NEW RULES

[blessedlady]

I was talking to the solicitor yesterday regarding my situation, I'm also an overstayer, married to a British citizen and have a son . She said to me that even if I go home ( before 01 April)and apply for entry clearance, I might be refuse as well and be ban for a year. It is actually the time when the ECO deal with your application. So if the ECO deal with your application 01 April but you submitted it before hand , application will be denied.

[vinny]

They already have the Discretionary grounds (26.4.1) to refuse. It's just that prior to the new rules:

However, if an ECO is satisfied that any of the above grounds are not met, they should not refuse solely on this alone. They should consider the application under the category of Entry clearance applied for and if not satisfied that the Immigration Rules are met they should refuse Entry Clearance, citing the reasons why the applicant has not satisfied the criteria and also include the relevant general paragraphs in the notice of decision. If you only refuse under Paragraph 320 and the appeal is allowed, you cannot then consider the substantive application and entry clearance will have to be issued.