There are two stages of Leave to Remain (LTR) – temporary (for an initial 2.5 years period) and subsequently ‘ILR’ (Indefinite Leave to Remain) about which independent information is provided at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indefinite_leave_to_remain
‘ILR’ leads to the ability to apply for British citizenship, and under the Hostile Environment regime instituted by the former British Prime Minister and Home Secretary in conjunction with the Whitehall UK civil servants leads who helped to develop, extend and deepen the Hostile Environment, LTR is a major implementation frontline, with families and genuine partnerships very directly targeted.
We have united on this information page both LTR related ‘need to know’ information, and also about ‘family visas’ as many LTR applications are made on family [including marriages-civil partnerships] grounds. The Hostile Environment in its most brutal form has been revealed to be particularly focussed at operational level on targeting genuine LTR applicants who make LTR applications for family reunion and marriages/civil partnerships contexts purposes.
Infamously the Whitehall and Immigration Tribunal architects and/or lead and frontline implementers of the Hostile Environment have been responsible for the ‘Skype marriages’ phenomenon – keeping loving partners in legally recognised marriages and civil partnerships, apart, and only able to be together through internet communication (Skype, etc.) means, but essentially denied their most fundamental family life human rights.
LTR is in normal (.gov.uk website source, stated) circumstances given at two levels – temporary (granted at time of publishing this website, for 30 months) and permanent. This latter, applied for before the end of temporary LTR expires, and if granted lasting for 7.5 years [CHECK], making a total of 10 years residency in the UK, enabling British citizenship registration to be applied for. In exceptional circumstances LTR can also be granted, including on an ‘LTR Outside the Rules’ basis.
The Hostile Environment at operational level in regard to LTR has a number of, figuratively-speaking, ‘frontlines’ at which both bogus and many genuine LTR applicants can be challenged, refused, given ultimatums to voluntarily leave the UK, or be forced to through Immigration Tribunal decisions as the legal basis for, for example being taken into detention/deportation centres (IRCs) and subsequently deported (including the use of physical force, in not a few instances): LTR and ILR applications being the main point at which refusals and in some cases, deportations occur. We provide more information on these topics in the relevant sections of this website.
Leave to Remain ‘Outside the Rules’ is a further LTR status. The .gov.uk website and Home Office provide minimal information online or in Home Office / UKVI literature about this type of visa, which is granted on an exceptional circumstances basis.
Useful LTR related links: (A) from the .gov.uk website, and (B) need to know information and independent articles
A: .gov.uk website links:
Applications for leave to remain: validation, variation and withdrawal — Guidance on application forms and procedures for immigration applications and claims.
Details: This guidance explains how an application for leave to remain in the UK is made valid, and what to do if it is not. It also describes how an applicant can change the purpose of an application, withdraw an application and calculate the date of an application.
B: independent [non-Home Office] sources news links and LTR applicant UKVI service users’ experiences of making LTR applications in the age of the Hostile Environment:
There are many news articles and links to independent (non-UK government) reports, research, and enquiries on our Need to Know – Immigration UK website pages, and two are provided below regarding in particular LTR related visa applications, but here it is important to stress that the .gov.uk / Home Office website does not make the crucial data on country by country basis applications, and specific population groups such as LGBTs, but also ‘golden visas/passports’ etc. so easily available to those considering making an LTR application.
This is essential information to have to know the likelihood of making a successful or an unsuccessful application – remember, you may meet the core eligibility criteria (genuineness of family or marriage/civil partner context eligibility, length of partnership, financial eligibility, etc.) but if you belong to an unstated targeted population group the UKVI are still much more likely to use one or more of the 45.000+ changes to the Immigration Rules made since the onset of the Hostile Environment in 2012.
Or simply (the most enduring, unethical, unprofessional method for refusing a strong, genuine application) ignore essential details on your application and substantial supportive evidence accompanying the latter. UK immigration, it has been revealed give 555 hours to refuse a visa application, and just 222 to approve an application.
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/nov/28/hostile-environment-the-hardline-home-office-policy-tearing-families-apart— ‘Hostile environment’: the hardline Home Office policy tearing families apart. Theresa May has relentlessly pledged to make life as difficult as possible for illegal immigrants, but the harsh measures are also wrecking the lives of people who have a right to be here
https://www.ft.com/content/00e1ad38-a7c3-11e9-984c-fac8325aaa04 — Africans twice as likely to be refused UK visa, say MPs .. ‘Chair of parliamentary group insists ‘broken’ application system is harming UK-Africa relations’
Note from the UKLGIG on the consequences of the complexity caused by changes to the ‘Rules’ under the Hostile Environment (2012 to the present/2019):
British immigration law has, over recent years, become increasingly complex and it is now very difficult to provide a general guide. Applicants must read the Immigration Rules (and any related guidance*) before making an application and should not rely on this guide alone.
It has traditionally been UKLGIG’s position that those with ‘straightforward’ applications should be able to make an application without the help of a legal advisor. We now believe that the need for specialist advice has increased due to the complexity of the rules introduced by the UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI), particularly since July 2012.
Source: https://uklgig.org.uk/?page_id=516
*Under the Hostile Environment regime the Home Office bureaucrats with the direct day to day cases workload of the Immigration Tribunal’s President, senior officers, First Tier, and Upper Tribunal judges have awareness of the 45,000+ changes to the ‘Rules’ – many made without any or only cursory liaison with Parliament, and many of which have had UK Immigration Tribunal ‘case law’ as their chief mechanisms for being instituted.