Travel Document Project

This section contains information on agreements and protocols between the UK government and other governments that relate to travel documents, including the content and scope of such agreements and whether or not currently in force.  The status of any agreement listed here should not be relied on without checking the latest position.

Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs)  - including nationalities removable on an EU letter

Memoranda of Understanding between two countries cover a variety of migration, visa and consular issues.  They are non-binding agreements (Source:  Ewan McMillan FOI request response). 

The UK has MoUs with

Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somaliland, UAE (Dubai), Vietnam, Jordan, Libya, Lebanon.

 

The MOU with Iran was never implemented due to the deterioration in relationships (Ewan Macmillan – cite correctly) “We have not been able to implement our MoU with Iran as the arrangements originally negotiated are no longer appropriate or practical”  7 March 2007 Minister announced to parliament.  

 

Nationalities removable on EU letter

Afghanistan, Albania, Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chile, Columbia, Comoros, Congo (Brazzaville), Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, The Republic of Cyprus, Czech republic, Denmark, Djibouti, The Commonwealth of Dominic Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Finland, Gabon, Greece, Grenada,, Guatemala , Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary. Iceland, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, PDR Lao, Lesotho, Lithuania, Peoples republic of Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali Malta, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Federal states of Micronesia, Monaco, Mongolia, Mozambique, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Rwanda, St Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Sao Tome & Principe, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Spain, St Kitts and Nevis, Surinam, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tonga, Turkish republic of Northern Cyprus, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuelan, Zambia.  [Source:  UKBA, 3 August 2010 reply to FOI request from Northern Refugee Centre, Sheffield]

 

Nationalities removable on ETD and EUL

Egypt, Eritrea, Kenya, Tanzania – for all these countries an EUL can only be used when accompanied by strong evidence to support the nationality.

Morocco, Tunisia – for these countries an EIL can only be used when accompanied by an expired passport.

[Source:  UKBA, 3 August 2010 reply to FOI request from Northern Refugee Centre, Sheffield]

 

Returns and Reintegration Fund - joint UKBA work with other agencies and foreign governments 

In their report 'International Challenges, International Solutions: Managing the movement of people and goods' , March 2010, the UK Border Agency and Foreign & Commonwealth Office describe joint working on travel documents, identity and nationality queries, and re-documentation, as follows:  

 

"Working with foreign governments to secure Returns

  82. Our ability to achieve these challenging targets is in part due to increasing cooperation by foreign governments in accepting back their nationals. Brokering returns can be a complex process, particularly in cases where we have little or no evidence of nationality or identity. We work closely with overseas governments and embassies in the UK to allow removals to take place and in some cases have Memoranda of Understanding that cover the arrangements for the return of failed asylum seekers and illegal migrants. We also benefit from 11 EU level Readmission Agreements to which the UK is party, as well as having our own bilateral readmission agreements with some countries.

 

85. The UK has also established a quadrilateral programme fund, the Returns and Reintegration Fund (RRF), drawing on finance and expertise from FCO, DFID, Ministry of Justice and the UK Border Agency. The aim of the fund is to increase the number of foreign national prisoners and failed asylum seekers who are returned to their countries of origin; to reduce the average cost of removals; and to improve reintegration and resettlement once returnees arrive home.

 

86. The fund focuses on helping Governments to accept back more failed asylum seekers and foreign national prisoners. Measures include improving reintegration support for returnees; improving procedures for issuing travel documents; and building capacity of immigration departments and improving prisons. We aim to develop packages of projects that not only enable quick wins but also facilitate relationship building, laying the foundations for a sustainable impact on returns in the long term. Taken together such activity helps build up the capacity and political will for a country to continue to accept back increasing numbers of returnees in a sustainable manner.

 

93. Beyond the European Union, we play a full role in other multilateral fora to further our migration objectives. In December 2009 we took over the Chair of the Five Country Conference (FCC), an informal group comprising the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The FCC promotes information exchange and practical cooperation on issues ranging from data exchange to migrant health. We also work with international partners in G8 Roma/Lyon working groups, primarily the Migration Experts Sub Group (MESG), which develops policy and best practice in relation to migration, border and travel document issues. We also participate in the Asia- Europe Forum (ASEM), which meets annually to enable EU and Asian countries to exchange information on migration issues of common interest.

 

 

PRISONER TRANSFER AGREEMENTS  

The following is a collection of bilateral Prisoner Transfer Agreements (PTAs) taken from the FCO website. Not all of these agreements have entered into force. If the treaty has entered into force this will be specified, together with the date, on the front page.

Enquiries concerning current status of these agreements may be addressed to the FCO Treaty Section in the first instance, although more detailed enquiries and personal cases will be referred to the appropriate FCO Department. Treaty Section can be contacted at:

Treaty Section
Legal Advisers
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Old Admiralty Building
London SW1A 2PA Telephone: 020 7008 1109
Fax: 020 7008 1115
E-mail:  

 

Antigua & Barbuda

Agreement, 27/02/2004, Cmd 6146 
Exchange of Notes, 01/09/2005 & 01/03/2006, Cmd 6949

[The Agreement entered into force on 20 January 2004]

 

Barbados 
Agreement, 03/04/2002 Cmd 5891

[The Agreement entered into force on 2 March 2003]

 

Brazil
Agreement, 28/08/1998, Cmd 5526 
[Instruments of Ratification were exchanged on 11 December 2001 and the Agreement entered into force on 11 December 2001]

Cuba 
Agreement, 13/06/2002 Cmd 5970 

[The Agreement entered into force on 2 July 2003]

 

Dominica (Commonwealth of) 
Agreement, 02/05/2006,  Cm 6869 

[The Agreement is not in force]

 

Egypt 
Agreement, 29/11/1993, Cmd 3157

[Entered into force 9 November 1995}

 

Ghana
Agreement, 17/07/2008 

[The Agreement entered into force on 17 July 2008]

 

Hong Kong 
Agreement, 05/11/1997 Cmd 4034

[The Agreement entered into  force on  19 March  19981

 

India 
Agreement, 18/02/2005 Cmd 6793 

[Instruments of ratification were exchanged on 21 November 2005 and the Agreement entered into force on that date]  

 

Laos
Agreement, 07/08/09 Cmd 7632

[Instruments of ratification have not been exchanged]

 

Morocco 
Agreement, 21/02/2002 Cmd 5546

[The Agreement is not in force]

 

Nicaragua 
Agreement, 06/09/2005 Cmd 6761

[Instruments of ratification have not been exchanged]

 

Peru 
Agreement, 07/03/2003 Cmd 5852 

[The Agreement entered into force on 11 September 2003]

Rwanda
Agreement, 11/02/2010 Cm 8039

[The Agreement entered into force on 23 November 2010]

 

Saint Lucia 
Agreement, 27/04/2006 Cm 6870

[The Agreement is not in force]

 

Sri Lanka
06/02/2003 Cmd 6306

[The Agreement entered into force on 24 March 2004

 

Thailand 
Agreement, 22/01/1990, Cmd 1630 
Exchange of Notes, 07/12/1995 Cmd 3710

Agreement entered into force 6 February 1991]

 

Venezuela 
Agreement, 12/06/2002 Cmd 5892 

[The Agreement entered into force on 15 April 2003

 

Vietnam
Agreement, 12/09/08, Cmd 7498

[Instruments of Ratification have not been exchanged]

 

 

Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons

Available here , and explanatory report available here  

Entry into force: 1 July 1985.

The Convention is primarily intended to facilitate the social rehabilitation of prisoners by giving foreigners convicted of a criminal offence the possibility of serving their sentences in their own countries. It is also rooted in humanitarian considerations, since difficulties in communication by reason of language barriers and the absence of contact with relatives may have detrimental effects on a person imprisoned in a foreign country.

 

 

Transfer may be requested by either the State in which the sentence was imposed (sentencing State) or the State of which the sentenced person is a national (administering State). It is subject to the consent of those two States as well as that of the sentenced person.

 

The Convention also lays down the procedure for enforcement of the sentence following the transfer. Whatever the procedure chosen by the administering State, a custodial sentence may not be converted into a fine, and any period of detention already served by the sentenced person must be taken into account by the administering State. The sentence in the administering State must not be longer or harsher than that imposed in the sentencing State.

 

Note:

 

• The transfer is subject to the sentenced person’s consent.
• The Convention confines itself to providing the procedural framework for transfers.  It doesnot contain an obligatin on Contracting States to comply with a request for transfer; for that reason, it was not necessary to list any grounds for refusal, not to require the requested State to give reasons for its refusal to agree to a requested transfer.  

 

 

Additional Protocol to the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons - Introduction of transfer without the consent of the prisoner, though transfer of both contracting states required

Available here  and explanatory report available here  

Adopted December 1997, ratified by the UK November 2009

6. The purpose of the Additional Protocol is to provide rules applicable to the transfer of the execution of sentences in two different cases, namely:

a. where a sentenced person has fled the sentencing State to go to the State of his or her nationality, thus rendering it impossible in most cases for the sentencing State to execute the sentence passed; and

b. where the sentenced person is subject to expulsion or deportation as a consequence of the sentence.

7. These situations are dealt with in Articles 2 and 3 respectively.

8. As with the mother Convention, neither Article 2 nor Article 3 imposes any obligation on the sentencing State or the administering State to agree to transfer. They set the framework within which States involved may co-operate, if they so wish, and provides a procedure for this purpose.

[...] 

21. The Committee considered that it does not serve the objective of rehabilitation of the sentenced person to keep such a person in the sentencing State when it is likely that, once he or she has completed the sentence to be served, he or she will no longer be permitted to remain in that State.

22. The situation described in this Article is one where the person is subject to deportation or expulsion as a consequence of the sentence. The verbs "to expel" and "to deport" are both used in order to accommodate varying terminologies of member States. The meaning given to both in this Protocol is such as to include any measure as a result of which the person is subject to removal from the territory of the sentencing State at some point in time. It includes expulsion orders given by administrative authorities.

23. It is envisaged that a transfer under this Article will only take place after all rights of appeal against the expulsion or deportation order or other measure referred to in paragraph 1 have been exhausted.

24. Acknowledging that the Convention operates on the basis of a three-fold consent, i.e. the sentencing State, the administering State and the sentenced person, the Committee considered that provision could be made for the Convention to operate on the basis of a two-fold consent, namely the consent of both the sentencing State and the administering State, where the person concerned as a consequence of the sentence passed is subject to deportation or expulsion from the sentencing State.

25. Because transfer under the provisions of this Article neither requires nor assumes the sentenced person's consent, the Committee considered that the rights and interests of the person should be otherwise protected. Hence the provisions extending to such persons the benefit of the principle of speciality, as well as the requirement for the person's opinion to be examined and taken into account prior to any decision being taken.

 

The Commonwealth Scheme for the Transfer of Convicted Offenders

Details of the scheme can be downloaded from the right hand side of this page. 

Countries acceding to the scheme 

• Australia
• Bahamas
• Canada
• Malawi
• Nigeria
• Sri Lanka
• Trinidad & Tobago
• United Kingdom
• Zimbabwe
• Acceding Territories: Anguilla, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Grenada, Montserrat, Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia in the Island of Cyprus, St. Helena, St. Helena Dependencies

Prisoner transfer agreements were discussed in parliament on 9 February 2010. The Hansard record can be downloaded from the right hand side column of this page.