Recommendation 7

We also request that the Home Office clarify whether an individual who does not apply for a visa extension, and therefore overstays their existing visa because of Covid-19, may retrospectively gain the extension to which they would have been entitled had they known about the department’s offer at an earlier point. We also ask the Home Office to explain what the implications are for individuals who have inadvertently overstayed but who do not apply for the extension, including in particular the impact this might have on future applications to return to the UK.