Explanatory note

Section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 196 provides that an employer commits an offence if he employs a person subject to immigration control who has attained the age of 16 if the employee has not been granted leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom, or if his leave is not valid and subsisting or is subject to a condition precluding him from taking up the employment. This offence is subject to an exception in the case of employees who satisfy conditions specified in an order made by the Secretary of State. part I of the Schedule to this Order contains those conditions.

Section 8 also provides a defence for an employer who shows that before the employment began there was produced to him a document which appeared to relate to the employee and to be of a description specified by order. part II of the Schedule to this Order describes those documents. In order to make good the defence the employer must retain the document or make a copy or other record of it in a manner specified by order. Part III of the Schedule describes the specified methods of copying and reading.