Failure to return BRP - relevant legislation

We are supposed to return BRP cards within 5 days, following the acquisition of citizenship, or risk a £1000 fine. Can anyone point me to the relevant UK legislation concerning this?

This is the guidance for Home Office staff relating to biometrics.
There are many references to the various acts, instruments, etc though the return of cards and potential fine section is not directly linked to a section in the law.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... on-6.0.pdf

Thanks. There must be some blanket legislation somewhere which let them do this.
It annoys me though that Priti Patel can just sit at her desk and say 'I'm going to fine them 1,000 quid if they don't return their cards in 5 days,' and there are no legal protections. What are the limits of this power? What happens if she decides, on a whim, to up the fine to 10,000, and only allow 3 days for the cards to be returned? It is not very satisfactory really.

Maybe it's "at the discretion of the Home Secretary" whether fines are being levied or not.
Being on this board since 2016 I don't recall anyone reporting being fined.

See also ***Important*** - Return BRP within 5 days of becoming BC

HCJNL wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 16, 2021 7:52 am

We are supposed to return BRP cards within 5 days, following the acquisition of citizenship, or risk a £1000 fine. Can anyone point me to the relevant UK legislation concerning this?

Many moons ago, another member of these forums wrote on almost precisely the same point. As that post states, the fine is capped at £1000 in an Act of Parliament.

These provisions requiring the BRPs to be returned to the Home Office were made because the law was changed to require the UK government to destroy biometric data it held on British citizens. The BRP holds biometric data and is the property of the government (as are passports and ID cards in most countries around the world).

See Section 8 of the UK Borders Act 2007, as amended by Section 14 of the Immigration Act 2014, in particular sub-sections 4 to 6.

(4)The regulations must include provision about the destruction of biometric information.

(5)In particular the regulations must require the Secretary of State to take all reasonable steps to ensure that biometric information is destroyed if the Secretary of State—
...
(b)is satisfied that the person to whom the information relates is a British citizen, or a Commonwealth citizen who has a right of abode in the United Kingdom as a result of section 2(1)(b) of the Immigration Act 1971.

(6)The regulations must also—
(a)require that any requirement to destroy biometric information by virtue of the regulations also applies to copies of the information, and
(b)require the Secretary of State to take all reasonable steps to ensure—
(i)that data held in electronic form which relates to biometric information which has to be destroyed by virtue of the regulations is destroyed or erased, or
ii)that access to such data is blocked.

So, in a sense, your non-compliance would result in the SSHD breaking the law.

The UK has historically been chary of British citizens being required to hold ID cards. The Labour government under Gordon Brown had started the process of issuing ID cards to British citizens in 2006-7, initially on a voluntary basis. This was used against them by the Conservatives and Lib-Dems in the 2010 election and was one of the first things to be scrapped under the Coalition Government in 2010-11. Which is why the UK was one of the few countries in the EU to not only not have a requirement to carry ID cards, but also not to issue ID cards to its own citizens.

HCJNL wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 16, 2021 3:30 pm

What are the limits of this power? What happens if she decides, on a whim, to up the fine to 10,000, and only allow 3 days for the cards to be returned?

In this case, the amount of the fine is capped by Act of Parliament (see the post linked to at the start of this post).

But broadly, the UK's immigration and related systems gives broad discretion to the Secretary of State to define and implement policies in those fields. And the only hold on the Secretary of State's powers in those fields is political pressure, rather than judicial control.

Keep in mind that the UK's constitution is designed around the concept of parliamentary sovereignty, that Parliament has no restrictions on its powers. Restricting these powers as regards immigration of EEA citizens was, in my view, at least one of the factors that led to Brexit. The idea that the political system had lost its former ability to respond to public political pressure on the hot button issue of immigration led to the "take back control" slogan of the Brexiteers.

Many moons ago, another member of these forums wrote on almost precisely the same point. As that post states, the fine is capped at £1000 in an Act of Parliament.

Thanks! I should have found that other post instead of creating a new thread. All very interesting and informative.

secret.simon wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 16, 2021 11:23 pm

These provisions requiring the BRPs to be returned to the Home Office were made because the law was changed to require the UK government to destroy biometric data it held on British citizens. The BRP holds biometric data and is the property of the government (as are passports and ID cards in most countries around the world).

Not sure this makes sense, not to me anyway.

BRPs or any biometric documents for that matter, be it passports or ID cards, contain a copy of your biometrics. Original data submitted by you is stored on a database and, when your document is issued, a copy goes onto the document's chip. In other words, destroying your BRP only destroys a copy of your biometric data.

When you apply for naturalisation you submit your biometrics. I'm pretty sure these will be stored - the fingerprints you submit will eventually go onto your UK passport's chip if you're naturalised. Now, are your biometrics destroyed once your passport is issued? I don't think so, but that's just me.

British or not British, your biometrics will be retained and there's a really good reason for this - they're unique to each individual, and there's just nothing out there as good as biometrics when it comes to personal identification. You can create false identities and these days there's a million ways you can do it. You can fiddle with your facial features and plastic surgery is a good example, albeit your face will still retain certain features that plastic surgery can't mend or recreate. You can falsify biografical data or pictures. But you can't tamper or fiddle with your biometrics.

dexmo wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 17, 2021 8:16 am

destroying your BRP only destroys a copy of your biometric data

Correct. As I pointed out above, the law requires the Home Office to destroy the biometric data for all British citizens and all its copies.

That is why, after you naturalise, you are required/expected to destroy the BRP and return it to the Home Office.

dexmo wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 17, 2021 8:16 am

When you apply for naturalisation you submit your biometrics. I'm pretty sure these will be stored.

I doubt it, as the laws specifically states that they need to be deleted.

dexmo wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 17, 2021 8:16 am

the fingerprints you submit will eventually go onto your UK passport's chip if you're naturalised.

I don't think that fingerprints are stored on a British passports chip.

Information contained on UK passports wrote:What information does the chip contain?

The UK’s biometric passports contain a microchip with a ‘facial biometric’. This is a digitised image of the holders photograph. Various features on the face, for example the distance between eyes, nose, mouth and ears, are digitally coded from the photograph and the information stored on the electronic chip.

The chip also stores electronically, the biographical information which is printed in the passport. It does not contain any information which is not also on the face of the passport. The information printed on the passport can be checked against the information on the chip, which is intended to be harder to forge. The information on the chip is encrypted so it can only be read by special biometric passport readers (eReaders).

Gov.UK Guidance: Biometric passports wrote:The electronic chip, which includes the same information as printed on the personal data page, is in the cover.

dexmo wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 17, 2021 8:16 am

are your biometrics destroyed once your passport is issued?

Legally, they are meant to be destroyed after your naturalisaton ceremony. And you can request a certificate to that effect.