You can appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) if the Home Office has decided to:
· refuse your protection claim (also known as ‘asylum claim’ or ‘humanitarian protection’)
· revoke your protection status
· refuse your human rights claim
· refuse you a residence document or deport you under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016
· revoke your British citizenship
· refuse or revoke your status, vary the length or condition of your stay, or deport you under the EU Settlement Scheme
· refuse or revoke your travel permit or family permit under the EU Settlement Scheme or restrict your rights to enter or leave the UK under those permits
· refuse or revoke your permit, or deport you if you’re a frontier worker
· refuse or revoke your leave, or deport you if you’re an S2 healthcare visitor
The current tribunal costs are £80 without a hearing and £140 with a hearing. You can only appeal to the tribunal if you have the legal right to appeal. However, if you don’t have a right to appeal you may be entitled to either have an administrative review or issue proceedings against the Home Office by way of Judicial Review. If the First Tier Tribunal refuses your appeal you may be able to appeal to the Upper Tier Court/Tribunal if there is a mistake made by the Court/Tribunal on the law. However, you must first obtain permission before you could appeal to the Upper Tier Court/Tribunal.
If you are outside the UK and your application was refused on or after 6 April 2015 and you do not have a right of appeal you may be able to ask the Home Office to review their decision. You must apply for an administrative review within 28 days of getting the decision. It costs £80. They will usually reply within 28 calendar days. If you are in the UK and your application was refused, you must apply for an administrative review within 14 days or within 7 days if you’ve been detained for getting the decision. You will be told in your refusal letter whether you have a right to administrative review. It costs £80.
You should remember that your request for an administrative review will be withdrawn (canceled) if you either make any other immigration or visa application, ask for your passport back so you can travel or leave the UK. Your request will be rejected if you ask for a review of a previous decision after submitting a new application.
Judicial review is the legal process that allows a person to challenge the lawfulness of a decision, action, or failure to act of a public body such as a government department. For example, in all the visit visa refusals there is no right of appeal or administrative review therefore the only remedy available would be for the applicant to consider whether Judicial Review proceedings are appropriate forcing the Home Office to reverse their decision. Before the proceedings are formally issued you must give the Home Office the opportunity to review their decision by following the pre-action protocol. An effective preparation at the pre-action stage could lead the Home Office to reverse the decision, which could save the applicant in paying lefty costs.
You should ensure before issuing any Judicial Review proceedings you have sought legal advice on the merits of your case. If your application is total without merit, you may be liable to pay the opposition’s costs. This means that you may end up paying the costs incurred by the Home Office lawyers as they prepare the response to your application. These costs can often run into the hundreds, sometimes thousands, of pounds and when taken into consideration with your own representative’s fees and the costs of lodging a Judicial Review application, can result in you having to pay a very large amount of money without gaining any benefit.
We will ensure that we consider the evidence carefully and advise you on the chances of success. We will prepare your trial bundle by taking witness statements, gathering country information and where necessary briefing a highly quality barrister to represent your interest.