There are already several options available for those who have been in the UK for a long time to regularise their status. Adults who can demonstrate that they meet suitability requirements under existing private life rules (ECHR Article 8) must demonstrate they have lived in the UK continuously for 20 years; young adults must demonstrate they have spent half their life in the UK; and those under 18 should have lived continuously in the UK for seven years and it would not be reasonable for them to leave. There is also provision for those who do not meet requirements in exceptional circumstances. Alternatively, the family life rules enable families to regularise their status where there is a qualifying partner or child (British or lived continuously in the UK for at least seven years) and it is unreasonable to expect family life to continue outside the UK or for the child to leave.

It is not possible to know the exact number of the illegal population in the UK and so we do not seek to make any official estimates on this. Exit checks introduced in April 2015 will, over time, provide more detailed insights into the behaviour of migrants and how they comply with immigration rules. However, the data obtained do not provide the total number of illegal migrants currently in the UK and as such information on how many individuals have entered the UK illegally is not available.

The Government remains committed to an immigration policy which welcomes and celebrates people here legally, but which deters illegal immigration, prevents the abuse of benefits and services, removes immigration offenders and foreign national offenders from the UK and disrupts the organised crime groups that prey on the vulnerable.

Home Office.

This is a revised response. The Petitions Committee requested a response which more directly addressed the request of the petition. You can find the original response towards the bottom of the petition page (https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/266925)