Anyone tried requesting additional time in visa using ‘exceptional indemnity’?

According to home office guidelines you can request additional time if your visa has expired through the exceptional indemnity process.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus ... -residents
If you intend to leave the UK but are not able to do so by 31 August 2020, you may request additional time to stay, also known as ‘exceptional indemnity’, by contacting the coronavirus immigration team (CIT).

Has anyone tried this and got this approved.

Direct flights to some south american countries are only starting in November. My friend would like to use the direct flight (which he has a ticket for already which got cancelled due to COVID) and not book a new ticket through another European or American city. What are his chances of getting additional time on the visa. He is in the UK through on a visitor visa.

Your friend may have to justify why he is unwilling to take a reasonable indirect flight.

Also, does his passport allow him to enter the Schengen Zone for a short period of time? He could look at take a flight from Paris, travelling there by Eurostar.

donblount wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 04, 2020 11:41 am

. My friend would like to use the direct flight (which he has a ticket for already which got cancelled due to COVID)

He will definitely be recompensed either through card/cash refund or voucher/coupon but his choice to fly with direct flight only might not be considered. Most national airlines which offer direct flights are at the brink of being collapsed or temporarily ceases and couldn't be able to accommodate everyone. Therefore, same as Secret Simon has said using indirect flights preferably from Europe will be ideal as most south Americans are visa free nationals to most EU countries.