The Home Office's briefing on the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill in full.

Part one - Nationality

The bill contains provisions which amend British Nationality legislation, primarily the British Nationality Act 1981, with the main aim of enhancing the importance of acquiring British citizenship. They include:

• introduction of citizenship ceremonies, together with a citizenship pledge;

• requirement for those who apply for naturalisation as a British citizen to have sufficient knowledge of United Kingdom society;

• removal of existing provisions which allow discrimination on the grounds of sex, nationality, ethnic or national origin in the exercise of nationality functions;

• removal of the present distinctions in nationality law between legitimate and illegitimate children;

• removal of minimum age requirement for applications for registration by stateless children born in the UK and the British overseas territories; and

• amendment of the grounds for deprivation of citizenship, with provision of a new right of appeal against deprivation.

Part two - Accommodation Centres

The bill makes provision for the introduction of accommodation centres, built or adapted to accommodate and provide services for a number of asylum-seekers and their dependants on one site.

The centres will be introduced on a trial basis. The centres may provide for a number of facilities and services, including: food and other essential items; money; assistance with transport and expenses to pursue purposeful activities; legal services; healthcare and education and training.

Residents of the centres will be subject to conditions of residence. Those who refuse the offer of a place, or voluntarily cease to reside may forego their right to support.

Part three - Other Support and Assistance

Maintaining contact with asylum-seekers is essential and the new asylum system will be based on a network of induction, accommodation and reporting centres as well as existing National Asylum Support Service accommodation. The bill contains provisions that:

• link the provision of support to asylum-seekers with a requirement to report;

• allow the Home Office to fund the voluntary assisted return programme. This programme is a means by which we provide assistance to asylum-seekers who wish to return home; and

• allow the Home Office to fund international projects. Examples of international projects that may be funded under this power include resettlement and the 'interception assisted return programmes'. In addition this provision enables the Home Office to fund research projects, and organisations and bodies that carry out this work.

Part four - Detention and Removal

The Bill contains a number of measures designed to simplify the process of contact management, detention and removal of those who have no right to stay in the UK. These include:

• requiring asylum-seekers to reside for up to 14 days at a location at or near a place where an induction programme is to be conducted;

• a power to impose reporting and residence restrictions on asylum-seekers with leave to enter or remain;

• giving detainee custody officers acting as escorts a limited power to enter private premises to search persons being taken into detention;

• giving the Secretary of State an equivalent power to detain or grant bail to that of immigration officers;

• the power to remove children born in the UK, where their parents entered the UK unlawfully; and

• the power to remove those who attempt to obtain permission to stay by using deception.

Part five - Immigration and Asylum Appeals

The Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 introduced a one-stop appeal requiring an adjudicator considering an immigration appeal to deal with any other appealable matters raised by the applicant at the same time. The provisions in the Bill aim to re-structure the appeals system to simplify and streamline the one-stop appeal provisions and would:

• define the specific immigration decisions which attract a right of appeal;

• make clear that removal directions, which are an administrative decision flowing from an earlier refusal decision which is itself appealable, will not be one of the immigration decisions which attract a right of appeal;

• ensure that we can certify cases where a failed asylum-seeker has had the opportunity to appeal but has chosen not to do so;

• provide for the introduction of the power to set a statutory closure date to prevent multiple adjournments of cases at the adjudicator stage and

• narrow the grounds of appeal to the Immigration Appeals Tribunal to a point of law.

Part six - Immigration Procedure

This Part of the Bill contains provisions to:

• allow a fee to be set for work permit applications;

• allow the introduction of an Authority to Carry ("ATC") scheme which provides for regulations to require carriers to check the details of passengers against a database to confirm that they pose no known immigration or security risk;

• powers to introduce a scheme to require physical data, such as iris or facial images, to accompany applications to enter or stay in the United Kingdom, and to introduce voluntarily scheme for those arriving in the UK; and

• require public authorities, such as local authorities, and private persons, such as employers, to disclose information to the Secretary of State for immigration and nationality purposes.

Part seven - Offences

Provisions have been included that introduce a number of criminal offences:

• strengthening the law by increasing the penalty for facilitating illegal entry from 10 to 14 years;

• trafficking of people into, out of, or within the UK for the purpose of sexual exploitation;

• forgery and similar activities relating to the new Application Registration Card;

• possession of an immigration stamp, whether genuine or a replica, without a lawful excuse; and

• a provision which gives police and immigration officers a right of entry to business premises, at reasonable times, to search for and arrest immigration offenders.

Part eight - General provisions

The final section of the bill contains provisions on the making of subordinate legislation, interpretation, amendment of applied provisions, expenditure and receipts, the title of the bill, repeals, commencement and extent.