UK Visa Refusal – The Next steps
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UK Visa refusal, so you have had the wait for the decision on your UK visa application only to be informed the application has been refused! After the initial emotional outrage and then trying to comprehend the reasons for your refusal you are now at a crossroads and seemingly just don’t know which way to turn – correct?
Well, the signposts are very clear to either appeal if your case meets the requirements or if it does not and you feel you have a strong case then it is worthwhile considering submitting a fresh application. However, it is strongly recommended that on a fresh application or an appeal that advice is taken from a suitably qualified registered UK immigration specialist who can deal with your case quickly and help you avoid the pitfalls that occurred during the first application.
UK visa refusal/UK appeals procedure
Normally, when explaining about whether or not a UK visa refusal attracts the “right of appeal”, we explain about a “full right of appeal”. There is, however, also another class of appeal, the “limited right of appeal” also referred to as the “residual right of appeal”. The difference is this, a full right of appeal gives you the right to appeal against the reason for the refusal. In contrast, a limited, or residual, right of appeal does not. You can only exercise a limited/residual right of appeal on two grounds, they are – if you believe that the decision to refuse your application is unlawful on human rights grounds and or on race discrimination grounds. Apart from these two classes of appeals, the UK immigration rules also provide for an “Administrative Review”. This is not an appeal, it is a review of the refusal decision by an Entry Clearance Manager. While an Administrative Review is not a right of appeal, we will cover the Administrative Review as well.
A Limited Right of Appeal – What is it?
All UK visa refusal decisions attract a right of appeal on residual or limited rights of appeal. These are defined as appeals on race discrimination and human rights grounds. Because they come from legislation that is not immigration based -solely. If you applied in a visa category that does not attract a full right of appeal, you will have been issued with refusal notice form GV51 LRA (LRA = Limited Right of Appeal). The Refusal notice will mention that you have a limited right of appeal only. It will not, however, explain how to exercise that right of appeal and it will not include an Appeal form.
UK Visa Refusal – Right Of Appeal
If you wish to submit an appeal on race discrimination or human rights grounds and were refused with a limited right of appeal, you can request the Embassy for form IAFT-2 via VFS. The Embassy must provide you with an IAFT-2 appeal form and re-serve the reasons of refusal on a GV51 FRA – Full Right of Appeal refusal notice. You will have 28 days from the date of receipt of the GV51(FRA) to lodge the appeal with the Tribunals Service in the UK.
Limited Right of Appeal Applications
Essentially all visa refusals attract a limited right of appeal because even if you have a full right of appeal, you can still raise human rights and race discrimination grounds. From July 9, 2012, those that are refused with a limited/residual right of appeal only are:
- General visitors
- Applicants refused a visa to visit a non-qualifying relation or family member
- Business visitors
- Academic visitors
- Doctors on assignments with Hospitals
- Students
- All PBS – points based system classes
- Dependants who apply at the same time as the main applicant, when the main applicant is refused
Full right of Appeal – UK Visa Refusal
The following categories of applicant attract the full right of appeal:
- Settlement and dependants classes. This applies to dependants where the main applicant has been issued entry clearance and is in the UK. Also to applicants that wish to join “settled” family member(s) in the UK.
- EEA family permits with an exception. If you have not provided evidence of the EEA national’s nationality or of your relationship to the EEA national, a refusal does not attract the full right of appeal.
- Overseas domestic workers.
You will have been issued with form GV51 FRA – FRA = Full Right of Appeal, your appeal rights and the appeal procedures will have been explained on the form, and you will have received an appeal form IAFT-2.
Administrative Review of A Visa Decision
If you have applied under the Points Based System, you have a limited right of appeal, not a full right of appeal. This means that you cannot appeal against the refusal decision but you can appeal on race discrimination grounds and human rights grounds only. You do, however, have the right to request an Administrative Review. The review is not a right of appeal. As a result, the decision to refuse your application will not be reviewed by an Immigration Judge instead, a review is carried out by an Entry Clearance Manager.
Administrative Review – What is it ?
If you think that the Entry Clearance Officer has made an error in refusing your visa application under the points-based system, you can ask an Entry Clearance Manager to check the original decision. This is an administrative review. The review will, for example, look at whether your claimed points were correctly assessed. The administrative review is free of charge. You must ask for an administrative review no more than 28 days after the date when you receive the refusal notice (GV51). When UKVI sends you the refusal notice, they will also send you, an administrative review request notice, an administrative review request notice guidance notes and please note you must complete the request notice in full, and send it to the address stated on the request notice.
You must not send any additional documents such as your passport, travel document or supporting documents. Any additional documents you sent will not be considered. The Entry Clearance Manager checks if the original decision was correct at the time they reached the decision – on the basis of the documents that were available to the Entry Clearance Officer at the time you submitted your application. If the UKVI overturns the refusal decision, they will ask you to send in your passport or travel document to affix your visa inside.
The administrative review will be completed within 28 days you will be notified of the result in writing. To ensure that the review is independent, the review result may well not be sent from the Embassy that made the original decision. You may request only one administrative review per refusal decision. If you make any further requests for the same refusal decision, UKVI will not accept them and will return them back to you.
Dependants of applicants under the PBS – points-based system
If the UKVI rejects your partners or children’s application for a visa as the dependant of a points-based system applicant, they cannot request an administrative review. This is because an administrative review is used to assess whether points have been correctly awarded, and your dependant did not apply under the points-based system. Your dependant, however, will have a limited or full right of appeal. Whether they have a limited or full right of appeal will be stated on the refusal notice (GV51…).
Useful Links
Immigration tribunal chamber UK
Appeal against a decision .Gov.UK
A guide to UK Settlement Visas