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Appeal against a visa or immigration decision

You might be able to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) if the Home Office has:

  • refused your protection claim (also known as ‘asylum claim’ or ‘humanitarian protection’)
  • refused your human rights claim
  • made a decision under the European Economic Area (EEA) Regulations, for example the Home Office
  • has decided to deport you or refused to issue you a residence document
  • decided to revoke your protection status
  • decided to take away your British citizenship

You might also be able to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) about a Home Office decision on an application submitted before 6 April 2015.

The tribunal is independent of government. A judge will listen to both sides of the argument before making a decision.

You can only appeal to the tribunal if you have the legal right to appeal – you’ll usually be told if you do in your decision letter. You have 14 days from the date of your decision to make an appeal, if you appeal after this date you will need to give an explanation why and the tribunal will decide whether or not it can hear your appeal.

Speak to our assessment team now to confirm your eligibility and options for free on 0203 384 4389.

Further Information

Oral Hearings

You can ask on your appeal form for a decision to be made either:

  • just on the information in your appeal form and any documents supplied to the tribunal
  • at a hearing that you or your representative can attend.

The tribunal can decide to have a hearing even if you don’t ask for one. You’ll be told if this is the case and invited to attend.

If the tribunal doesn’t hold a hearing, a judge will decide your case based on your appeal form and the documents.

Hearings are carried out in public. You can ask for it to be held in private or to attend by video link, but you must have a reason, for example a public hearing would put you in danger.

You can ask for a male or female judge if you think there are issues in your appeal that make it appropriate. The tribunal will decide if it can do this.

Applications made before 6 April 2015

You might be able to appeal against a decision made by the Home Office if you submitted your application before 6 April 2015 and it was refused.

Tier 1, 2 or 5 migrants and family members

You can make an appeal if you applied for leave to remain as a Tier 1, 2 or 5 migrant or family member before 2 March 2015 and your application was refused on or after 6 April 2015.

You can only do this if your application being refused means you don’t have permission (‘leave’) to enter or
remain in the UK.

Tier 4 migrants and family members

You can make an appeal if you applied for permission to remain as a Tier 4 migrant or family member before 20 October 2014 and your application was refused on or after 6 April 2015.

You can only do this if your application being refused means you don’t have permission (‘leave’) to enter or remain in the UK.

Other decisions

You can appeal against certain other Home Office decisions if you applied before 6 April 2015 and your application was refused on or after the same date.

You can only do this if the Home Office’s decision didn’t include refusing an asylum or human rights claim.

Leave to enter

You can appeal if your application for leave to enter was refused.

Vary your leave to enter or remain

You can appeal if your application to change (‘vary’) the length and conditions of your stay in the UK was refused. You can only do this if your application being refused means you don’t have permission (‘leave’) to enter or remain in the UK.

Entry clearance

You can appeal if your application for entry clearance was refused.

Certificate of entitlement

You can appeal if your application for a certificate of entitlement to prove you have a right of abode in the UK was refused.

If there is a hearing

We will write to you with details of where to go for your hearing.

If you can’t attend yourself you can ask someone to represent you and ask witnesses to attend.

You may have to give evidence at the hearing and answer questions.

You may need to take part in a ‘pre-hearing’, where the tribunal will check that you’re ready for a full hearing.

The hearing will be attended by:

  • a judge or judges, sometimes with other tribunal members
  • your representative
  • any witnesses called to give evidence
  • an interpreter, if you’ve asked for one

It can also be attended by:

  • a Home Office ‘presenting officer’
  • your sponsor, if you have one

If your appeal can’t be resolved at the hearing

If your appeal isn’t held on its scheduled day for any reason (for example there isn’t a judge available) it’ll be rescheduled for another day.

Your hearing may also be adjourned as ‘part heard’ if there isn’t enough time to finish it, or it can’t be resolved on the day. The tribunal will arrange another hearing with the same people present.

Get a decision

You’ll be given a decision in person or by post.

The tribunal will either decide to:

  • allow your appeal – this doesn’t automatically mean you’ll be able to enter or stay in the country and may simply mean the Home Office has to reconsider its decision
  • dismiss your appeal and uphold the Home Office’s original decision

You’ll usually get a copy of the tribunal’s decision within 4 weeks of the hearing.

Both you and the Home Office can appeal the decision of the tribunal.

The tribunal can order either you or the Home Office to pay the other’s costs if either of you has acted unreasonably.

If you win your appeal

The Home Office will change (‘revise’) its decision if you win your appeal. The Home Office may reconsider your entire application if your circumstances have changed since you first made your appeal.

The judge may order the Home Office to pay you a ‘fee award’ if you win your appeal, up to the amount you paid for your tribunal fee.

If you lose your appeal

You can ask for permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) if you lose your case and you think there’s a legal mistake with the tribunal’s decision.

For example, you think the tribunal:

  • got the law wrong
  • didn’t apply the correct law
  • didn’t follow the correct procedures, which affected the decision
  • had no evidence to support its decision

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WHAT IS THE BENEFIT OF USING UK IMMIGRATION SOLICITORS?

Immigration rules are complex and subject to regular changes and revisions. This itself presents problems as it is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of and have complied with any changes to the routes, processes and evidence requirements. 

Failure to meet strict rules is likely to result in the application being refused which, in turn, is likely have an emotional and financial strain on you and your family. 

It is our job to ensure we are fully aware of the latest immigration rules, policies and procedures. We don’t leave matters to chance. Once you become a client of ours, we explain our strategy and tell you exactly how we propose to get you the right result. We will pinpoint the positives and negatives of your circumstances and explain where issues may arise and what would need to be done to fix them. We provide step by step guidance and advice throughout the entire process professionally. Our vast experience allows us to foresee problems before they arise and pro-actively adopt a strategic action plan.

Our legal fees are always agreed and fixed with you right at the beginning of your case, so you have complete peace of mind and control over the costs to ensure there are no restrictions or unpleasant surprises.

There are many online agencies, advisors and marketing companies who claim to be immigration experts but, provide very little expertise.

Let us be very clear here, if you are paying for someone just to fill in the forms for you, you should think about how you can put that money to better use and avoid gambling with your future by using inexperienced and ineffective companies.

We are a fully regulated nationwide, multi award winning law firm that specialises in immigration. Having more than 60 years of combined expertise and having handled more than 8,000 cases we have unrivalled experience and expertise to ensure you get the right result first time around – Don’t take our word for it though, check out our reviews to see why our clients trust us with their futures. We are rated 5* across the board and 98% of our clients have confirmed that they would recommend us to others. *

We have illustrated our typical scope of service below so you can understand what we do for you as paid of our service:

 

  • Our immigration specialists carry out a free detailed assessment with you to understand your circumstances and needs.
  • The collated information is then reviewed by a senior immigration solicitor who will have no less than 8 years’ immigration experience.
  • Based on the information collected, the senior solicitor will then confirm what your options are and will also confirm if we are able to help you.
  • We will offer you an Agreed Fixed Fee quotation for us to handle your entire case until initial conclusion without obligation. 
  • If we have officially taken your instructions, we will create a client file for you and collect detailed initial information.
  • We will then ensure you receive a personalised one-to-one legal consultation with a senior immigration solicitor who will take your full instructions by exploring your circumstances in detail and advise you on the best way to meet your objectives. The solicitor will explain the relevant legislations and provide you with advice on the steps that we would need to take to get a successful result.
  • The senior solicitor who carried out your legal consultation will then send you detailed written legal advice explaining everything that needs to be done and which documents will be required as part of the process. We will tell you about any problem areas and formulate a strategy to overcome/mitigate these. 
  • We will carefully review any documents that you have provided in support of the application. These documents are then validated and formatted to ensure that they meet the UKVI specified evidence requirements. Where they do not, we will explain what needs to be done to address the issues.
  • Where required, we will prepare any necessary written legal arguments or representations that are required to support your application and gain an approval. Often, we may be required to make discretionary submissions.
  • We will complete a draft application and share this with you to ensure that all parties are happy with the representations that will be submitted to the Home Office.
  • We advise you on what application processing routes are available. In some cases, there are fast track or premium processing routes available. We may be required to book a Home Office appointment on your behalf.  Will also be able to confirm typical processing times for any processing centre in the world. We explain all options, routes and fees comprehensively allowing you to make the best choice.
  • We lodge the application on your behalf using our secure authenticated processes. Whilst your application is pending, we continue to ensure you receive maximum legal protection and ensure that your rights and allowances are upheld throughout the processing stage. We ensure that you are aware of and remain compliant with the immigration rules and regulations during this period. We will also keep you updated on the progress of your matter.
  • If any follow up work is required in response to any queries raised by the UKVI, we will also deal with these as part of the comprehensive service.
  • We secure a decision on your matter and further advise you on the relevant implications of that decision. If required, we will also confirm if any secondary applications are required and brief you on the necessary process and procedure for those also.

WHY SHOULD I USE UK IMMIGRATION SOLICITORS TO HELP ME?

Here are just some of the reasons to choose us:

 * We are the UK’s #1 Immigration Specialist Law Firm

* We are a fully SRA regulated law firm so you are working directly with our in house legal team

* No agencies, middlemen or outsourcing

* We have achieved 99% success rate across all application types

* We have a 24 hour helpline that operates 7 days a week – 365 days a year

* We have multiple offices across the UK but 90% of our clients are not required to visit in person

* We have more than 60 years combined immigration expertise

* Our team have handled more than 8,000 cases

* We offer a free initial assessment which will explain your options and check your eligibility for your chosen route

* We operate a 100% Agreed Fixed Fee model with all fees fixed and agreed before work is started

* 98% of our clients would recommend us to family & friends

* Our average rating is 4.6/5 across major review platforms (based on over 300 reviews).

WHAT IS A FREE NEEDS ASSESSMENT?

If you have an immigration related problem or question, you can have a free assessment with a member of our assessments team.

The assessor will establish why you are calling and what you are looking for assistance with. The assessor will ask you a series of questions to determine your circumstances in relation to your objectives.

The assessment is 100% private and confidential. As we are a private law firm, we work with our clients to overturn Government decisions daily. We do not share any information with any third party.

Although the assessor will be a trained immigration specialist, they are not solicitors and therefore will not give you detailed legal advice or guidance.

If you want to establish what your options are and the best way forward for you, your assessor will collate the necessary information and then speak with one of the resident senior solicitors at the firm to determine what your options are, if and how we could assist and confirm whether we would be prepared to take your case. If we can assist, you will be provided with an Agreed Fixed Fee quotation which is a single legal fee to cover the firms cost of representation agreed from the outset and binding for all parties.

The free assessment is no obligation and you are merely given clarity on your position and options to move forward.

If you have a complex matter or require legal advice regarding a specific issue, you will most likely require a legal consultation.

This is a separate service and is chargeable at the prevailing rates.

Please note, UK Immigration Solicitors are a private law firm and are not part of the Government. We do not accept legal aid instructions. Although we are happy to assist genuine callers, we are not a directory service and sadly are unable to provide you with Government telephone numbers.

To get started you can either call us on 0203 384 4389 or complete the assessment form and one of the team will call you

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