🇬🇧 What is your status while waiting for a UK visa?

By -

 





If you have a UK visa and it’s about to expire, you would, normally, submit a new application. Of the same type (extension) or a different type (switching), or for settlement. You can do it up to the last day of visa current visa and it will be 100% legal.


So, you applied and waiting for a decision, what is your status? What if your old visa expired during that time? Especially if you indeed apply on the last day. Would you become an overstayer? Do you have to time your application to give the Government enough time to make a decision before your old visa expires? Should you use the more expensive Priority services?


The answer is: if you applied while your old visa was still valid (even on the last day), your immigration status automatically extends by law and remains the same for as long as the Government takes to consider your new application. Doesn’t matter whether it would take a day, a few months or a year. Most visa types take 8 weeks while Settlement takes up to 6 months. In our practice, however, the cases are currently considered a lot faster. You can find this Information here on Gov website.


For example, if you had a Spouse visa and applied for Settlement before it expired, your status remains ’Spouse’ for as long as it takes to make a decision on your Settlement application. If you had a Student visa and applied for a Spouse visa, your status remains ’Student’ until your Spouse visa has been approved. Whether to pay more for the Priority services is entirely up to you! It only makes a difference if you need your new visa sooner, such as if you wish to change an employer or start your qualifying period for settlement. 


What happens if you applied after your previous visa had already expired? This is different and depends on the reason for a delay, the period of delay and whether it was made following a refusal of a previous application. For detailed advice book a consultation with our lawyers here.



1st 4Immigration is one of the most experienced UK immigration law companies, OISC - accredited at the highest Level 3. We have been in business for over 10 years, our OISC reference is 200800152, in which 2008 stands for the year accreditation. Office: Tower 42, 25 Old Broad Street, London, EC2N 1HN. 

www.1st4immigration.com  


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Updated May 2020: UK visa work continues - latest update

By -
UK immigration authorities continue to process visa applications, albeit not as fast as they normally would. The visa centres are beginning to gradually re-opening from 1 June 2020 in the UK and abroad. Regardless of when your particular centre re-opens, it is still possible to submit your application online. If your visa expires soon, you can apply for your next visa "on-time", i.e. before your current visa expires, by making such an application online and then waiting for the further steps. This keeps you within the Rules and does not make you an overstayer.  Even better, the actual documents (supporting evidence) can be submitted later, thus giving you even more time to prepare while remaining within the Rule on visa expiry dates. We usually have 45 days to provide the documents (ie upload them online to the Government portal) after the online "submission" mentioned above. This is extended for as long as it will take to clear up the backlog.  If you
Read more

How long can a visitor stay in the UK? 6 months from each entry? In a year? In a calendar year?

By 1st 4Immigration - #1 UK Immigration Experts -
Visitors can come to the UK for purposes of tourism, visiting friends, business visits and similar. Visitors can stay for maximum 6 months in each 12 months . Not 6 months from each entry to the UK. Even if your visitor visa is for 5 or 10 years you can still stay for maximum 180 days in each of those years. How to count ‘6 months in 12 months’? A 12 months period starts from ‘now’, date in question or date of entry etc and you need to count backwards (not a calendar year). If you stayed in the UK for the whole 6 months then you have to stay away for the whole 6 months. If you come and go several times during a year then the total must be 180 days cumulatively in the last 12 months. Visitor rules are the same for all. Visitor visa rules aren’t. Visitor rules include: purpose of visits, no right to work, no right to use the NHS, no right to use the public funds (benefits), no right to switch to more serious visas inside the UK, ie no right to switch to a Spouse
Read more

💸 10 common mistakes when meeting the Financial Requirement £18,600 for a UK Spouse visa

By -
Image
#1 Most common - submitting “everything I have’.  Some payslips, a tax return, some savings plus a property deed for good measure. Surely, should work? It may sound logical to provide as much as possible, this is often a nightmare scenario for immigration lawyers and often a direct path to a visa refusal. Financial Requirement is strictly based on the ‘rules’: what income can be used, how various sources can be combined and what documents are needed. We often say there is 75-page office guidance just on the finances: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/636618/Appendix_FM_1_7_Financial_Requirement_Final.pdf  #2 Savings - it’s not £18,600 and not £16,000.  The real amount (for this purpose) is calculated using this formula: threshold you need to meet (such as £18,600) x 2.5 plus £16,000. If you are using savings alone, it would be £18,600 x 2.5 + £16,000 = £62,500!  #3 Employment -  the minimum is 6 months for the sa
Read more