The date your permission ends is critical. An in-time application can protect your position; a late one may not. If permission has already ended or been cancelled, get advice before taking any other step.
Information checked against the sources listed below on 10 October 2026. Rules, fees and thresholds change; this is general information, not advice on your case, and does not assess whether you qualify.
What the official guidance says.
- Home Office guidance describes section 3C leave: if you hold valid permission and apply to extend or change it before it expires, your permission continues until the application is decided or withdrawn. It also continues while an appeal or administrative review is still possible or pending.
- Invalid applications and late applications do not qualify for 3C leave.
- On 3C leave you keep the conditions of your previous permission, such as work or study limits, and cannot submit a new variation application.
- 3C leave ends when the application is decided or withdrawn, when the appeal or review is finished, withdrawn or abandoned, when the time to appeal passes without an appeal, when you leave the UK, or if it is cancelled for breaching conditions or deception.
- GOV.UK has a voluntary return service for people who have overstayed or who are in the UK without permission and want to go home.
- Overstaying and having permission cancelled can have serious consequences for later applications. The consequences depend on how long you overstayed and why.
What usually decides the outcome.
- The exact expiry date and the earliest date you can apply in time.
- Whether any application you made was valid and made before expiry.
- If permission was cancelled, the notice, the reasons and any deadline to challenge it.
- Whether you have been out of status at any point, and for how long.
How we can help.
Depending on what you need, support can range from a first conversation to full representation. Ask for the scope of any work, and an explanation of our fees and separate government charges, in writing before you instruct the firm.
- Initial consultation and eligibility assessment. A conversation about your circumstances, the routes that may apply and the risks.
- Written advice and immigration planning. A considered view on your options and a plan that looks ahead to extensions, settlement or citizenship.
- Document and application checking. A review of an application or evidence you have prepared, before you submit it.
- Full application preparation and representation. Preparing and submitting the application, and dealing with the Home Office on your behalf.
- Responses to Home Office requests. Help answering requests for further information, interviews or evidence.
- Refusal analysis and next steps. Understanding why an application failed and whether to seek review, appeal, judicial review or make a fresh application.
Before you contact us
- Write a short summary of your circumstances and what you want to achieve.
- Note any decision dates, expiry dates or deadlines.
- Do not send passport numbers or sensitive documents in the first enquiry. We will explain how to share them securely.