Coronavirus and the UK Immigration System

Measures taken to combat the spread of coronavirus and COVID-19 disease have changed almost every aspect of society both here in the UK and around the world. The immigration system is no exception. This post gathers together various updates on changes to immigration law and practice caused by coronavirus. For now, in contrast with our normal practice, we’ll be keeping this post continually up to date rather than covering new coronavirus developments as separate blog posts that may become rapidly out of date. Use the page contents to navigate. Material that has been added or updated from one version of this post to the next is labelled New or Updated.

The situation is particularly pressing for people who are in the UK on an expiring visa and unable to leave because of travel restrictions. The Home Office previously granted visa extensions on request to those with leave expiring after 24 January 2020 and before 31 May 2020 who could not leave the UK due to coronavirus. Note that a request had to be made (see below on how to do so) so this was not automatic (unlike for certain NHS staff, see below). On 22 May the Home Office announced that those with visas already extended would automatically have them extended further. There is no need for this group of people to take any action. Those who have not already asked for an extension will need to make a request for the extension to apply to them.

Read more: Freemovement, https://is.gd/52Wqe9