Court of Appeal game-changer for validity and continuous residence.

The recent case law of R (Afzal) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 1909 which finds: that whilst “book-ended” overstaying does not break continuous residence, neither can that period be counted towards the five or ten year qualifying period; that paragraph 39E applies not just to application refusals but also notices of invalidity, regardless of whether section 3C leave is in play; Confirms that in most cases, invalidity (and by extension validity) occurs automatically by operation of law, regardless of whether the Home Office issues a notice of invalidity and it also extends the Mirza exception to retrospective invalidity beyond biometrics.