If the UK Home Office refuses your British Citizenship application, you will receive a letter from them in which you will be informed exactly why your application was refused in detail. Your indefinite leave to remain (ILR) status does not get impacted even after your application for British citizenship is rejected. However, if your application is refused, you lose money, time, and above all your chance to become a British citizen which gives you crucial rights such as voting. You can read this blog to know about the options available to you after a British Citizenship visa refusal.

Options available to you after British Citizenship visa refusal

Once your application for British citizenship has been refused by the Home Office you should know the reasons for it and then plan your next move. The Home Office should clearly explain the reasons in the refusal letter.
You cannot appeal against refusal of your application for British Citizenship. Since this is considered a privilege and not a right, you can’t appeal on human rights grounds. However, you continue to hold the ILR status and thus continue living and working in the UK. Other than appeal you still have the following options:

1. Re-apply 

If you made a mistake in your application you can re-apply for British Citizenship provided you are eligible for it. You will be informed in a refusal letter sent by the Home Office if you can re- apply or not. Making a fresh application may be a good option if you believe that you can submit the necessary documents and evidence to the Home Office to satisfy them this time. You should address and correct the mistakes that you made in your original application. When you make a fresh application you need to pay the fee for handling and processing your application again. For this reason, you must seek professional help for your follow-up application otherwise all your money and effort can go in vain and you may risk another refusal.

2. Request a reconsideration

If you strongly believe that there was a mistake or an oversight on the part of the caseworker in refusing your application, you should request a review of your application to the Home Office. You can submit your request for a review in writing only within 28 days from the date of receiving the refusal decision. You need to prepare within 28 days available to you to before you submit your request for a review. If you can demonstrate to the Home Office in detailed explanation with documents and evidence that one of the following conditions apply to the refusal, the Home Office may decide to reconsider your application:

• The caseworker handling your application was negligent and they did not apply the law properly.
• The application was judged on the wrong requirements or criteria.
• The caseworker did not take into account all the relevant documents that were in their possessions.
• Your application was refused for a lack of response to inquiries from your side while you had responded to the inquiries in time.
• The caseworker did not provide you sufficient time to respond to their inquiries and thus the decision was announced in a hurry.

   
Reconsideration request processing can take many months, and after all of this, there is still no guarantee that the decision will be overturned in your favor. Thus you must seek professional help who have helped their clients get their citizenship refusals reconsideration overturned in their favor for years.

3. Judicial Review

Judicial Review is the last resort and you may apply for it when the decision is upheld on reconsideration by the Home Office. You need to follow the pre-action protocol and the refusal decision needs to meet the criteria for a judicial review.

Watch this short video if you want to apply for British Citizenship: https://www.youtube.com/visaandmigration