Administrative Review

UK Visa Administrative Review

What is an Administrative Review?

If you have been refused a UK visa, an Administrative Review is a way to challenge the decision of the Home Office. You application will be reviewed by a Home Office official. However, it is important to note that you cannot submit any new evidence in order to challenge the decision or fulfill the shortcomings at the time of the application. You must be to argue any caseworker errors when submitting an administrative review. The application must be submitted in time, that means the application for the administrative review must be submitted within the time limit stated below.

An Administrative Review differs from appealing a visa decision under the Right of Appeal. While an appeal is considered by the court, an Administrative Review is considered by the Home Office caseworker, it is generally the caseworker who did make the decision on the application.. An Administrative Review allows you to challenge errors or mistakes made by the Home Office, rather than to challenge the reasoning behind a refusal. Furthermore, there is no Right of Appeal for many visa categories - such as the UK entrepreneur visa, skilled worker, domestic violenve, etc,- which means that an Administrative Review is your only option in certain types of cases.

Applying for an Administrative Review of a Visa Decision

The process of reviewing a visa decision differs depending on if you’re outside the UK, in the UK, or if you were refused entry at the border. If your visa application is refused, you will receive a notice from the Home Office outlining why this decision was taken and whether you have the option of an Administrative Review of the decision.

Administrative Review from Outside the UK

Your refusal letter will state whether you hsve permission to request for an administrative review. Generally, if you have been refused an application after 6th April 2015. You must be outside the UK when you you submiited an application to the UK, you must 

An Administrative Review can be sought within 28 days of getting the refusal decision. The decision will be revisited for any errors in the review application. No new information or documents can be submitted, unless you’ve been asked to submit them. The process for applying for an administrative review is only possible if you did not apply for a visit visa and you have received a decision with permission to appeal.

If your decision is made on the basis that a document submitted were false, you will be allowed to submit fresh evidence to prove to the contrary.

The result of the Administrative Review will be communicated to you within 28 days. You can’t request a second review - unless the result of the review found new reasons why you were refused a visa. However, if you believe that the review was not carried out correctly you may be able to apply for a Judicial Review.

Administrative Review from Inside the UK

If you have not been granted Right of Appeal, you can seek Administrative Review from inside the UK. The time limit to apply for an Administrative Review is within 14 days of getting the decision. If you’ve been detained, apply within 7 days. The cost for this process is £80.

As with applying from outside the UK, the result of the review will be communicated to you within 28 days. It is not possible to have a second Administrative Review, unless the result included new reasons why you were refused a UK visa.

Even if your visa has expired, you won’t usually be removed from the UK until the outcome of the Administrative Review has been decided.

Other Administrative Review Circumstances

If your visa was cancelled at the border

You can ask for the decision to be reviewed if your visa was cancelled at the border for one or more of the following reasons:

• There has been a change in your circumstances
• You gave false information
• You failed to include relevant facts in the application

If you were given temporary admission to the UK

The time limit to apply for an administrative review is within 14 days of getting the decision. If you’ve been detained, you’ll need to apply within 7 days. The application needs to be made from within the UK.

If your visa was cancelled at border controls outside the UK

An administrative review within 28 days of your visa cancellation can be sought in any of the following cities:

• Paris

• Brussels

• Dunkirk

• Coquelles

• Calais

• Lille

The result of the administrative review will be communicated to you within 28 days. Note that you can’t request a second review unless the result of the first review found new reasons why you were refused.