Requirements to confirm nationality
The following powers are currently available to the police and/or immigration officers in relation to travel documents:
	Section 20 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 ("IAA") provides powers for documents to be supplied by chief constables and the NCA to the Secretary of State "for use for immigration purposes".
	Powers to retain those documents are set out at section 17 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc.) Act 2004 ("the 2004 Act"), while the Secretary of State or an immigration officer suspects that "retention of the document may facilitate the individual’s removal".
	Section 35 of the 2004 Act provides the power to require a person to provide travel documents or information (including fingerprints) to the Secretary of State that may assist with the deportation or removal of that person from the UK.
	Section 44 of the UK Borders Act 2007 ("the UKBA") also gives immigration and police officers the power to search premises in order to seize and retain nationality documents. It enables immigration or police officers to search specified premises1 where there is "reasonable suspicion" that an offence has been committed and the individual may not be a British Citizen.
	Section 45 of the UKBA provides further powers to search other premises where there are reasonable grounds for believing that nationality documents may be found there. Documents can be retained where officers suspect that the person "may be liable to removal from the United Kingdom" and where "retention of the document may facilitate the individual’s removal."
	Section 57 of and Schedule 6 to the Immigration Act 2016 amend the IAA so as to place a new duty on the police to send nationality documents to Immigration Enforcement upon request, provided certain conditions are met, namely where the Secretary of State has reasonable grounds to believe that the police are lawfully in possession of a nationality document; and suspects that the person to whom the document relates may be liable to removal from the UK and that the nationality document would assist this.
	In respect of the existing court procedure, details of a defendant’s name, address and date of birth are currently requested under the Criminal Procedure Rules 2015 (SI 2015/1490), which govern the practice and procedure of the criminal courts. (No sanction currently attaches to failure to provide this information, nor is there any requirement to provide information on nationality.)