How To Vary An Existing Immigration Application

It is possible to vary an existing immigration application under the Immigration Rules, that is to submit another application whilst you already have an application pending. There are, however, certain complexities associated with this.

The Home Office's Guidance clarifies that the variation rules apply to both applications made under the Immigration Rules in and outside of the UK, however the variation rules "are currently only applied in practice as variation requirements to applications made in the UK." This post therefore concerns variations of permission to stay applications, those made within the UK.

What is a variation application?

A variation application is "any further application" that is made when an applicant has an outstanding application, for the purposes of this blog, the outstanding application is one for permission to stay in the UK ("the original application"). Paragraph 34BB of the Immigration Rules identifies some of the requirements of