You will be informed in your decision letter if you can ask for the decision on your application to be reviewed. This is known as an ‘administrative review’.

Depending on the application that has been submitted to the Home Office it may not give rise to a right to appeal, instead they will give a right to an Administrative Review.

An Administrative Review is the process where an applicant requests that Home Office reconsider thier decision and must occur within a specified time period. 

We can help you decide if this is the best course of action in light of any decision that has been made as our legal team have experience in making Administrative Review applications.

If the Home Office maintain their decision we can then advise as to the next steps including considering whether an application for Judicial Review should be started.

Appeals

We handle a variety of immigration appeals before the First-tier and Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) and as a result, we have an excellent track record of getting positive results for our clients.

We recognise that preparing and submitting an immigration appeal may be a difficult and time-consuming procedure, so our skilled legal team can assist you with the preparation and submission and representation of your appeal.

At present, in the UK there are rights of appeal against the following decisions:

• Refusal of human rights and protection claims and revocation of protection status.
• Refusal of a visa and refusal to vary leave to remain in some situations where the application was made before the Immigration Act 2014 was in force.
• Deprivation of British citizenship where section 40A of the British Nationality Act 1981 applies.

Appeal System

Two Tribunals hear immigration appeals, the First-tier Tribunal and the Upper Tribunal. The First-tier Tribunal hears appeals, challenging decisons made by the Home Office.

The Upper Tribunal hears appeals made against the desicions made by the First-tier Tribunal. An Immigration Judge or panel will decide whether your appeal is successful or not and this will be confirmed in writing.

If a case is lost in the First-tier Tribunal we may be able to argue that the decision was legally wrong. For example, it may be possible that the First-tier Tribunal did not apply the correct law, wrongly interpreted the law, did not follow the correct procedure, or had insufficient evidence to support its decision. 

The applicant must ask the First-tier Tribunal for permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal. The deadline to ask the Upper Tribunal for permission to appeal is 14 days after the date of the decision if you are inside the UK, and 28 days after the date of the decision, if you are outside the UK.

How can we help

Our team of professionally qualified immigration specialists will guide you through the process of your immigration appeal step by step, complying with the strict letter of the law and limiting the possibility of failure.

Judicial Review (JR) is the legal process that allows a person to challenge the lawfulness of a decision, action or failure to act of a public entity such as the UK Visas and Immigration or the Home Office.

It is important to stress that Judicial Rreview is not a re-run on the merits of the decision – Judges confine themselves to considering whether the decision being challenged was lawful and complies with the principles of public law. The potential grounds for Judicial Review are those of illegality, irrationality and procedural unfairness.   

If a Judicial Review claim is successful, the usual result is that the decision is “quashed” or nullified and has to be made again. While this means that the public body can reach the same decision again, the need to follow proper procedure means that, in practice, at least a better, and often substantially different result. 

Judicial Review is a tool by which a decision of a public body can be challenged by a person who is affected, it occurs mainly where there is no right of appeal or any other remedy available to the person.

The issue of Judicial Review will arise in immigration matters where the Home Office have made a decision which is wrong, where a Home Office decision does not have a right of appeal due to the immigration law, or where the Home Office certify an application, meaning that an appeal can only be brought from outside the UK.

A decision of the Immigration Tribunal may also be challenged. If after considering your case we feel that the decision of the Home Office needs to be challenged, then this is a route which may be available.

Procedure

In order to start an application for Judicial Review, a Pre-Action Protocol letter is sent to the Home Office. This is a letter before claim giving the Home Office reasonable time to resolve the matter without moving to the stage of issuing Judicial Review proceedings, which will incur costs. If the Home Office maintain their decision, then the grounds for Judicial Review will be filed with the Upper Tribunal/ Administrative Court. In urgent cases the 14 days time limit can be dispensed with.

Should the Home Office maintain their decision then the grounds for Judicial Review will be settled and your Judicial Review must be filed no later than three months after the grounds upon which the Claim is based first arose (CPR Part 54.4). Judicial Review applications can be submitted outside the time limits but a request to seek an extension of time would need to be attached as well, but this does not mean the out of time will be accepted, it will depend on a number of factors.

Your Judicial Review claim will then be considered by a Judge who may or not grant permission to bring the proceedings. If Permission is not granted, then you may renew your application, but there is only a 9-day time limit.

We can help you deal with the issue of submitting an application for Judicial Review as our legal team have experience of drafting grounds and arranging experienced represenation in Judicial Review proceedings.