Visa refusal is quite common. The applicants themselves can make a mistake or may not include the relevant evidence in support of the application which leads to a refusal of the application. In some cases, there may be incorrect consideration due to which the applicant can also be refused.
The simplest and most common reason for the visa refusal is incorrect submission or omission of details in the application form. Similarly not attaching required documents is also one of the most common reasons for visa refusal. Like this, there are other reasons why your visa application may be refused.
Once your visa application has been refused what can you do? Well, you can apply a fresh application correcting the mistakes pointed out as a reason in the refusal letter. You can seek administrative review – if granted the right to do so – or go for an appeal against the decision if you have been granted the right of appeal.
In cases where you do not have a right to administrative review or right of appeal, you can only challenge the refusal by way of Judicial Review – where your case is looked by an independent judge.
Generally, you are always informed by the UK Home Office in your refusal letter whether you are entitled to the administrative review/appeal or not and also includes the reasons for refusal of your application.
Administrative Review is granted if you are detained at the border, upon refusal of a point-based system application and there is a strict timeline to 7 days if you are detained, 28 days if you made an application from outside the UK and 14 days if you made an application from within the UK
You can appeal against the decision to the tribunal only if you have been granted the right to appeal. You will be informed about it in the refusal letter from the Home Office. You can appeal in the following conditions:
- The Home office has refused your protection claim/asylum claim/humanitarian protection.
- There is a refusal of your human rights claim.
- You got a decision under the European Economic Area (EEA) Regulations like the Home Office has decided to deport you or refused to issue you a residence document.
- A decision to revoke your protection status has been given.
- British citizenship is being taken away.
If you are appealing in the UK, you can appeal within the 14 days of receiving a refusal letter. If you are applying for appeal from outside the UK, you have 28 days to appeal after receiving the refusal letter. If you apply after the deadline, you must explain the reason for appealing late. In this situation, the tribunal will decide if it can still hear your appeal or not.
You can file your appeal form with supporting documents. After this, there will be hearing of your appeal by a judge who will hear your case and usually judgment is given in 3-4 weeks. You will get the judgment in writing, however, you should keep in mind that the appeal process can be lengthy and expensive
Reconsideration
The UK rules provide a right of reconsideration if your application has been refused for NTL, TOC or you made an application to extend your leave, switch your visa or settle in the UK. It is important to note that this provision generally applies to applications made inside the UK, however, you can always request reconsideration.
Generally, an application made within the UK will only be reconsidered if -
- new evidence about the date of the application
- new evidence to prove that your documents were authentic
- evidence that information received by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) before the decision date was not available to the team who made the decision
Judicial Review
If you intend to challenge the decision via a Judicial Review this must be done within 3 months from the date of the decision to refuse. Judicial review is a stage-wise process and in some cases can be lengthy and expensive and you should always seek professional assistance with this because if you get something wrong then the case may be thrown out of the court.
Seek expert’s advice throughout
You should seek an expert’s advice when you are making a visa application for the first time so that there is no chance of visa refusal. However, if you did not do so, you must seek expert advice after the visa refusal. This is vital because all the preparation and presentation of your case will be done now by an expert representative which gives you the maximum chance of decision coming in your favor.
If you need expert advice for UK Visa refusal, get in touch with our experts now, call +44 (0)20 3411 1261 or visit www.visaandmigration.com
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