Are we in the wrong??

[jev]

Hi there

I got a friend who applied for a student extension to complete his thesis and was sent a letter stating that even though his visa is valid it will have to go through further investigation and not initial investigation.

He completed it one month later and was just waiting for some sort of response. After 6 months of just holidaying (as they put it) he decided to take up another course...something he always wanted to do. Started the course and finished the first year and just started the 2nd and final year.

There has been no news about his visa for a year now. He wants to leave it until he finishes as he has no need for his passort at the moment and he saves on visa application fees. Now we were discussing it and dont know now if he will land himself in trouble for not saying anything or is it the home office responsibility/at fault. He has been on a student visa for the pass 7 years with not even one problem and the longest they have ever kept his passport was probably 3 months. At first we were just joking saying its probably staked under a pile of Asylum applications....but dont know if this is serious. He wants to finish he course and cannot be stressed at the moment! Are we in the wrong for doing so??

THANKS!!

[John]

If it was the case that the application for an extension was received by IND before the previous visa expired then that visa is "treated as continuing" as least until the he hears the result of the application, and if it is a rejection, then until the time for appealing against that rejection has expired.

This is because of legislation commonly known as "Section 3C".

So whilst it is a bit extreme that IND are taking so long to decide the application, there is no time limit to how long Section 3C can have effect.

One thought ... has he moved? If so, has he notified IND of his new address? Because if he has moved and not notified IND of the new address then maybe the application has already been decided?