Discretionary Leave To Remain In The UK Explained

The Immigration Rules are intended to be an exhaustive legal framework for deciding who should be allowed to enter and stay in the UK. Ordinarily, if a non-UK citizen cannot show that they meet the requirements of one of the many categories of permission set out in the Rules, they will not be able to stay in the UK. However, there may be exceptional circumstances which mean that not allowing someone to remain in the UK would breach their human rights or otherwise be considered ‘unjustifiably harsh', even if they do not qualify under the Rules. Discretionary Leave (‘DL') is one of the tools the Home Office can use to deal with such scenarios. 

Discretionary Leave and Other Types of Immigration Permission