There are three ways to challenge a decision from the Home Office: through main administrative review, appeal or judicial review.
If you are provided the opportunity to challenge a decision by way of Administrative Review, it is best to seek expert legal advice. It is a process by which a refused immigration application (or a granted application, if you are unhappy with the amount or conditions of your leave) can be challenged on the basis that the decision is incorrect due to a case working error.
This may include scenarios where:
An administrative review is conducted by a separate team that is independent from the original decision maker.
It is important that an application for administrative review is sent promptly, at most within 14 days of the date when you received notice of the decision, if you applied from within the UK (or 28 days from the date of decision if you applied from outside of the UK).
Gherson LLP has ample experience in submitting administrative reviews and has obtained numerous outcomes where decisions were overturned by the Home Office, including recent success in the student, EU Settlement Scheme and spouse categories.
If you are provided a right of appeal and decide to proceed, there will be a full hearing of a case on the facts in the First Tier Tribunal before a judge. The judge will be concerned with whether the Home Office made the right decision, including whether they made a correct factual assessment based on the materials provided in your application.
The process can be quite intimidating, and seeking legal advice can help alleviate the stress and assist you in making the strongest possible immigration appeal.
We have had recent success in the First Tier Tribunal in two separate adult dependent relative cases.
Judicial Review is another means of challenging Home Office decisions, as well as delay in processing applications, via the courts based on illegality, irrationality and/or unfairness. We have had recent success in the Administrative Court in regard to challenging delay to British citizenship applications and in the Upper Tribunal where we challenged delay to Indefinite Leave to Remain applications.
If you would like to proceed with a judicial review, it is imperative that the admissibility rules are strictly applied. This type of court proceedings involve a judge reviewing the lawfulness of a decision in your immigration application. The decision shall be challenged on the basis of being perceived as illegal, irrational or unfair due to the reasoning that the law has not been correctly applied and right procedures were not followed.
An application for judicial review should be made as soon as it is reasonably possible and in the case of a Home Office decision, within 3 months of its receipt. Judicial review can be an extremely complicated process, and thus, it is best to seek legal advice.
As judicial review is not a review of the conclusion of a decision, but of the decision-making process, it means that notwithstanding a judge determining that a decision was made unlawfully, the Home Office could reach the same conclusion following the reconsideration. This is why well-drafted grounds and an appropriate bundle of supporting documents are essential in preparation for judicial review.
