On 21st of October 2021, the Home office published a new guidance for their staff titled, “Concession to the family Immigration Rules for granting longer periods of leave and early indefinite leave to remain.”
As the title suggest this guidance tells you about the concession made to Immigration rules for Applicants who are aged 18 or above but under the age of 25 and have spent half their life in the UK. Previously these applicants were granted leave under a long 10-years rule where they must extend their visas every 2.5 years before they can apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR). This new concession policy reduces this 10-years’ time frame down to 5-years before they can apply for ILR. This is a very promising news for these young adults who were either born in the UK or entered as a child.
Unfortunately, policy concession is not yet extended to any other children/applicants who are under the age of 18. This include those children who obtained leave on the basis that they have lived in the UK for 7 years and are under the age of 18.
This policy is applicable to all the decisions made on or after 20th October 2021 regardless of when the application was submitted. This means if you have an application pending under the relevant criteria already you do not need to vary or withdraw it. Application will be automatically considered under this new policy.
Below is the criteria published in the guidance for all applications made under the concession.
To be considered under this concession an applicant must (at the date of application):
- Be aged 18 years or above and under 25 years of age and has spent least half of his/her life living continuously in the UK (discounting any period of imprisonment);
- Have either been born in or entered the UK as a child;
- Have held five years limited leave; and
- Be eligible for further leave to remain under paragraph 276ADE(1) of the Immigration Rules and have made an application under those rules.
FAQs
Who qualifies under this new policy?
Anyone aged between 18 and 24 who has spent half their life in the UK.
I already have leave under this category. Will I qualify for ILR?
Yes, if you already have continuous leave for five years or over you can apply for ILR.
I already have an application pending under this category. Do I have to now withdraw and resubmit?
No, as long as you already had leave for five years or more. The policy suggests applications will be automatically considered under the new policy even if you have not applied under this policy specifically
