How long can I legally stayafter I let my visa expire?

[JohnOhn]

For various family issues back home beyond my control, I may be moving back to my home country and not be applying for more leave here.

Obviously, moving back to my home country will take a lot of work (packing, logistics, etc). The thing is, my visa expires March 15–and I don't want to pay thousands of £'s if I'm just going to leave a month later.

So my question is, how long can I legally stay in the UK after the expiration of my visa to settle my affairs here?

I do not want to break immigration rules.

Must I leave on the 15th of March or do I have 28 days (or more) to legally remain in the UK?

[marcnath]

For various family issues back home beyond my control, I may be moving back to my home country and not be applying for more leave here.

Obviously, moving back to my home country will take a lot of work (packing, logistics, etc). The thing is, my visa expires March 15–and I don't want to pay thousands of £'s if I'm just going to leave a month later.

So my question is, how long can I legally stay in the UK after the expiration of my visa to settle my affairs here?

I do not want to break immigration rules.

Must I leave on the 15th of March or do I have 28 days (or more) to legally remain in the UK?

By law, if you do not submit an extension application, you will be an overstayer on the 16th of March. So, there are no "legal" days that you can stay after expiry of a visa.

Whether you must leave on the 15th is a slightly different question. It is unlikely that UKVI or any other authority will land up at your place and take action against you on the 16th. Given that there is no exit immigration, the authorities will not even be sure whether you have left or stayed or initiate any actions on your eventual departure.

It is more a question of the impact of overstaying. You will be obliged to answer yes to a typical question (on many visit related forms of many countries) as to whether you have ever overstayed ? It may increase scrutiny but would not generally be adverse.

Under the UK Immigration rules, you will only fall for general refusal of future visa applications as per below:


it is undesirable to admit a person seeking leave to enter the United Kingdom.
(7B) where the applicant has previously breached the UK’s immigration laws (and was 18 or over at the time of his most recent breach)by:
(a) Overstaying;

unless the applicant:
(i) overstayed for-
(b) 30 days or less, where the overstaying began on or after 6 April 2017
and in either case, left the UK voluntarily, not at the expense (directly or indirectly) of the Secretary of State;


Essentially, if you leave within 30 days voluntarily, your overstay will not impact any future UK visa applications.

I would assume most countries have some similar leeway.

[zimba]

You should leave within 30 days or you get automatic re-entry ban for at least a year

[ouflak1]

Given that there is no exit immigration, the authorities will not even be sure whether you have left or stayed or initiate any actions on your eventual departure.

Not true any more. The UK does conduct exit checks and they do record exits from the UK depending on how you leave.

Essentially, if you leave within 30 days voluntarily, your overstay will not impact any future UK visa applications.

Not quite true. It certainly can impact them and might. But usually, if there is nothing else afoul with the application, and it is a single event, they can use discretion to ignore it.

I would assume most countries have some similar leeway.

A dangerous assumption in some countries! (especially the Middle East and Latin America)