Hi in this video we’re going to have a look at the corona visa extensions around the covert 19 hour crisis and how you can apply so let’s get right into it the position at the moment of the time of doing this live stream is that if you’re in the UK and your leave expires by the 31st of May 2020 then you can request an extension and the extension form is here and it starts by saying that no individual of any nationality whose leave has expired or is due to expire between 24th of January 31st of May and who cannot leave the UK because of covert 19 will be grow regarded as Novus they all suffer any detriment in the future now so the first question is who does this apply to at the current government guidance for British nationals is not to leave your UK not to leave your home in the in the UK and this is for essential travel so you would be breaching that if you try Ford so is the position different for foreign nationals well apparently so you did the guidance links this to travel restrictions so it goes on to say if you okay let me just read the correct passage so here under instructions if you are not intending to apply to extend your live and cannot leave the UK because of travel restrictions related to covert 19 please use the form below to provide us with your details so that’s talking specifically about travel restrictions now if we go down to the actual form it’s just a bit further down here you can see that when you complete the form and submit it says it asks you to put in your reason for remaining in the UK egg flight restrictions or self-isolation maximum character limit of 500 so it doesn’t allow you to be very expensive but there’s two examples there then so flight restrictions or self-isolation so you can quite understand why if you had to self-isolate for two weeks let’s say because you had signs of flu symptoms or someone you were living without signs of flu symptoms then that would be a good reason but what happens after that period of isolation likewise with travel restrictions if it’s possible for you to return but there might be reasons why you would not want to relate it to covet for example who wants to get on a flight at the moment you might want to be very careful particular if you’ve got family or children or in detail – elderly relatives you might be slow to get on a plane at the moment so would that amount to a good reason well quite a lot hangs on this because if your reason isn’t one of the specified ones or if it doesn’t amount to a good reason under this guidance then you could be deemed to be an oversteer so I think this has to be approached carefully and you need to take advice I know it individual circumstances and the particular position in particular countries now I’ve just got the United Arab Emirates guidelines here just purely bio for example but you can see that the government’s advice to British national series at the FCO advises British nationals against all but essential international travel if you live in the UK and are currently traveling abroad you’re strongly advise to return now but again what about foreign nationals who are here in the UK if the position is that all but essential travel is recommended is warned against so you can’t you can’t do any international travel unless it’s essential international travel well what about you know someone who’s here from America Australia India outside of the European Union and their travel home wouldn’t be a central travel but they want to comply with the terms of their visa with that amount to essential travel I think in each case it’s appropriate to build a case around this over and above what you may wish to put in the form if you are applying for an extension and that case could include factors such as who would need to come with you would you be bringing children onto a plane what is the province within your country to which you’re returning and if you’re not relying so if you’re not relying on flight restrictions or self-isolation but reasons beyond that there may be reasons beyond that but that’s where you’re in territory where you want advice and you will need to build the case around that when you submit your form and to protect yourself if in the future your reasons for securing the covert extension are questioned now having said that it may be the or case is much more straightforward it may be that it is a matter of self-isolation or you do have flu symptoms or there are truffle restrictions in place that just don’t make it possible for you in which case it will be a straightforward application if it’s anything more than that then as I say I think you will need some written reasons and something – something defensible and ideally verify bias by third party just to be on the safe side so I’m just going to go through some of the specific provisions here with you so if you’re applying to stay in the in the UK long term you can apply from the UK to switch to a long term UK visa until the 31st of May now I think this is likely to be extended so we’ve heard that the Prime Minister may relax restrictions from this Sunday onwards which is positive – here are some ones of course we have continued to have appropriate controls in place but I it is my view that on my prediction that this regime will be extended and I’m hoping that we’re going to have sufficient warning of that ahead of the 31st of May so that preparation can be undertaken so this is this is likely to be extended but at the moment it’s only until the 31st of May you’ll need to meet the requirements of the route you are applying for and pay the UK application fee and this includes those have already been automatically extended you can apply online and the terms of your leave will remain the same until your application has decided so essentially what this is about is ordinarily you’re required to make an out of country application to you know if you’re in the UK now you’d need to leave the UK and make an application from out of the country to re-enter the UK but exceptionally here you can apply to switch in country on to a long-term visa under these provisions and your application won’t be considered while the biometric centres are closed but while you’re waiting for it to be decided you won’t be deemed to be an oversteer the next point is this confirmation that the UK visa and citizenship application centres are temporarily closed and you can’t book an appointment so again you can apply online but it won’t be considered until they reopen then what about if you’ve already made an appointment I says if you’ve already made an appointment you’ll be contacted to be informed that it has been cancelled you’ll be advised when you can book a new appointment and in case of one of my clients they’re advised to withdraw the application and reapply after the visa application centres have opened so in some cases you’ll want to lodge the application especially before a visa expiry date to show that you’ve applied in time but if you’re applying from outside of the country as I say one of my clients has been told to withdraw and then resubmit rather than simply sitting in the queue see it’s a be a judgement call depending on where we are applying from now the next one is if you’re on a tier 1 entrepreneur visa and your business has been disrupted this is interesting you no longer need to employ at least two people for 12 consecutive months each 12-month period you’re required to employ someone 4 can be made up for multiple jobs across different monthsâ time when your employees were furloughed will not count towards the 12-month period and if you’ve not been able to employ staff for 12 months in total by the time your visa expires you will be allowed to temporarily extend your visa to give you time to meet the requirement so again a very unusual times you could have someone who’s been in UK for you know four five years and a tier 2 visa and they start going through one of the accelerated pathways it could be here for five years and they be staying longer than the five year period to enable them to accrue it the twelve months to meet the requirement so that’s of course under the old the old tier 1 entrepreneur would stay now most of my entrepreneur clients are under the innovative visas and then some under the start-up visa and then next point is if you’ve applied for a tearful visa and you’re waiting for your decision on your application you can actually start your course of studies the rest of the provision to them the next point is if you’ve applied for a tier two or five fiador and you’re waiting for a decision on your application you can start work before your visa application has been decided if you’ve been assigned your certificate of sponsorship you’ve submitted your application before your current visa expires and you show evidence of this and the job you start is the same as the one listed on your cause so as long as you’ve got that stiff coat of sponsorship you can actually start notwithstanding your application has not been granted so that would really be a situation where you’re already in the UK and you’ve applied for example to switch from a tier 2 for visa I can’t see how that works in the context of an outer country application and now the specific measures for students here which are cross-referenced and I just brought up some interesting points here to share with you and spring those up in a moment but basically for the tier 4 students exceptionally you can extend even from a short term toe for visa into another 2 for visa category as a special concession up to the 31st of May and you can also switch into a tier 4 visa category from within the UK where you would not otherwise be able to so and there’s also specific and concessions for where you have not been able to complete your course of studies or your exams because of the corona crisis and your you’re then able to do that so again in all of these cases I would advise making a careful written record of your reasons and any evidence for it because you’ve only got about 500 characters to put in the in the krona extension form I hope so you’d need to be being a position to defend to defend that and then there’s some provisions here I’ll just zoom in on them now for people applying from outside of the UK so all UK visa application centres are closed so I did a video about that previously I have heard very recently that the application centres may be opening soon I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up because we don’t know we still don’t know what that means whether there’s going to be a couple of weeks or a couple of months but I am anticipating a movement on that and that might coincide with the plans that Boris Johnson sets out from Sunday onwards so keep an eye on the channel I’d be doing updates at definitely do an update if there’s any news on that one so guessing your documents due to worldwide travel restrictions it may not be possible to return your passports if you’re applying for global talent start-up or innovative visa so specifically relevant to my clients if your endorsement from an endorsing body’s expired because you’ve not been able to travel to the UK you may still be eligible for a visa you should make your application as planned and we will consider all applications on a case-by-case basis now there’s actually contradictory guidance on this from the UK government because there’s another guidance document that says that it says in terms that you would need to get a fresh endorsement letter but the endorsing the endorsing bodies that I’ve had contact with over this just say that they would be content to just issue a new endorse endorsement letter so it might be on a practical level it might be easier for you as a start-up applicant or innovator applicant to get a fresh endorsement letter and resubmit your application and if you if you cancel your application and in other words you’ve lodged it already but it hasn’t been considered due to the corona crisis but then in some cases it might be easier to simply cancel get your refund and then reapply with a fresh endorsement letter now one of my clients is in is in this situation we were just talking about it yesterday I’m and you come to me this a bit smaller so this is the situation where your 30-day visa has expired in yep so basically as it says here I’ll just read this out if you’re 30 a 30-day visa to travel to the UK for work study or to join family has expired I was about to expire you can request a replacement visa whether with revised validity dates free of charge until the end of this year but you’ve got to make the request first so you guys I made the request now and then later once the restrictions are relaxed then you’ll get your replacement 30-day visa free of charge so just to be clear this is the 30 the 30 day vignette or sticker in your passport that you used to travel to the to the UK to then pick up your biometric residence permit in the UK but you travel to the UK on that a vignette and there’s some people have been caught out because they’ve applied they’ve got their visa and then the corona restrictions came into place so they want or locally within their own countries and then they weren’t able to travel so for those people you will get a free new replacement vignette and no expense but you’ve got to request that you are a request it now and when the visa application centres open they’ll process that so if you’re in that situation that that is definitely what I’d recommend and there is here you know the coronavirus immigration help centre I mean from the feedback I’ve had I’ve had very mixed feedback from this some of the I’m sure they’re doing their best some of the stuff are helpful knowledgeable but not all of the responses have been being very informative so I would make a record of anything you’re told when you call up the helpline you but I would still recommend taking legal advice good so I hope that’s helpful in summarizing how to make a coronavirus visa extension if you can put it that way under these covert provisions and I hope you and your family stay safe and I will see you in the next live stream Thanks bye for now