Great Britain is a very popular tourist and immigration destination; therefore, it is a relatively common thing to have your UK visa refused. However, it does not make it less unpleasant, especially if a refusal to enter the United Kingdom affects your plans and jeopardises your future.
Qualified immigration advisers at Imperial & Legal will offer you a full consultation as to what to do when your UK visa is refused and how it is related to a Home Office decision. We have full rights to represent our clients in the Immigration and Asylum Tribunals in the UK and have years of experience of successfully representing clients in courts.
If your UK visa is refused, we recommend talking to and discussing the situation with one of our advisers. We will thoroughly assess your case and find the best solution to bring it to a happy end.
Why your British visa can be refused and what to do if it happens
An incorrectly stated purpose of a trip to the United Kingdom is still the most common mistake. Therefore, be extra careful when making your application, check what visa category suits your purpose and which documents you must provide to get it.
It is even worse to get refused because of incorrectly given information. When applying for a standard visitor visa, it is normal to say that you want to do some sightseeing and travel in the country – avoid mentioning that you also want to improve your English. A caseworker strictly follows the Immigration Rules and will refuse your visa because they might think you want to come to the UK to study which falls under another visa category.
Some applicants for a visitor visa to the United Kingdom tend to apply for a longer than necessary period of stay. Home Office will be suspicious, and has reasons to be so, as to why you need to spend so much time in a foreign country, what you are going to do here and whether you have enough money to support yourself all that time. If the evidence and documents you submit do not support the length of your stay, you will soon receive a refusal letter.
Each application – from a short-term visitor visa to a long-term visa – must be accompanied by mandatory documents. It is not enough to give your income, job position, marital status and state that you have clean criminal record and no infectious deceases – every word in the application must be supported by relevant documents.
If you go to the UK to work or study, you must have an invitation from your UK sponsor. If you want to do business in Great Britain, you must have an endorsement of an approved body and enough funds to invest in your future business.
It is not the end of the world if your UK visa is refused. Provided you have not breached any UK immigration laws, there is always a way to put things right and change the decision of British authorities. However, to get a visa you want, seek professional advice from a qualified immigration adviser.
Any information you give about yourself in an application must be true and straightforward; make sure you clarify any points that can raise questions from the Home Office. If you are inattentive and make mistakes in an application form, your visa might be refused even if all documents are spotless.
Any document in a foreign language must be translated into English. In most cases it must be done and signed by a certified translator.
Finances are a key requirement. UK authorities must be happy with your monthly income and personal savings on your bank account. However, if you do have more than enough money on your bank account but cannot explain where it comes from, especially if you do not have a big salary, this will cause suspicion as well. Make sure your evidenced income and savings match.
Long-term visa applications have additional requirements. A representative of an overseas business must have relevant education and experience of working in top position in a parent company outside the UK. А spouse of a British national must be able to pass an English exam in order to join their wife or husband in the UK.
Experienced immigration advisers know that a UK visa can be refused even if there are no mistakes or missing documents in an application. These are one of most common reasons:
The logic behind it is simple: the less connections you have to your home country, the more chances there are that you will be suspected of planning to stay in the UK.
This is the main reason why the Home Office will not offer you a chance to appeal their refusal and ban you from entering the UK for 10 years.
If you give false information or deliberately fail to mention important details, or even forge documents, it will harm your immigration record and lead to other countries refusing you visas.
IMPORTANT!
Please remember that UK Immigration Rules have a lot of nuances and pitfalls that are not always on the surface; that increases the risk of mistakes in applications and documents, especially for long-term/settlement visas. Home Office caseworkers must be 100% sure that a real purpose of your trip corresponds to the one you are applying for. An incorrect application will cost you time and money and in the worst case, will lead to a 10-year ban on travelling to the United Kingdom. Therefore, take extra care when preparing your UK visa application or, even better, get in touch with qualified experts.
The best thing you can do is to get in touch with an experienced immigration adviser as soon as possible. Our experts will assess the situation and reasons for refusal and find the most efficient solution so you can get a UK visa.
There are three options of what you can do after your UK visa is refused:
You can appeal to the First-Tier Tribunal of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber when a Home Office refusal breaches your human rights, your rights as an EEA national or a family member of an EEA national. This is where an impartial judge will review and decide on your case.
If you are refused entry to the UK after applying in your home country, you have 28 calendar days from the date of receipt of an official refusal letter to appeal. If your visa is cancelled on arrival or your current visa is refused to be extended in the UK, you must lodge an appeal not later than 14 days after the date of decision. Therefore, it is super important to keep the envelope with a refusal as it has post mark and the date when the letter was sent.
If you cannot lodge your appeal within the given time frames, then we can ask the Tribunal for an extension if we can supply sufficient reasons as to why the appeal is being lodged late, e.g. illness.
After you have submitted your appeal you will be sent a Notice of Hearing specifying the date, venue and directions for the Hearing.
We here at Imperial & Legal can assist at any step of your appeal, including but not limited to:
If after careful analysis of the refusal letter, your application and all supporting evidence Imperial & Legal advisers conclude that your UK visa was refused because of a case working error, they will apply for an administrative review on your behalf.
In this case the Home Office will consider whether an ‘eligible decision’ is wrong because of a case working error and, if it is, they will correct that error. Errors include where they have given the incorrect duration of leave or have not fully considered your application and all supporting evidence. Depending on where the ‘eligible decision’ was made you have three options:
If you have made an application in the UK under Tiers 1, 2, 4, and 5 categories of the Immigration Rules, you should have a right to an Administrative Review which you need to submit within 14 calendar days from the date you received a decision notice.
If a Border Officer cancels your leave to enter or remain in the UK due to change of circumstances, false representations or failure to provide material facts, you should have a right to an Administrative Review. When applying from within the UK you have 14 calendar days from the date you received the decision in order to submit your review, and 28 calendar days if you apply from outside of the UK.
For entry clearance applications you will have a right to an Administrative Review unless your application is that of a short-term student, visitor visa or human rights visa. You have 28 calendar days from the date you received the decision to make a request for an Administrative Review.
Here at Imperial & Legal we can help at any stage of your Administrative Review, including but not limited to:
* Note: new documents and evidence will not be considered. However, sometimes the Home Office fails to consider documents and evidence sent with your previous application, so we may need to resubmit them.
Depending upon your personal circumstances and time constraints, it may be in some cases advisable to submit a new application after analysing the refusal and correcting mistakes that led to it.
We have had many cases over the years where this has proved successful and the requested leave has been granted swiftly. However, we would always advise on having a full consultation where we can discuss your case and individual circumstances before we can give full case-specific advice, as every case is unique.
We here at Imperial & Legal can provide assistance at any stage of your New Application, including:
After your UK visa is refused, take these four simple steps to achieve your goal.
1. Re-apply for a visa Imperial & Legal advisers will advise what additional documents must be prepared for your new application and have them translated. They will fill in and submit an application for a UK visa on your behalf, prepare all supporting evidence and a cover letter. How long: 1-2 weeks.
2. Apply for an administrative review Our immigration advisers will review all supporting documents submitted with the initial application and based on that complete and submit an application for an administrative review asking the Home Office to change their decision and grant you a visa to the UK. How long: 3-5 days.
3. Appeal to an immigration tribunal If your application attracts the right of appeal to a UK court, our experts will prepare and lodge such appeal. They will also assist you in preparing all necessary documents and evidence proving your case. Imperial & Legal team will be happy to represent you at a hearing in the Tribunal. Lodging an appeal: 1-2 weeks. Processing by the Tribunal: 3-12 months.
You can appeal to a UK court when:
Our experts share at least one more reason why you can receive a ban to travel to the UK for the next 10 years. If you have already breached immigration rules and overstayed your visa by weeks or months, the Home Office has the right to ban you from entering the country again for many years.
UK authorities will be also extra cautious with those who have been refused a visa to another country. The refusal per se does not mean that you will be refused a UK visa unless you do not disclose it in your application.
Your new application will be subject to the same processing times as prescribed within a relevant visa category. Please bear in mind that the Home Office reserves the right to review your application for up to 6 months; if you re-submit after refusal, a caseworker will have to perform additional checks on you which can take more time than the initial application.
The United Kingdom is a developed country and an attractive holiday and business destination. Sightseeing and short businesstrips can be easily done with a standard visitor visa. However, not all visitors respect UK laws and try staying here illegally; therefore, the Home Office might refuse you a UK visa if you have few or no ties to your home country.
You are a lower-risk applicant if you have:
If a sponsor funds your trip to the UK, there are four simple rules to follow:
We will analyse your refusal and offer you full legal representation in appeals and administrative reviews. Get in touch today to discuss your case.
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