The Commons Public Bill Committee reconvened on **22 October** for its tenth and eleventh sittings on the flagship **Immigration and Asylum Bill**, meeting at 11:30 and 14:00 in Room 10 of the Palace of Westminster. The Bill, first introduced in June, seeks to rebalance Article 8 family-life rights, overhaul the modern-slavery referral system and accelerate removals of failed asylum seekers. Opposition MPs again pressed ministers on the potential impact on legitimate business travellers and intra-company transferees, warning that tighter evidential thresholds could create processing backlogs similar to those seen after the 2025 Skilled Worker reforms. Government members argued that corporate mobility will benefit from clearer rules once spurious human-rights claims are reduced. They highlighted clauses that fast-track visa decisions for “compliant employers” and create a statutory basis for the new **eVisa** system, which will replace vignette stickers from April 2027. However, representatives of TechUK and the CBI, giving oral evidence earlier this week, said the Bill lacks safeguards to ring-fence priority processing when Home Office resources are diverted to removals operations. Key amendments debated today included a Labour proposal to exempt workers sponsored above the general salary threshold from the Bill’s harsher ‘public interest’ test, and a cross-party back-bench amendment that would set a 90-day service-level guarantee for Skilled Worker change-of-employer cases. Both amendments were voted down, but ministers promised written guidance “before Report Stage” on how business-critical applications will be prioritised. The committee is expected to complete its work by 29 October, after which the Bill returns to the floor of the House. Global employers should monitor the Bill’s progress closely: several clauses allow the Home Secretary to impose additional conditions—such as electronic monitoring or expanded reporting duties—through secondary legislation, potentially with little parliamentary oversight.
