Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is his policy to backdate the granting of further leave to remain in cases where a decision has been withheld pending criminal charges but where the applicant is subsequently found innocent of all charges.

There is no provision in the Immigration Rules to backdate a grant of leave. If an individual made an application prior to expiry of previous leave, that leave will have been extended by virtue of Section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971 until such time as the application is decided, meaning there would be no break in lawful stay in the UK.

Those who apply after expiry of previous leave will have their stay regularised from the date their application is granted, but the intervening period will not retrospectively be considered as lawful.