The Home Office state that a person is destitute if: 

• They do not have adequate accommodation or any means of obtaining it, whether or not their other essential living needs are met; or 

• They have adequate accommodation or the means of obtaining it but cannot meet their other essential living need

Applications to have the NRPF restriction lifted require a large amount of evidence. Although you may feel that the Home Office should already hold some of this information, it is the applicant’s responsibility to prove that they are eligible to have the restriction lifted, and all relevant evidence must be submitted. 

The Home Office website lists the following types of evidence as required: 

• Your digital immigration status, or your passport, to prove your identity 

• Six months of bank statements for all accounts held by all members of your household, including children and accounts that are rarely used. Statements should be annotated to explain any significant or regular transactions 

• Pay slips covering the most recent six months 

• A breakdown of monthly income and expenditure 

• A recent tenancy agreement or mortgage statement 

• Recent utility bills and other relevant household bills 

• A recent P45 or P60 

• A letter from an employer confirming the length of employment, hours worked and salary. The letter should state the writer’s position in the organisation and include contact details 

• A recent letter from a local authority confirming any support being provided 

• A recent letter from a registered charity or other organisation providing support 

• Recent letters from family or friends who are providing support, confirming how often support is given and in what form 

• A recent letter confirming that you, your spouse or your partner is in receipt of public funds, if applicable 

Any additional evidence showing your current destitution or financial difficulties should also be submitted. This may include credit card or loan statements, letters confirming debts, or medical records or sick notes showing that you are unable to work. You should also include a breakdown of your income and expenditure, which can be provided using the attached spreadsheet. 

It is strongly recommended that you include a cover letter explaining your current financial situation and why you are asking for the NRPF restriction to be lifted. Once you have submitted the online application, you will be given details of where to send your evidence by email or post.  

You should ensure that all evidence is ready before completing the application.  

Special care must be taken when providing bank statements. The Home Office may carry out a credit check, and, if accounts are identified that have not been declared, the application may be refused. 

Six months of bank statements must be provided for all accounts held by everyone in the household, even if the accounts are empty. You must annotate your statements to explain any significant or regular transactions. As a general guide, you should explain any transaction over £50. 

If you regularly receive financial support from friends or family members, you should ask them to write a letter explaining this. 

Once you have gathered your evidence, you can fill out the ‘change of conditions’ application form. 

This application is free and can be made online. 

There are no set times for these applications to be decided, so they can take a long time. The Home Office will look at the applications when they receive them and assess how urgent they are. It is important that you explain the urgency in any letter you submit.  

They prioritise them in 3 categories:  

• Tier 1 - where an applicant is street homeless or has a serious vulnerability which makes their situation very urgent, the application should be considered as soon as possible within 72 working hours (excluding public holidays) 

• Tier 2 - where the applicant or one of their dependants has serious vulnerabilities but their situation is not considered to be so urgent as to meet Tier 1, the application should be considered as soon as possible within 14 working days 

• Tier 3 - all other applications will be considered as usual: there is no set service standard - however, all reasonable efforts should be made to consider cases as soon as possible 

If the application is granted, then you will be able to access public funds for the length of your leave, and whilst any in-time application for further leave is outstanding. 

If the application is refused, there is no right of appeal. You can ask the Home Office to look at it again (a ‘reconsideration’). This will only work if they failed to consider evidence that you supplied before the decision or applied the law wrongly. 

Alternatively, you can make a new change of conditions application with evidence that deals with the reasons why the application was refused. 

If you are finding it difficult to make this application yourself, you can make a referral to GMIAU and our destitution team might be able to assist you with making the application.