Dec 12, 2023 By visaandmigration.com

What you must do if your UK visa is refused

The UK is a land of opportunity. Hence, thousands of foreign nationals apply for a UK visa every year. Many of those applicants' visa is refused. UK visa refusal happens for various reasons. These reasons include but are not limited to the following:

 The applicant did not complete the correct application form or filled out the form incorrectly;
 The applicant has provided incorrect or fake documentation as a deception;
 If the applicant is the subject of a deportation order or has a criminal record that calls for a minimum 4-year jail sentence;
 Applicant has concealed information about any criminal history on purpose;
 The applicant is unable to show the funds required to travel to the UK;
 On a prior visit to the UK, the applicant overstayed their visa or provided falsified documentation;
 The applicant fails to meet the requirements for the visa

What are the Options Available after a UK Visa has been refused?

If you think that your visa has been refused for the wrong reasons and you deserve a chance to get the decision on your visa refusal overturned, you have the right to avail one of the following options available.

 Administrative Review
 Appeal to First-tier Tribunal
 Judicial Review
 Re-apply

1. Administrative Review

You can apply for an administrative review only if:

 You live outside the UK and applied for a UK visa from outside the UK or
 You live in the UK and applied for a UK visa inside the UK and
 You do not have a right to appeal against the visa refusal decision
 You didn’t apply on a Standard Visitor visa
 You live in the UK, and your visa application was successful, but you are unhappy about the conditions of your leave

Whether you have a right to go for an administrative review or not will be clearly stated in your visa rejection letter. If you choose to go ahead with an administrative review, you can apply online for £80.
Usually, it takes up to 6 months or more to get a decision after applying for an administrative review. The Home Office will contact you with an update if a decision is yet to be reached within 6 months.

After the review process, you will receive a decision letter. This letter will tell you if your visa was approved or if you need to apply for a second review.

2. Appeal to First-tier Tribunal

The right to appeal to a first-tier tribunal is available if you think that your visa refusal by the Home Office is a breach of UK Immigration laws, human rights, international declarations such as the European Convention on Human Rights, and interracial relationships. In your visa refusal letter, it will be stated that you have a right to appeal.
In most cases, you or your immigration lawyer can apply online. There is a special form to submit your appeal. If you applied for a fresh visa that got refused you need to submit an appeal within 28 days and in case you applied for a visa extension, you have 14 days after the refusal date to submit an appeal.
You may be asked to appear in court during the hearing process of your case as a witness. If you are outside the UK you can request or video link or ask your lawyer to represent you in the court.
You will be informed about the result via mail or on your online portal.
If the decision is in your favor you will be granted a UK visa. If the decision is not in your favor you may appeal to the upper tribunal or choose to reapply.

3. Judicial Review

Judicial review can be exercised to challenge administrative decisions made by the Home Office in relation to your immigration, human rights, or asylum application or decision made by the first-tier tribunal.
Judicial review does not consider whether the decision made by the Home Office was right or wrong. This is used only to determine whether the process used to reach the decision in question was lawful.

4. Reapply

Reapplying for the visa in question may be the easiest option. You can address mistakes and grounds of UK visa refusal and submit new documents or evidence in the fresh application.