Upon arrival at the border, they will be granted a visa for 3 months on the same conditions as their expired visa to enable them to pursue an application to extend their visa, switch immigration category or apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain. The eligible visas are those which would have enabled the individual to apply to extend their visa, switch immigration category or apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain.
Visitor visas are specifically excluded from this route. This must be within 21 days unless they cannot travel due to remaining travel restrictions or because they choose not to travel due to a COVID risk to themselves or their family.
UKVI already has records of those who have contacted the Coronavirus Immigration Helpline regarding their leave expiring and will be contacting them to explain the Covid Visa Concession Scheme. To apply, individuals will be directed to an online form which they will need to complete. We answer some frequently asked questions about the impact of overstaying and if it is possible to regularise immigration status. We also consider the temporary COVID measures in response to travel restrictions and application processing disruption due to the pandemic.
UK visa services are considered an essential public service. Visa holders are permitted to access these services in line with current government restrictions, for example, to make an in-time extension application. If you have a visa due to expire between 1 March and 31 March , and you intended to leave the UK but are unable to due to the pandemic, you are able to make a request for additional time.
This is called exceptional assurance. Exceptional assurance provides short-term protection against any adverse action or consequences after your leave has expired.
It does not however guarantee any subsequent application will be approved. The Home Office regularly review the expiry dates eligible for exceptional assurance, which may see the concession extended to later expiry dates. Requests should be submitted by email to: cihassuranceteam homeoffice. When making the request, you will also need to attach evidence to prove why you cannot leave the UK by the expiry date. While your request is pending, the conditions of your current leave will continue to apply.
The Home Office does not routinely notify or remind visa holders of visa expiry. It is a criminal offence under section 24 of the Immigration Act to overstay your visa without reasonable cause. If your visa has expired, you have 30 days to leave the UK voluntarily at your own expense before you face a ban on re-entry.
Alternatively, you may seek to rely on the day rule. You must be able to demonstrate that there were exceptional circumstances and be able to provide evidence to back up your claim. For example if you were receiving emergency treatment in hospital, or due to bereavement of a close family member or having a late reply from an educational institution that informed you of acceptance to study. You would need to support your reason with evidence. A hospital stay for example would require an official letter that states the date of admission and discharge as well as what you were treated for.
This must be submitted with your application within the 14 day period. If you are awaiting a decision on an application and your visa has expired, you can remain in the UK, provided the application is valid.
You will be required to suspend any activities that your previous visa permitted such as working until a decision has been made and a new visa granted. It is a criminal offence to continue to work in the UK after your visa has expired.
If your employer is aware that your visa has expired, they are also committing a criminal offence by continuing to allow you to work and they may also risk Home Office penalty action. Provided you made your application for renewal before your current visa expired, you will have 14 days after receiving the refusal to apply again if you are permitted to and in doing so avoid overstaying. In this instance, the good reason rule will not apply but your new application has to be made within 14 days of the refusal letter.
Should you fail to apply within that period, you will then be considered an overstayer. If you leave the UK voluntarily after the 30 day period, you could be banned from re-entering. The length of ban will depend upon when you leave the UK, whether you left voluntarily or were deported and whether you have the funds to pay to go back to your country of origin. There are long term consequences for individuals who overstay their visa period in the UK. If you leave the UK voluntarily after the 30 day period, you risk being banned from re-entering the UK for one to ten years.
However, if you have left the UK voluntarily within the first 90 days and at your own expense, you may not receive a re-entry ban. We are still waiting. Matilda was living here on a visa granted to her as the parent of a British citizen child in the UK.
Matilda had already completed two and a half years of residence in the UK and was ready to apply for an extension. Matilda thought her visa expired one month later than it actually did. She noticed this two days after expiry. This applies where:. Ultimately, though, Matilda admitted to the Home Office that the mistake was her own fault. She simply forgot. The Home Office refused her extension application. It did grant her a different category of leave on human rights grounds, as it is empowered to do, but this placed her on a new, ten-year route to ILR, taking her off the shorter course that she was on.
Being shunted off a five-year route to ILR onto a ten-year route starting fresh at year zero due to the break in continuity of lawful residence caused by the two days of overstaying means she will have to make three more extension applications, then an ILR application, over the course of the next ten years.
Ironically, now that Matilda has valid leave to remain again, she could make another visa application immediately to try and switch back on to the five-year route to ILR. So all in all, not much of a cost saving in the long run. All this for two days of technically unlawful residence as an overstayer. The expert consensus is that most people without permission to be in the UK have simply overstayed, rather than entered illegally.
Christina lived in the UK with her British husband for five years. She held valid spouse visas throughout that time. Christina was on the ball, and well aware of when her visa was expiring. She knew that she had to make an application before the expiration date.
She also knew that if the application was undecided by the date of expiry, her lawful residence would continue automatically until a decision was made under section 3C of the Immigration Act This fee will be ringing alarm bells to immigration lawyers right about now.
Christina had applied for citizenship instead of settlement. She just got confused and thought that this was what she ought to be applying for. This is not uncommon: see What happens if you mistakenly apply for British citizenship instead of indefinite leave to remain?
By that time, her visa had expired. The Home Office refusal letter glibly informed Christina of this distressing fact. Thankfully the refusal arrived just shy of 14 days from expiry of leave.
Immigration solicitors won't judge you or criticise you for being in the position you are in; they will try to help and advise you on your best immigration options. You are classed as overstaying on your visa, or labelled an overstayer, if you stay in the UK beyond the date of your visa or entry clearance. It may not seem fair, but the Home Office won't warn you that you are at risk of becoming a UK overstayer as your visa is about to expire.
The Home Office expects you to remember when your visa is due to end and to either make a new visa application before the expiry date of your old visa or leave the UK. Instead, look at the date on the stamp in your passport or look at your biometric residence permit BRP.
If you are in any doubt about the visa end date, it is best to check with your immigration solicitor. If your visa has already expired the immigration rules give you thirty days to leave the UK.
Leaving on a voluntary basis means you pay your own travel expenses but provided you leave the UK within the thirty days you won't face a ban on re-entry.
If your UK visa has already expired you need to act quickly to take advantage of the fourteen-day immigration rule. The fourteen-day with good reason rule says the Home Office will ignore or disregard your overstaying provided:. The Home Office has issued guidance on what amounts to a good reason for failing to apply for a new visa or to renew your visa before the expiry of your old visa. You have to be able to show there were exceptional circumstances and have evidence in support.
Examples of good reason include the death of a close family member or your hospitalisation. If you are in hospital for planned non-urgent and non-life-threatening surgery at the time your visa expires then the Home Office may question if this amounts to good reason or simply poor planning. Once your work visa or other visa has expired you can't legally work in the UK, even if you have a pending work visa application with the Home Office. If your employer continues to let you come into work then you and they could be in breach of illegal working legislation and face prosecution.
If your visa application is refused by the Home Office you may, depending on the immigration rules for your particular visa , be able to ask the Home Office to review the decision. You only have fourteen days within which to do so and this deadline can't be extended for good reason. If you can't secure a new visa then you have thirty days to leave the UK. The ban could last for between one to ten years unless you leave the UK voluntarily within the first ninety days in which case you may not receive a re-entry ban.
To avoid that situation, it is best to plan ahead and get your visa application in well ahead of the deadline and, if you have concerns about your visa application, to get specialist legal advice as early as you can.
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