[2021] EWCA CIV 1357

The Court of Appeal in Secretary of State for the Home Department v Ali [2021] EWCA Civ 1357 held that an application made during the permitted grace period to lodge an application cannot be considered as an application made ‘in-time’.

It reinforces the concept that the uniform 28-day grace period introduced into the Immigration Rules, was an exception to the general rule and that applications for leave had to be made before the expiry of an existing period of leave.

WhiIst the Court recognises that, under exceptional circumstances the expiry of an existing leave may be missed through no fault of an applicant or the advisers; applications made after the expiry of the leave to remain may be allowed by way of exception.

This service allows potential Sponsors to prioritise the Sponsorship Licence application.

Eligibility

In order to qualify for this service you must:

- Have submitted an application for a Sponsorship Licence online

- Make a request before the file is allocated to a Caseworker

- Submit a fully completed application to the pre-licence priority service

Limit on the number of applications considered

A maximum of 10 priority service requests will be accepted each day.

Fees

The fee for this service is £500 per request.

Processing time

Although not guaranteed, the processing time to consider the applications who have been successfully submitted is 10 working days.

[2021] EWCA CIV 1357

The Court of Appeal in Secretary of State for the Home Department v Ali [2021] EWCA Civ 1357 held that an application made during the permitted grace period to lodge an application cannot be considered as an application made ‘in-time’.

It reinforces the concept that the uniform 28-day grace period introduced into the Immigration Rules, was an exception to the general rule and that applications for leave had to be made before the expiry of an existing period of leave.

WhiIst the Court recognises that, under exceptional circumstances the expiry of an existing leave may be missed through no fault of an applicant or the advisers; applications made after the expiry of the leave to remain may be allowed by way of exception.