Immigration Appeals & Status Problems
Legal support to challenge visa refusals, understand tribunal appeals, and resolve immigration status problems. Every route on this page has a time limit attached to it.
- 14 days
- Administrative review deadline from the decision date
- 14 or 28 days
- Appeal deadline: in the UK, or outside the UK
- 3 months
- Judicial review deadline, though urgent action is often needed
- IAA-regulated
- We advise and refer; we do not conduct litigation
What this means
A refusal or a status problem does not end the matter, but it does start a clock. The route you take depends on what kind of decision you were given and what was wrong with it.
Whether you have received a visa refusal, need to challenge a Home Office decision, or have immigration status problems, there are several distinct routes for putting it right. They are not interchangeable. Administrative review deals with caseworker errors on points-based applications. An appeal puts the decision in front of an independent immigration judge, but only in limited categories. Judicial review challenges the lawfulness of a decision in the High Court. Choosing the wrong route usually costs you the deadline for the right one.
Deadline
Your options
Five routes, each for a different kind of problem. Read the one that matches your decision notice.
Visa refusal appeals
Challenge a negative visa decision through the appeal process: appeal to the tribunal, human rights grounds, and representation before an independent judge.
Learn moreAdministrative review
Ask the Home Office to reconsider its decision where a caseworker made an error. A quicker, paper-based process with no oral hearing.
Learn moreImmigration tribunal
First-tier and Upper Tribunal appeal proceedings: formal hearings before independent judges, with legal representation.
Judicial review
Challenge an unlawful Home Office decision in the High Court, on legal grounds rather than on the merits of your case.
Status problems
Resolve immigration status issues and rectification, including the Windrush scheme and documentation problems.
Learn moreThe deadlines
- Administrative review, from the decision date
- 14 days
- Immigration appeal, if you are in the UK
- 14 days
- Immigration appeal, if you are outside the UK
- 28 days
- Judicial review
- 3 months
Judicial review carries the longest limit on paper, but urgent action is often needed long before three months have passed, particularly where removal directions have been set.
How we can help
What we do on an appeals or status matter, and where we hand over.
Appeal rights assessment
We review your refusal notice and determine whether you have grounds to appeal.
Administrative review
If there is no appeal right, we can request a Home Office review for caseworker errors.
Fresh applications
Sometimes a new application that addresses the reasons for refusal is the best approach.
Judicial review
Where a decision is unlawful, the challenge is made through the courts, and we refer that work on.
What we do not do
Wesbridge Associates is regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA) to provide immigration advice and services. We do not conduct litigation or provide advocacy before the First-tier Tribunal, Upper Tribunal, or the High Court in judicial review proceedings.
Where your matter requires representation in court or tribunal advocacy, we will signpost or refer you to a regulated solicitor or barrister who is authorised to act in those proceedings.
Free advice is available
Understanding your rights
- Some refusals come with limited appeal rights, on human rights grounds only, while others allow full appeals.
- Most challenges must be submitted within 14 to 28 days of the decision.
- Missing a deadline can mean losing your right to challenge the decision permanently.
- A paid consultation will review your case and explain the options that remain open.
Get expert legal representation
Do not face the Home Office alone. We will read your decision notice, assess your appeal rights, and connect you with the specialists who can act on them before the deadline runs out.
Related
Other routes worth checking
Ready when you are
Refused? The clock is already running
Book a consultation and we will read your decision notice, tell you which routes are still open to you, and how many days you have left to use them.