Section 3C leave meaning

In this issue Key developments UK immigration control: how it works Sponsored work Work sponsorship: sponsors Business, investment and non-sponsored work Family routes Long residence, discretion and human rights EU law rights and EU Settlement Scheme Challenging immigration decisions and enforcement Citizenship applications Daily and weekly news alerts Key developments Future developments—Immigration calendar Our Immigration calendar outlines upcoming changes of relevance to business immigration advisers. UK immigration control: how it works AJC opens Call for Evidence on tribunal digital reform and disadvantage The Administrative Justice Council has begun a Call for Evidence, open until 17:00 on 10 February 2025, to gather perspectives on the impact of tribunal digital reforms and on disadvantage within the administrative justice system. The exercise will underpin two working group reports and seeks submissions from representatives, advisers, and community organisations. Contributors are invited to detail challenges encountered, examples of effective practice, and proposals for improvement...

R (on the application of Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex and London) and another v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWCA Civ 1843 What was the background? This was an appeal brought by the SSHD against a decision of Mr Justice Cavanagh. Sitting in the High Court, Cavanagh J held that the failure to provide e-visa documentation to migrants with section 3C leave was irrational (see our summary here). He further decided that this omission did not run counter to the purposes of the IA 1971 and therefore did not offend the Padfield principle, with the consequence that the claimant failed on that ground. However, he concluded it infringed the ‘best interest of children’ principle under BCIA 2009, s 55, and the claimant succeeded on that basis. The SSHD subsequently lodged an appeal against that decision. Crucially, Lady Justice Laing had already granted a stay on 02 September 2024 in respect of the High Court’s determination. Accordingly, that ruling has, in consequence, not been...

R (Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex and London) v SSHD [2024] EWHC 1374 (Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? The principal practical upshot is that individuals holding Leave to Remain (‘LTR’/‘leave’) covered by IA 1971, s 3C will be eligible to receive digital proof of their immigration status. Section 3C applies automatically by operation of statute. While IA 1971, s 3C is in force, all rights inherent in one’s prior LTR continue. Accordingly, when leave is prolonged, the attached conditions are prolonged too. Those conditions may include permission to work or to study. Advisers may encounter clients worried about demonstrating these entitlements once they have lodged an application to extend (‘vary’) their leave. Previously, in many instances this meant a third party—an employer or a landlord—had to make their own check with the Home Office to confirm whether the person could still work or rent property, which could create difficulties if the third party was unwilling to do so or if there were delays. Digital...

Important note—Archived Practice Note This Practice Note is no longer maintained, as it reflects the position before the streamlined Immigration Rules and procedures introduced at and before the end of the Brexit transition period. It is preserved in the archive for historical reference. Several Immigration Rules govern whether a leave to remain application is valid, set out in Immigration Rules, Part 1, para 34. Where an application is not made validly, it is regarded as never having been lodged. Following a phased expansion of online procedures across various immigration categories, from November 2018 almost all applications have been submitted online. Before the shift to online forms, difficulties with validity requirements were frequent, for example issues with payment being taken, or with photographs. Such defects could carry grave consequences: if an application is sent back as invalid after a person’s leave has lapsed, they become an overstayer and cannot rely on section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971 (IA 1971). The effect of invalidity could therefore be severe, removing protection...

Practice Note Throughout this Practice Note, the expressions ‘leave to enter/remain’ and ‘permission to enter/stay’ are treated as equivalent. The Immigration Rules now use ‘permission’ for streamlined routes, although ‘leave’ continues to appear in other stay categories and in the governing statutes. An individual who holds permission to enter or remain in the UK, and who intends and is allowed to seek further residence beyond the expiry of their present leave, or who plans to move to a different immigration route, will usually need to submit an in‑country application to the Home Office to vary their permission. Permission can be varied: by limiting, extending, or removing the cap on its duration, or by imposing, changing, or cancelling conditions attached to it. See Practice Note: Conditions of permission to enter or stay in the UK for more detail. This Practice Note addresses the following UK‑submitted applications: extensions of stay, e.g. prolonging permission within the applicant’s current immigration route ...

Practice Note In this Practice Note, the expressions ‘leave to enter/remain’ and ‘permission to enter/stay’ are treated as equivalent. Within the simplified routes of the Immigration Rules, ‘permission’ has replaced ‘leave’, though the earlier term continues to appear in other stay categories and in the governing legislation. This Practice Note sets out what occurs to a person’s leave to enter or remain in the UK when they: travel beyond the UK, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and Ireland. This collective area is the Common Travel Area (CTA). For details on immigration requirements within the CTA, see Practice Note: The Common Travel Area make an in-country application to vary their leave lodge an in-country appeal make an in-country application for administrative review, or withdraw an in-country variation of leave application before it is decided Where an individual already possesses leave to enter or remain, any application to extend, reduce, or otherwise change that leave is described under the...

Practice Note: Suitability grounds for refusal and cancellation of permission notes that, under the Immigration Rules, Part 9, para 320(7B): Unless an exemption applies, or the relevant re-entry ban has expired, any application made under a route within Parts 2–8, or under Appendix Armed Forces, must be refused where the person has previously breached UK immigration law by: overstaying, unless the overstay was 90 days or less (where it began before 6 April 2017) or 30 days or less (where it began on or after 6 April 2017) and, in either scenario, they left the UK of their own accord and not at public expense Where any of the above circumstances apply, any further application to re-enter the UK will be refused until the following re-entry ban has run: one year, if the individual departed the UK voluntarily and not at public expense—note that those refused entry at port fall within this category, provided they complied with the conditions set...

section 3C leave This answer proceeds on the basis that no request was submitted to the Home Office to cancel the application, nor to retrieve the passport prior to departing the UK. If someone makes an application from within the UK to extend their permission to stay before their existing leave runs out using the online route, the date on which the application is treated as lodged is the date the online form is submitted, not the enrolment of biometrics. When someone who already has leave to remain applies from inside the UK to extend it, their current leave, together with all attached conditions, continues automatically so long as a valid application is made before that leave expires (known as ‘section 3C leave’)...