Immigration status during pending application

Overview: section 3C leave

In England and Wales (and across the UK), the key protection is section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971. Its purpose is to prevent you from becoming an overstayer while the Home Office is still deciding an in-time application to extend or vary your leave, and while certain challenges to a refusal are still available or ongoing.

In broad terms, if your existing leave would otherwise expire before your application is decided, section 3C automatically continues your leave on the same conditions until the matter is resolved. This is often called “3C leave”.

When section 3C leave applies

Section 3C leave arises only where all of the following are true:

1. You had valid limited leave to enter or remain in the UK.

2. You applied to the Home Office to vary or extend that leave.

3. You made the application before your existing leave expired (an in-time application).

4. Your leave then expired without a decision having been made.

5. The application has not been decided or withdrawn.

The most important point is that the application must be made in time, meaning while you still hold valid leave. Section 3C does not extend leave if you applied after your existing leave had already expired. If you apply out of time, you are not protected and you may be an overstayer, even if the Home Office later exercises discretion to accept the late application.

What happens to your conditions in the meantime

While your application is pending, section 3C continues your leave on the same conditions that attached to your previous grant of leave. If you had permission to work, you generally continue to be permitted to work on the same basis while the application is outstanding. If your previous leave prohibited or restricted work, or included a no recourse to public funds condition, those same restrictions continue to apply.

You do not receive a new visa or biometric residence document for the 3C period itself. Employers or others can usually verify your continuing right to work or rent through the Home Office online status service or an Employer/Landlord Checking Service check.

Administrative review and appeals

Section 3C leave does not necessarily end the moment your application is refused. It is designed to continue through the review and appeal stages, provided you remain in the UK. Depending on the type of decision, your leave continues while:

An administrative review could still be sought (within the applicable time limit), and while an administrative review that you have lodged remains pending and undecided.

Alternatively, where there is a right of appeal, while an in-country appeal could still be brought and while any appeal you have lodged is pending, within the meaning of section 104 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002.

If your application is refused and an administrative review is available, lodging it in time keeps your 3C leave running. If the administrative review is itself refused, 3C leave will generally come to an end at that point unless a further avenue (such as an appeal) is available and pursued. Only one administrative review generally extends leave; making repeated or fresh applications does not indefinitely roll over your status.

Situations where 3C leave ends or never arises

Your section 3C leave will end, or will not exist in the first place, in a number of situations. It ends if you leave the United Kingdom. Travelling abroad while an in-country application is pending is a serious risk, because departure terminates 3C leave and can be treated as withdrawing the application. It also ends when the application is finally decided and all review or appeal options have been exhausted, when the application is withdrawn, or when the time to bring a review or appeal expires without one being brought.

It never arises at all if your original application was made out of time, if you did not hold valid leave when you applied, or if the application was of a type that does not attract 3C protection.

Practical points and risks

Keep clear evidence of the date you submitted your application, including any confirmation email or reference number, so you can prove it was in time. This can be critical later, for example when applying for settlement where continuous lawful residence matters, or if a question arises about overstaying.

Avoid international travel while your application, administrative review or appeal is pending, unless you fully understand that leaving will end your 3C leave. If you need to travel, take advice on the consequences first.

If you need to demonstrate your right to work or rent during the 3C period, generate a share code through the government online service and be ready to give it to an employer or landlord, as you will not have a physical document covering this period.

Be careful about making a second application while a first is pending. This can have complex effects on your 3C leave and on any pending appeal or review, and can in some circumstances weaken your position.

Where the answer could change

The precise position depends on facts I do not have, including the exact type of leave and application involved, whether the decision carries a right of appeal or only administrative review, the relevant time limits for your particular decision, and whether you have travelled or made any further applications. If any of these apply, the outcome for your continuing status could differ, so it is worth checking the specific route and decision letter against the current Home Office guidance on section 3C leave.