An appeal is an opportunity to take your case to an independent immigration judge who will review all the evidence, listen to arguments on both sides and make a decision. Immigration appeals are heard by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT).

If your application is refused by the UK authorities you will be told the reasons for the refusal in writing. You are not always able to appeal against immigration decisions that you disagree with. You can only appeal against certain types of decision. Usually, if you receive a refusal it will include information about your right under UK law to appeal against that refusal or request a review of the decision, however, the immigration authorities do sometimes get this wrong.

Appeals Types

You may be eligible to appeal a decision to the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT). The most common types of grounds for appeal are on the basis of the categories:

• Refusal of permission (called leave) to enter the UK when you arrive at a UK port or airport.
• Refusal of a visa to travel to the UK. This excludes visitors that are not visiting family members, or students coming to the UK for a course of 6 months or less. Visit visa cases can be heard at a hearing or dealt with on the basis of paper submissions.
• An immigration decision on whether to vary or extend (or refuse to vary or extend) your permission to stay in the UK.
• A decision to set removal directions.
• A decision to make a deportation order or refusal to revoke a deportation order.
• An asylum appeal relates to a person who is under threat in their own country. A person may be given the right to claim asylum in the UK if the authorities decide they come under refugee status.
• A human rights appeal is where a person claims their basic human rights have been breached.
• An application to be released on bail for a person detained under the Immigration Acts.

This simplified list is not complete, but it covers the most common types of decision against which there is a right of appeal. We recommend that you seek our legal advice if you are not sure about your right of appeal.

A small amount of appeals are also lodged on the grounds of deprivation of citizenship, race discrimination and non-suspensive appeals.

Work Permits, HSMP

There is no right of appeal to the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal against decisions by Work Permits (UK) not to grant UK Work Permits, HSMP, or other Immigration Employment Documents (IEDs), although we may be able to explain your supporting evidence to the Home Office in response to a rejection and ask them to reconsider their decision by way of a Review. If you have an IED and are refused entry clearance, there is a right of appeal against that decision.

Asylum

Most asylum or human rights claim refusal decisions would be accompanied by an immigration decision that can be appealed, such as a refusal of leave to enter, a refusal to vary leave or a decision to set removal directions. There will almost always be a right of appeal against refusal of an asylum application.

There are important exceptions to this.

The first is if the Home Office thinks an asylum claim is clearly unfounded. In these cases, which are mainly sent to the Oakington, Harmondsworth or Yarl?s Wood detention centres, the asylum seeker is only able to appeal to the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal after removal from the UK. A process called judicial review can sometimes be used to challenge whether the claim really is clearly unfounded.

The second main exception is where an asylum seeker is making a second claim for asylum. There may be no right of appeal in this situation, although our legal advice should be sought.

If I have no right of appeal, is there anything else I can do?

Not having a right of appeal is not the end of the world, however, you should be very careful about how you make your application in the first place and you must make sure that you provide as much relevant evidence as possible to show you meet the all the requirements of the rules.

It may be possible to request the Authorities review their decision, without an appeal. If you are refused, you can start by trying to persuade the decision maker (an entry clearance officer, for example) to change his or her mind. Firstly you need to find out what the reasons are for being refused. Then write to the decision maker with the reasons why you think you do actually fit within the rules and enclose more evidence to show that you do. If you are very unhappy with the decision, you can write to the manager of the decision maker (and entry clearance manager, for example) or make a complaint.

Our lawyers have undertaken review requests for a wide range of applications on behalf of our clients, with significant levels of success. We are qualified to assist with request for review.

Judicial Review

It may also be possible to challenge some decisions which do not have a right of appeal to the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal by a legal process called judicial review. This is an application to the High Court. It is a difficult type of challenge to mount and legal advice is essential. It is also very expensive. We recommend that you seek our legal advice if you are considering this avenue.

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