If your visa has been refused by the Home Office, you may wish to exercise your right of appeal to the First Tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chambers) if you think that the refusal was unlawful.
The UK Visas & Immigration – UKVI (Home Office) is always tightening the Immigration Rules and introducing more stringent qualification requirements – making it more and more difficult to applicants to succeed in their visa, settlement or citizenship applications.
Those applicants who do not consider getting specialist legal advice and representation before making their applications often get refused as they are not able to understand and meed the ever changing policy considerations and immigration rules.
That said there is always a significant number of cases in which the refusal results from an unlawful error or omission of the decision maker (Entry Clearance Officer or The Secretary of State). In such cases the decision maker might not have been able to:
♠ consider the facts of the case or the supporting evidence;
♠ correctly interpret and apply the relevant law;
♠ establish a particular question of fact on the balance of probabilities.
If any of the above applies it is highly advisable to exercise your right of appeal to the First Tier Tribunal where an independent judge – who will be much more well-versed in interpretation and application of the correct law – will appreciate the legal grounds raised in appeal.
If your application for visa, immigration or asylum has been refused, Citizen Lawyer can help you enforce your right of appeal by representing you at the Immigration Tribunal to achieve the desired results.
Our expert immigration lawyers will need to review the refusal letter in order to see whether it is a good idea to go for appeal or whether it’s better to file a new application. You must however know that any previous refusal may have a negative bearing on your future applications for immigration to any country in the world in the UK. You should therefore ask a specialist immigration lawyer to see if it’s good for you to exercise your right of appeal.
You should book your consultation with Citizen Lawyer in London or Birmingham to discuss your options with regards to your right of appeal. Citizen Lawyer offer specialist immigration advice and tribunal representation for appeal at affordable fixed fees. You can also call us at: 02034755321 or email at: info@citizen.lawyer
Reasons for refusal and time frames to appeal
A significant number of refused visa and immigration applications succeed at the immigration Tribunal when the applicants choose to exercise their right of appeal by engaging specialist immigration lawyers to represent them. Getting your visa refused therefore does not mean that you will not succeed in your visa, immigration or settlement application.
Exercising your right of appeal may be the best way forward not only because you may win your desired visa or immigration, you may also prevent your immigration from being tarnished. As mentioned above, once an applicant is refused a visa for any country, any future visa applications for any country are at a higher risk of refusal
You must also note that there are time limits on when you can exercise your right of appeal. For instance, if you are appealing from outside the UK, you have 28 days from the date of the refusal to file an appeal. If however you are in the UK and are able to appeal the decision in question from within the UK, you will have do so within 14 days from the date of refusal – unless your appeal is under the ‘detained fast track’ process which has a deadline of 2 working days.
| Your situation | When you must appeal by |
|---|---|
| You’re in the detained fast-track | 2 working days |
| You’re inside the UK | 14 days after the date on the written reasons for the decisions |
| You’re outside the UK | 28 days after the date on the written reasons for the decisions |
If you want to appeal a decision made by the First Tier Tribunal to the Upper Tier Tribunal you have different time limits to abide by as follows. You will however need to apply to the First Tier Tribunal to get a permission to appeal.
| Your situation | When you must appeal by |
|---|---|
| You’re in the detained fast-track | 3 working days after you get the decision |
| You’re inside the UK | 14 days after the date on the written reasons for the decisions |
| You’re outside the UK | 28 days after the date on the written reasons for the decisions |
If you have been denied the permission to appeal by the First Tier Tribunal, you will be able to apply to the Upper Tier Tribunal for permission to appeal. You will however need to do so within the time limits as follows:
| Your situation | When you must appeal by |
|---|---|
| You’re in the detained fast-track | 4 working days after you get the decision |
| You’re inside the UK | 14 days after the date on the decision |
| You’re outside the UK | 1 month after the date on the decision |
If you appeal after these time frames have expired, your appeal will be deemed as invalid and you will lose both the appeals and the right of appeal. However, in certain circumstances it is possible to submit an appeal after the expiry of these limits.
So long as you file your appeal within the above mentioned time limits, your right to stay in the UK will continue until your appeal rights are exhausted.
Benefits of Appealing a Refusal
♠ Increased prospects of getting your visa granted
♠ Cheaper than making a new application
♠ Continued right to work and stay in the UK
♠ Opportunity to get a specialist lawyer to present your case
♠ Review and decision by an independent judge
We specialise in:
♠ applications for Visas & Immigration
♠ applications for Asylum and Humanitarian Protection
♠ legal representation in correspondence with the Home Office and at Home Office interviews
♠ further representations to the Home Office
♠ drafting client statements, including asylum statements
♠ submitting One-Stop Notices
♠ lodging notices of appeal and statements of additional grounds
♠ applications for Chief Immigration Officers bail, and bail applications to the Tribunal
♠ representations regarding on-going immigration casework to MPs
♠ instructing a barrister or advocate for advice on drafting appropriate grounds of appeal