For your attention there is a guidance in place on immigration provisions made by the Home Office for individuals affected by travel restrictions associated with coronavirus (COVID-19).
Subject to the guidance, most people in the UK whose immigration status is affected by the coronavirus outbreak will get an automatic extension of their visa until 31 March 2020.
Licensed Tier 2, Tier 4 or Tier 5 sponsors: absences due to coronavirus
Due to current coronavirus circumstances Tier 4 students or Tier 2/5 employees may be prevented from attending their studies or employment due to illness, the need to serve a period of quarantine or the inability to travel due to travel restrictions caused by coronavirus.
Sponsors do not need to report student or employee absences related to coronavirus which they have authorised. Sponsors do not need to withdraw sponsorship if they consider there are exceptional circumstances when:
- a student will be unable to attend for more than 60 days
- an employee is absent from work without pay for four weeks or more
Decisions on whether to withdraw a student from their studies or terminate an employment are for sponsors to make. To highlight, the Home Office recognises the current situation is exceptional and will not take any compliance action against students or employees who are unable to attend their studies/work due to the coronavirus outbreak, or against sponsors which authorise absences and continue to sponsor students or employees despite absences for this reason. The Home Office will keep this under review, especially if the length of absences mean a potential repeat of period of studies become necessary. For more information please visit Gov.co.uk or get in contact with us.