Powers and operational procedure: caseworker guidance
Immigration staff guidance on administrative and criminal powers for officers dealing with immigration enforcement matters within the UK.
- Other Post-incident procedures: in the event of death or serious injury (accessible)
- Guidance Advertising unlawful immigration services online (accessible)
- Guidance Arrest and restraint (accessible)
- Guidance Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025: seizure of electronic devices policy guidance (accessible)
- Guidance Critical incident management (accessible)
- Guidance Dealing with potential criminality (ICE teams) (accessible)
- Guidance Enforcement planning assessments (accessible)
- Guidance Enforcement visits (accessible)
- Guidance Identifying people at risk (accessible)
- Impact Assessment Immigration Enforcement equalities and community impact assessment (accessible)
- Guidance Immigration Enforcement powers (accessible)
- Guidance Irregular or unlawful entry and arrival (accessible)
- Guidance Marriage investigations (accessible)
- Guidance Offence of endangering another during a journey by sea (accessible)
- Guidance Partnership working (accessible)
- Guidance Post enforcement visit actions (accessible)
- Guidance Preventing illegal working in licensed premises and the Home Office role as a responsible authority in England and Wales (accessible)
- Guidance Record keeping during enforcement visits (accessible)
- Guidance Right to rent scheme: permission to rent (accessible)
- Guidance Safeguarding and establishing lawful residence (accessible)
- Guidance Search and seizure (accessible)
- Guidance Section 179 of the Licensing Act 2003: right of entry to premises being used for a licensable activity (accessible)
- Guidance Warrants: procurement and use (accessible version)
UK Visas and Immigration guidance on when and how staff may make an arrest using administrative immigration or criminal powers.
This is part of Immigration Enforcement General Instructions.
Guidance in this section has been reworked into a new format and plainer language. Not all of the enforcement guidance has been revised yet. If you cannot find the information you need in this section, please look in the ‘chapters’ sections of Enforcement instructions and guidance.
We are aware these publications may have accessibility issues. We are reviewing them so that we can fix these.
Read more about our accessible documents policy.