undesirable immigrant within the meaning of this section.
(2) Where leave to land is so withheld in the case of any immigrant, the master, owner, or agent of the ship, or the immigrant, may appeal to the immigration board of the port, and that board shall, if they are satisfied that leave to land should not be withheld under this Act, give leave to land, and leave so given shall operate as the leave of the immigration officer.
(3) For the purposes of this section an immigrant shall be considered an undesirable immigrant—
(a ) if he cannot show that he has in his possession or is in a position to obtain the means of decently supporting himself and his dependents (if any); or
(b ) if he is a lunatic or an idiot, or owing to any disease or infirmity appears likely to become a charge upon the rates or otherwise a detriment to the public; or
(c ) if he has been sentenced in a foreign country with which there is an extradition treaty for a crime, not being an offence of a political character, which is, as respects that country, an extradition crime within the meaning of the Extradition Act, 1870 ; or
(d ) if an expulsion order under this Act has been made in his case;
but, in the case of an immigrant who proves that he is seeking admission to this country solely to avoid prosecution or punishment on religious or political grounds or for an offence of a political character, or persecution, involving danger of imprisonment or danger to life or limb, on account of religious belief, leave to land shall not be refused on the ground merely of want of means, or the probability of his becoming a charge on the rates, nor shall leave to land be withheld in the case of an immigrant who shows to the satisfaction of the immigration officer or board concerned with the case that, having taken his ticket in the United Kingdom and embarked direct therefrom for some other country immediately after a period of residence in the United Kingdom of not less than six months, he has teen refused admission in that country and returned direct therefrom to a port in the United Kingdom, and leave to land shall not be refused merely on the ground of want of means to any immigrant who satisfies the immigration officer or board concerned with the case that he was born in the United Kingdom, his father being a British subject.
(4) The Secretary of State may, subject to such conditions as he thinks fit to impose, by order exempt any immigrant ships from the provisions of this section if he is satisfied that a proper system is being maintained for preventing the embarkation of undesirable immigrants on those ships, or if security is given to his satisfaction that undesirable immigrants will not be landed in the United Kingdom from those ships except for the purpose of transit.
Any such order of exemption may be withdrawn at any time at the discretion of the Secretary of State.
(5) Any immigrant who lands, and any master of a ship who allows an immigrant to be landed, in contravention of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this Act, but an immigrant conditionally disembarked shall not be deemed to have landed so long as the conditions are complied with.
2 Immigration board and rules.
(1) The immigration board for a port shall consist of three persons summoned in accordance with rules made by the Secretary of State under this Act out of a list approved by him for the port comprising fit persons having magisterial, business, or administrative experience.
(2) A Secretary of State may make rules generally with respect to immigration boards and their officers, and with respect to appeals to those boards, and with respect to the conditional disembarkation of immigrants for the purpose of inspection, appeals, or otherwise, and may by these rules amongst other things provide for the summoning and procedure of the board, and for the place of meeting of the board, and for the security to be given by the master of the ship in the case of immigrants conditionally disembarked. Rules made under this section shall provide for notice being given to masters of immigrant ships and immigrants informing them of their right of appeal, and also, where leave to land is withheld in the case of any immigrant by the immigration officer, for notice being given to the immigrant and the master of the immigrant ship of the grounds on which leave has been withheld.
Expulsion of Undesirable Aliens.
3 Power of Secretary of State to make an expulsion order.
(1) The Secretary of State may, if he thinks fit, make an order (in this Act referred to as an expulsion order) requiring an alien to leave the United Kingdom within a time fixed by the order, and thereafter to remain out of the United Kingdom—
(a ) if it is certified to him by any court (including a court of summary...
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