Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is her policy to withhold a decision on applications for further leave to remain in cases where the applicant is facing criminal charges.

It is the Secretary of State’s policy to defer a decision on a leave to remain application where there is a criminal prosecution pending, as the outcome is likely to be material to the decision on that application.

How long an application from a person with a pending prosecution recorded against them must be held undecided will depend on what stage the criminal proceedings have reached, and when the relevant criminal justice system is in a position to resolve it. In the majority of cases where a prosecution outcome is awaited, and the outstanding application cannot be refused under the Immigration Rules as it stands on the basis of existing evidence, it may only be resolved once the court case is concluded. Where a person has valid leave when they make an application, their existing immigration status is preserved pending resolution of the application for further leave.