Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Curtailment definition

What does Curtailment mean? Curtailment describes UKVI’s act of reducing or cancelling a person’s existing leave to enter or remain. In practice, the Home Office may end leave with immediate effect or shorten the remaining period—commonly to 60 days, or to the time left if shorter—where, for example, sponsorship ends, employment ceases, conditions are breached or deception is found. Curtailment is a statutory variation of leave under the Immigration Act 1971 and the Immigration Rules and policy. A curtailment (visa cancellation) notice must be served in writing and state when leave will end and the effect on permission to work and study. A curtailment...

UK immigration: Curtailment and cancellation of permission—grounds, service, legal consequences, travel risks, and routes to challenge (judicial review, administrative review, EU Settlement Scheme appeals)

Published by a LexisNexis Immigration expert

Practice notes

This Practice Note examines the legal and practical outcomes of curtailing and cancelling permission to enter and remain, and their impact. It further summarises the avenues by which Curtailment and cancellation may be contested.

Advisers should remain alert to the different bases on which curtailment and cancellation could be impugned (for example, for procedural unfairness), so they can shape advice wherever it appears such a step might be contemplated, in any given case and at an early stage.

See:

The scope of judicial review challenges to curtailment and cancellation.

In this Practice Note, the expressions ‘Leave to enter/remain’ and ‘permission to enter/stay’ are used interchangeably.

Within the Immigration Rules for simplified routes, the word ‘permission’ has replaced ‘leave’, yet the earlier term continues in other categories of stay and in the relevant legislation.

Curtailment

Curtailment is the process by which the Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD) reduces the extant permission of individuals already present in the UK.

Permission is either ended with immediate effect, or the remaining leave is cut short, commonly to a period of 60 days.

Before 1 December 2020, paragraph 323 of the Immigration Rules, Part 9 set out the grounds on which permission...

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Deborah Revill

One Pump Court Chambers

Deborah specialises in immigration law. Prior to coming to the Bar, she worked for the Immigration Advisory Service, formerly the UK's largest provider of legal advice on immigration and asylum, and was accredited by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner. She then spent a year as the employee of two direct access immigration barristers. She therefore has experience of preparing applications, running case files and dealing with lay clients; this informs her practice at the Bar in that she understands Home Office procedure and the realities faced by her professional clients.Deborah completed pupillage in a predominantly criminal set and, on accepting tenancy there, chose to specialise in immigration law, going on to establish a successful practice in the field almost from scratch.Deborah is committed to obtaining the best results for her clients and has enjoyed success in a number of...

Web page updated on 27/05/2026

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