Immigration Corner | Ways to apply for bail while in an immigration detention centre

Dear Mr Bassie,

Previously, you informed about who was eligible for bail while being held in custody. I am asking if you could advise how such bail can be applied for.

– GZ

Dear GZ,

Persons can apply for bail in two main ways. However, which way is chosen will depend on their situation. Please note that persons can apply to:

• The home secretary (‘Secretary of State bail’) any time after they arrive in the UK;

• The First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) – only if they had arrived more than eight days prior to applying.

Please note that persons might be automatically referred for a bail hearing if they have been in detention for four months or more.

If persons are appealing to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, they can apply to them for bail. A solicitor or legal adviser can help with the bail application. Also, persons should read ‘The guide on representing yourself’ online if they are not going to have a legal representative.

APPLYING FOR SECRETARY OF STATE BAIL

Persons can apply to the home secretary for bail from the first day that they arrive in the United Kingdom. This is called ‘Secretary of State Bail’.

Persons should go online and download and fill in form BAIL401 and explain why they are asking for bail.

Persons can also get the form from:

• The welfare officer if they are in an immigration removal centre;

• The detention paperwork pack, if they are in a prison.

Please be aware that the application will be decided by Home Office staff and there will not be a hearing.

PPLYING FOR BAIL FROM THE FIRST-TIER TRIBUNAL

Persons could apply to the independent ‘First-tier Tribunal’ for bail if they arrived in the United Kingdom more than eight days previously. The application for bail will be decided by an independent judge at a hearing.

Persons should download and fill in form B1. Persons who are not able to download the form can:

• Ask the staff at the place where they are being held for assistance to do so;

• Contact the tribunal by phone on 0300 123 1711, or by email on customer.service@justice.gov.uk.

Persons who have a tribunal appeal hearing scheduled should send the form to the tribunal or hearing centre where it is to be held. Persons can find the address of the venue using the A-to-Z list that is available online.

Those persons who do not have an appeal hearing should ask the staff at the place where they are being held. They can assist and fax the application to the right venue.

AUTOMATIC REFERRAL FOR BAIL

The Home Office will automatically refer persons to the First-tier Tribunal for a bail hearing if all of the following are true:

• They have been in detention for four months or more;

• They are not being detained in the interest of national security;

• There is no action being taken to deport them from the United Kingdom;

• They have not applied for bail to the First-tier Tribunal in the last four months.

They will make an application on those persons’ behalf using all the information they have.

Persons can refuse the referral or choose to make their own bail application. The Home Office will apply on their behalf every four months, unless they apply for bail themselves.

WHAT HAPPENS AT THE FIRST-TIER TRIBUNAL HEARING

There will usually be a hearing to decide if the applicant should be granted bail. This will happen a few days after the application is received – persons will receive a ‘notice of hearing’ to tell them when it is.

Persons probably will not be in the room for the hearing. It is more likely to happen over a video link instead.

The Home Office will send to the tribunal a document listing the reasons why they think the applicant should not get bail (a ‘bail summary’). They will also send the applicant a copy.

I hope this helps.

All the best.

John S. Bassie is a barrister/attorney-at-law who practises law in Jamaica. He is a justice of the peace, a Supreme Court-appointed mediator, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a chartered arbitrator, deputy global president of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and a member of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association (UK). Email: lawbassie@yahoo.com