Overstayers

Leave Outside the Rules (LOTR) is granted by the Home Office only in exceptional circumstances. Those circumstances can broadly be divided into three groups:

  1. where an applicant does not meet the relevant requirements in Appendix FM or paragraph 276ADE (1) of the Immigration Rules but a grant of leave is nonetheless necessary to avoid a breach of art 8 ECHR private and family life rights.
  2. where the applicant qualifies under an immigration policy concession
  3. or where there are ‘particularly compelling circumstances’
The Home Office has discretion to grant LOTR for reasons unrelated to protecting human rights. However, the adoption of the very high threshold of ‘particularly compelling circumstances’ makes it unlikely in practical terms that an applicant will be granted leave upon application unless the failure to do so would breach human rights.

Our Immigration solicitors take detailed instructions from the outset of the case about all the circumstances of your case and family members and conduct a thorough examination of the facts of your private and family life.

Grants of leave

For decisions made on or after 9 July 2012, when there is a grant of LOTR, its duration will be up to a maximum of 30 months, although it could be less depending on the facts of the case. The actual amount of leave granted will be 30 months plus the period of the applicant's extant leave at the date of application, up to a maximum of 28 days. In most cases, a person granted LOTR will not become eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain until they have completed 120 months of LOTR and are therefore eligible under the long residence Rules. At the end of each tranche of 30 months leave, the person must make a further paid application which will be subject to active review in light of circumstances and the relevant Home Office policy prevailing at the time. However, Home Office guidance does anticipate that a person who has been successful in entering the 10-year route to settlement can make an application to switch their leave to the 5-year route if they can show they now meet the relevant requirements in the Rules.

For those already granted DL before 9 July 2012, transitional arrangements mean that at the end of the initial 3 years, an application to extend can still be made which, if successful, will result in a further 3 years of DL. At the end of 6 years, an application for indefinite leave to remain can be made.

Our Immigration Solicitors provide competent, confidential legal advice regarding your case and are able to offer effective legal representation.New Paragraph
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