Definition of Overstay according to Home Office

Hi,

I have read at various websites that:

From 2nd July 2007, the Home Office intends to AUTOMATICALLY REFUSE anyone who overstayed in the UK for 28 calendar days or more before making their application to extend their visa.

For example as stated at http://www.sussex.ac.uk/International/a ... verstaying

Does this mean that a person whose visa expired about a week or two ago is ok as long as he makes an application for extension of stay etc?
In other words will a person with less than 28 days of stay after visa expiry be classified as a over stayer or not?

I have been trying to find related news/rule on the government official websites but have not been able to find the rules that explain who is classified as an overstayer.

Any help will be highly appreciated.

Thank you

arts99, the definition of an overstayer is quite clear, that is a person who illegally stays in the country past the expiry of a visa, without an application for further leave lodged before the expiry.

That article describes a change in policy where "overstayers of 28 days or more" will no longer be able to benefit from the discretion of caseworkers, i.e. their applications will be automatically rejected. The home office/BIA is adopting a harder stance towards overstayers, as we've seen for spouse visas.

paulp, thank you very much for responding to my post.

So does this mean that at the moment the case workers have discretionary powers that they can use while dealing with cases for people who have not overstayed for more than 28 days?

Yes, caseworkers have discretionary powers regarding overstay, usually used for spouse visas and work permits. If you have overstayed by less than 28 days, you can try to appeal to their better nature maybe by way of medical, academic or personal problems that may have affected you.

You can approach the international office of your university to help you with these matters.