Coronavirus and the UK immigration system (as of 25 March 2020)

Visa extensions and other immigration concessions

If you are in the UK and your leave expires between 24 January 2020 and 31 May 2020

Your visa will be extended to 31 May 2020 if you cannot leave the UK because of travel restrictions or self-isolation related to coronavirus (COVID-19).

The guidance continues:

You must contact the Coronavirus Immigration Team (CIT) to update your records if your visa is expiring.

You should provide:

  • your full name (include any middle names)
  • date of birth (dd/mm/yyyy)
  • nationality
  • your previous visa reference number
  • why you can’t go back to your home country, for example if the border has closed

We’ll let you know when your request is received and when your visa has been extended.

This guidance overrides a previous version at the same webpage. The older version unilaterally conferred leave to remain until 31 March to Chinese citizens whose visas had or were due to expire between 24 January 2020 and 30 March 2020. It also allowed non-Chinese, non-EEA nationals in the UK who are normally resident in China to get an extension of leave on application to the coronavirus hotline, in a similar process to the one now in force for all nationalities.

If you are applying to stay in the UK long-term

During these unique circumstances you will be able to apply from the UK to switch to a long-term UK visa until 31 May. This includes applications where you would usually need to apply for a visa from your home country.

You will need to meet the same visa requirements and pay the UK application fee.

This includes those whose leave has already been automatically extended to 31 March 2020.

You can apply online. The terms of your leave will remain the same until your application is decided.

“Long term” here does not mean indefinite leave to remain.

EU Settlement Resolution Centre closed

The office that deals with EU settled status enquiries has closed.

All callers to the Resolution Centre now get the following recorded message:

Unfortunately virus quarantine measures have now meant we’ve been unable to keep our call lines open. This is obviously not ideal and is something for which we’re truly sorry, but it’s essential to stop the spread of the virus.  Please remember to follow government guidelines during the COVID-19 outbreak. We’ll be open again once we have the ability to open safely.

It is not yet clear whether staff will be responding to emails.

Posted on Mar 25, 2020.

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