HOW TO AVOID A UK VISIT VISA REFUSAL

We have helped a significant number of individuals who initially received a UK visit visa refusal decision to overturn that outcome. The reasons for refusal can vary widely and many people are left feeling that the decision is unfair.

With the only options after a UK visit visa refusal being to file an application for judicial review, which is costly and time-consuming, or to submit a new application, the process of visiting the UK can end up being very costly and frustrating for some. We see many individuals who have applied a number of times before deciding to seek professional advice.

The regulations governing the entry of visitors to the UK are set out in Appendix V of the Immigration Rules. A visitor is defined as “a person who is coming to the UK, usually for up to six months, for a temporary purpose, for example as a tourist, to visit friends or family or to carry out a business activity”.

Whilst not everyone who visits the UK requires a visit visa, those who are not exempt from obtaining a visa, known as ‘visa nationals’, must satisfy the decision maker that they meet the eligibility requirements. As there is no set list of specific documents which an individual must include in their application, it is possible that any decision made is subjective and reflects the opinion of the decision maker, as opposed to the law.

As this is the case, we set out below some of the main reasons for a UK visit visa refusal along with some top tips for avoiding these.

1. Intention to return home

When making an application to visit the UK, an individual must satisfy the decision maker that they “will leave the UK at the end of their visit” or in other words, that they intend to return home. As the Home Office advise individuals not to book their flights until after a decision has been made on the application, showing intention to return home can be difficult. In order to demonstrate intention to return home, the Home Office caseworker will expect to see evidence:

• that you have work, education or family commitments to return to;
• that you own/rent property in your home country;
• that you have future commitments at home;
• that you have family ties to your home country; and/or
• any other evidence that demonstrates that you intend to return to your home country.

2. Insufficient funds for the trip

When deciding an application, the decision maker will require evidence to show that the applicant has “sufficient funds to cover all reasonable costs in relation to their visit”. The exact amount of funds which an applicant needs to demonstrate is not specified but the Home Office suggest that evidence such as pay slips showing earnings or bank statements are provided. An applicant can receive support from a third party who is in the UK and in this case, similar evidence from the third party must be included in the application along with information regarding the relationship between the applicant and the third party.

3. Previous travel history

When making a decision on an application, the decision maker will not only look into an applicant’s previous immigration history but will also take their previous travel history into consideration. Whilst a poor immigration history may have a negative impact on an application, where an applicant has not previously traveled, either to the UK or any other country, this can also surprisingly have a negative effect on the application. Where an applicant has not traveled previously, the decision maker may assume that the individual does not intend to leave the UK because they have no previous travel history. Whilst there is no simple solution to this issue, in such instances, it is important that the issue is addressed as part of the application

4. Purpose of the visit to the UK

Finally, information as to the purpose of the visit to the UK should be provided. For a business trip, for example, a letter from whoever you are visiting would be wise. If you are coming for a show or performance, copies of your tickets would be helpful. We’ve seen a refusal recently where a mother had wanted to visit her son in the UK but the application had been refused simply because she had not provided a birth certificate demonstrating the relationship, even though you’ll find no mention in the rules that a birth certificate is needed (and we’ve dealt with many cases where no certificate has been provided but the outcome has been positive). We always advise a belts and braces approach is taken to minimize the risk of refusal.

UK visit visa refusal: How we can help

We have significant experience in ensuring that those who have had a refusal decision are subsequently granted a visa to enter the UK.

If you have had a UK visit visa refusal decision for the UK and wish to make a new application or require advice on your first application, please call us or make a quick enquiry here. We will be able to review your refusal notice and provide you with an initial legal opinion at no cost. If a fresh application is your best option and you would like us to prepare that for you, we will be able to do so on a fixed fee basis.

We work with education providers, businesses and individuals based across the UK and overseas, providing legal advice on all UK immigration law issues.

Our objective is to deliver immigration solutions that will help you to achieve your wider personal and commercial goals with confidence. We will also provide high-level strategic advice when necessary, ensuring right from the start that business plans or investment ideas, strategies to grow international student numbers or decisions to relocate for study, work or family reasons are going to be achievable.

In addition to our advisory services, we can prepare and file detailed leave to enter or remain applications for you and your family (individual clients) or your various sponsor license related applications (businesses and education providers). We can also help you if you find that you are in an unexpected or difficult situation having, for instance, been refused entry to the UK or because your sponsor licence is at risk. We can prepare robust responses, appeals and challenges and we have immediate access to leading barristers as necessary.

Types of cases

The information below covers the following applications and cases:

• all types of application for entry clearance (also known as visas), leave to enter the UK and leave to remain in the UK (leave means immigration permission);
• all types of application for indefinite leave to remain in the UK (also known as settlement and permanent residence);
• all types of application to naturalise or register as a British citizen or for an assessment of eligibility;
• all types of application under EU law and the EU Settled Status Scheme;
• all administrative reviews and appeals to the First-tier Tribunal.

If you need advice on a matter that is not covered above (for example, an asylum case or Judicial Review application), please contact us for a specific quote.

Once you have contacted us we will carry out an initial complimentary assessment to determine if your matter falls into our standard or non-standard service range, depending on the type of case and/or on your own preferences. Once we have done that, if it is possible for us to provide you with a fixed fee quote within the below general ranges we will do so. If we cannot offer a fixed fee, we will provide you with a narrower fee estimate, within the below general ranges.

Typical fee ranges – Our fees for the above types of cases fall into three main categories:

Standard cases – the vast majority of our cases can be dealt with on a standard basis. It is likely on average that we will spend from 2 hours to 20 hours working on your case, preparing the documentation, the relevant forms and a detailed cover letter and arranging the filing of the case.  

Non-standard cases – these are cases where there may be unusual complexities, where you may require a specific partner to lead on the case or where there are other circumstances to be taken into account that mean the case cannot be dealt with as a standard case.

Our fees for a non-standard case are typically between. If you have already completed so much preparatory work on your case that we can bring it into our standard case fee range, we will.

Enhanced services – for non-standard cases, we also offer enhanced services to clients covering, for example, travel to the client’s home (within the UK or abroad), meeting or communicating extensively with third parties (financial advisers, accountants, etc.) on the client’s behalf, out of hours and on-call assistance, etc. If you would like further information about our enhanced services, please contact us.

Your specific quote

Once we have carried out an initial assessment of your case we will provide you with a specific fixed fee quote or, of this is not possible, an estimate. We will take into account a number of factors such as:

• the complexity of the specific legislation and evidential requirements, as set by the UK Government, relating to the specific category of application you wish to make. For example, some applications such as Tier 2 (ICT) can be relatively straightforward (providing you do not have an adverse immigration history or convictions) and would fall under the lower end of our standard fee range. For other types of application, a significant amount of evidence must be collated, reviewed and filed;
• the volume and quality of supporting evidence we are likely to need to request from you to support your application which we will need to consider in detail;
• any problems you or your family members may have experienced with immigration or criminal law in the UK or elsewhere in the world;
• the number of dependants, if any, applying with you.

There may be occasions where factors relating to your case are so unusual or complex that we need to depart from our usual fee ranges. If so, we will let you know before you complete our client engagement process and you can choose whether to proceed or not. These situations occur very rarely.

Services that are included

When we are working on your case, our service will typically involve:

• taking detailed instructions from you (typically 1 – 3 hours);
• considering your circumstances in detail and advising you on the most appropriate way forward (typically 1 – 3 hours);
• giving you advice about the specific legal requirements that will need to be met and whether your case is likely to meet the criteria (typically 1 – 3 hours);
• initial and subsequent requests for information and evidence from you and analysing this (typically 1 – 7 hours);
• advising you on any aspects of the case that may need to be strengthened (typically 0.5 – 5 hours);
• preparing the case and arranging for the relevant documents and forms to be filed (typically 1 – 5 hours);
• notifying you of the outcome of the case and any further steps you need to take (typically 0.5 – 2 hours);
• if relevant, attending interviews or appeal hearings with you (typically 1 – 20 hours).

VAT, Home Office fees and other disbursements

We are required to charge VAT on our fees, where applicable.

Many cases also incur disbursements. These are costs related to the matter that are payable to third parties, such as visa fees. Where possible, we will request funds from you in advance so we can pay disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

The most frequent disbursements our clients pay relate to the following, but not all of these will be applicable to your case:

• Home Office fees and fees for premium filing services;
• the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS);
• document translation;
• counsel’s fees;
• Tribunal fees.

On some occasions, depending on the matter, the following disbursements may also apply:

• Travel related expenses such as mileage, train fares, taxis etc.
• Independent expert reports e.g. medical experts. These are not required in many cases and we will let you know as soon as possible if we consider an expert report is necessary.

We do not perform asylum work on a regular basis and we do not therefore use interpreters often. If we do need to instruct an interpreter on your matter, we will provide you with quotes in advance for such services.

VAT, Home Office fees and other disbursements

We are required to charge VAT on our fees, where applicable.

Many cases also incur disbursements. These are costs related to the matter that are payable to third parties, such as visa fees. Where possible, we will request funds from you in advance so we can pay disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

The most frequent disbursements our clients pay relate to the following, but not all of these will be applicable to your case:

• Home Office fees and fees for premium filing services;
• the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS);
• document translation;
• counsel’s fees;
• Tribunal fees.

On some occasions, depending on the matter, the following disbursements may also apply:

• Travel related expenses such as mileage, train fares, taxis etc.
• Independent expert reports e.g. medical experts. These are not required in many cases and we will let you know as soon as possible if we consider an expert report is necessary.

We do not perform asylum work on a regular basis and we do not therefore use interpreters often. If we do need to instruct an interpreter on your matter, we will provide you with quotes in advance for such services.

How long will the case take?

Some clients work very efficiently and can provide us with documents and information we need quickly. We will prepare your case within a day or so of receiving the final pieces of information or evidence we have requested from you. During the case-preparation stage, we will always reply to you within 48 hours during the working week and we will proactively keep you up to date on the progress of your case.

Once the case is filed with the authorities (i.e. the Home Office or the tribunal, in the case of an appeal), the processing time falls under their rules. The Home Office is now able to process many immigration applications very quickly – sometimes on the same day if you pay for one of their enhanced services. Unfortunately for other types of cases, it can take much longer and sometimes several months.

Other options

If you have prepared your case and just need one of our experts to review it before you file it, we charge a fixed fee ……… for standard applications or …….for complex applications, plus VAT where applicable, to review the application and provide you with advice on whether or not it is likely to be successful, according to the Immigration Rules.

If you are preparing your own case, but are unsure if a specific aspect of it meets the requirements, or you need preliminary advice to assess if you/your dependants may meet the requirements, we can provide advice to you and our fee will be a minimum of ………. plus VAT, where applicable. We will provide a specific quote once we know your requirements

Reapply again following the UK visa refusal

In situations where the refusal was justified and/or the grounds for refusal can now be addressed fully by the applicant, it may often be quicker and easier to simply reapply.

There is generally no time limit on how soon a new application can be submitted (be mindful of limitations when time limit to lodge appeal/admin review is still ongoing), as long as the applicant is able to meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules or EEA Regulations.

Getting refusal decision reconsidered and overturned

First of all, it has to be said that there is no official way to request reconsideration of the refusal decision. The current position of the UKVI is that a decision must be challenged using the legal recourse available, i.e. appeal or administrative review.

That being said, in situations where the application was prepared correctly and the refusal is an obvious error by the decision making officer, it may be possible to get the decision reviewed and overturned.

By way of an example, we recently had a consultation with a client who approached us following a refusal of a spouse visa for his wife. The application was refused due to an alleged absence of a TB test from the supporting documents, all the other requirements were met. He had 28 days to appeal the decision.

The client was, however, adamant that it was provided as the TB test predated the date of application, but most probably either overlooked by the ECO or not scanned by the visa centre staff (a very common occurrence).

Following the consultation, the client initially attempted to contact UKVI to try to get the matter resolved. Unfortunately, he did not have any success, so he approached us to lodge an appeal with just under 2 weeks remaining until the deadline to lodge the appeal.

The appeal can be a lengthy process, so it would have been a lot of wasted time (up to 12 months) and money for the client to challenge such an obvious error by the UKVI through the Tribunal.

Following instructions, we prepared representations on behalf of the client and sent them to various departments at the UKVI. We were ready to lodge the appeal either way and not miss the deadline.

The clients were very pleased when after 4 days they received an email requesting a copy of the TB test again and later overturning the original refusal.

Our team of immigration lawyers have extensive experience and award-winning expertise with working on UK Visa refusal appeals of all complexities.

We will thoroughly review the case following an initial consultation and advise you on all the available options, timeframes and expenses involved.

Should you decide to challenge the refusal, we will provide assistance with every step of the process, from lodging the appeal to representing you at the First-Tier and Upper Immigration Tribunals.

Send an enquiry to us now to speak to one of our immigration lawyers.

UK Visa Refusal Appeal FAQs

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about UK visa refusal appeals.

How soon can I reapply following the refusal of my visa?

There is no time limit on how soon the fresh application can be submitted (with certain limitations while on 3c leave or when the right of administrative review is still available). It is important that the reasons for refusal can be addressed fully in the fresh application.

How long does the appeal process stake?

Appeals can take anywhere from 6 to 12 months to be heard at the Immigration Tribunal.

Do I need to attend the Tribunal?

Appeals can be either oral or paper. Oral appeals usually provide the best opportunity for the appellants to present their case. You can either represent yourself or appoint a legal representative to attend the Tribunal.

What happens if my appeal is allowed?

If your appeal is successful, you would normally be issued with the visa or status you applied for. The Home Office/UKVI may also be required to pay the Tribunal fee back to you. It should be noted that the Home Office/UKVI can try to appeal the decision to Upper Tribunal.

What happens if my appeal is unsuccessful?

If your appeal is not allowed, it may be possible to apply to Upper Tribunal usually based on the “error of law” in the determination of the Firs-Tier Tribunal judge.