Policy background Border Security
Paragraph 26(2) and (3) of Schedule 2 to the 1971 Act enables the Secretary of State, by written notice to the owners or agents of a ship or aircraft, or persons concerned with the management of a port, to designate a control area "for the embarkation or disembarkation of passengers in any port in the United Kingdom". Where a control area is so designated, the owner or agent shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that passengers "do not embark or disembark . . . at the port outside the control area." Where an owner or agent fails to comply with this an offence is committed.
	Despite this legislation, and ongoing engagement with the aviation sector since 2013 to try and resolve this problem through non-regulatory means, airlines and port operators have continued to allow instances of passengers disembarking without being presented to the immigration control. The Act aims to reduce these occurrences of misdirected passengers by providing a civil penalty regime that can be applied to airlines and port operators who disembark passengers outside the control area.
	At present, immigration officers have no maritime enforcement powers – their powers do not have extra-territorial effect. This prevents Border Force from tackling illegal immigration until a vessel has reached the UK and those on board have disembarked. The Act extends some immigration officer powers into UK territorial waters so that facilitation of illegal migration can be disrupted while it is occurring. The Act also gives these powers to constables and the Armed Services.
	Travel bans restrict the movement of named individuals associated with regimes or groups, including terrorist groups, whose behaviour is considered unacceptable by the international community. The decision to impose a travel ban is made either by the United Nations’ Security Council or by the Council of the European Union. To implement travel bans in the UK, secondary legislation is put before Parliament to amend the Immigration (Designation of Travel Bans) Order 2000. The Act will remove the need to update secondary legislation. Instead international travel bans will take effect in the UK automatically.