Great Britain cancels COVID-related immigration concessions

The Home Office stops to accept applications for long-term visas from inside the UK. From now on, applicants should apply from their country of residence like it was pre-pandemic.

At the beginning of 2020, lockdown caused the cancellation of international flights and border closures. A lot of short-term visa holders failed to return to their home countries and apply for a long-term visa from there. Considering a complicated epidemiological situation, the British authorities conceded and allowed applicants to apply for required visas from within Great Britain.

However, the British authorities considered the situation to have become much better so that the previous order can be restored. It will come into effect on 01 June. Until then, you can file an application in Great Britain if you have reasons and evidence for that. The same applies to applicants with exceptional assurance. They need to resolve their issues until 01 July and either leave the country or apply for a long-term visa.

Applicants with exceptional assurance are those who overstayed their visas because of COVID restrictions and not because they chose to. Such applicants were not penalised by the border control. However, the authorities considered that there is no need for this concession anymore.

If you have any questions about applying for a British visa and you wish to get legal assistance at each stage of the process, Imperial & Legal specialists will be glad to help you. Our experienced immigration advisors will help you deal with legalities and make sure that you correctly fill in an application.