UK Visa Refusal Lawyer
If you have received a letter from the Home Office telling you that your visa application has been refused you need to speak to one of our UK Visa Refusal Lawyers in London.
OTS Solicitors are specialist UK Immigration Lawyers and can help you with all your immigration, visa, settlement and citizenship needs. If you’ve had a visa application refused we can step in and advise you on your next steps.
UK Online Visa Refusal Lawyers in London
For visa refusal advice call London-based OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
Our lawyers speak Arabic, Armenian, Farsi, French/Mauritian Creole, Spanish, Tamil Tagalog/Ilonggo, Urdu/Punjabi.
Visa refusal
The national UK visa refusal rate is around 15%. That’s across the board including applications for Work Visas, Family Visas and Business visas.
We don’t have the statistical information to compare the visa refusal rate between visa applicants who made their own application or ones who used a solicitor without immigration expertise and those who instructed a specialist UK Immigration Lawyer to sort out their visa. However, many of our new client enquiries come from applicants who have unsuccessfully tried to secure a visa with one or two previous solicitors. If OTS Solicitors are your third or fourth solicitors to try and secure a visa then we welcome the challenge.
If you are worried about changing solicitors read our article on changing your UK Immigration Solicitor.
Why was your visa application refused?
Our Visa Refusal Solicitors will examine the letter from the Home Office explaining why your application was refused and talk to you about the background to your application. We will then give you honest advice. We will tell you if we think the Home Office followed the law in refusing your application and if it is likely to refuse further applications. If our Immigration Lawyers in London think you should have applied for a different type of visa then we will tell you. We will also explain if we think that you or your former Immigration Solicitors should have phrased things differently, or provided extra information or documents.
When you have experienced a visa refusal, you need straight-talking specialist immigration legal advice on why your application was refused and a clear explanation of what our Visa Refusal Lawyers can do to help.
Grounds for visa refusal
The immigration rules require the Home Office to explain why your visa application was refused. Our Visa Appeal Lawyers will proactively check both the letter and the original application because you don’t want an attorney to remedy the problems identified by the Home Office only for another Home Office official to refuse a second application as no one had spotted that you had not addressed an essential component of the visa eligibility criteria in either your first or second visa application.
Your visa application may be refused because:
- You did not meet the eligibility criteria for that visa route
- You met the general grounds for visa refusal as you are not considered ‘suitable’
For example, your visa may have been refused as you did not provide sufficient evidence that your sponsoring spouse met the minimum income requirement for the Spouse Visa or because of your prior immigration record of overstaying on a Visit Visa.
In some situations, visa refusal is mandatory and a Home Office official must refuse your visa. In other cases, visa refusal can be discretionary so you have a case to argue that the Home Office official did not exercise their discretion by following the immigration rules and the latest Home Office guidance. Even if your visa refusal was correctly refused on mandatory grounds, you may still meet the eligibility criteria for a different type of visa.
Visa refusal because your presence in the UK is deemed to be not conducive to the public good
If you have been told that your presence in the UK would not be ‘conducive to the public good’ it can be a body blow. Most people think refusal on this ground means refusal for prior criminality but the ground also covers your:
- Character
- Associations
- Conduct
Visa refusal because of a previous breach of the immigration rules
The immigration rules say that a visa application must be refused by a Home Office official if you previously breached an immigration law and:
- Your application was made within 12 months if you left the UK voluntarily at your own expense or
- Your application was made within the last ten years if you were deported from the UK at public expense
Prior crimes and UK visa refusal
Your visa application must be refused if:
- You have been convicted of a crime in the UK or overseas and you received a custodial sentence of 12 months or longer. (This doesn’t apply if you are asking for a Visit Visa for less than six months and the conviction was over 12 months ago)
- You are considered a persistent offender with a ‘particular disregard for the law’
- You committed a criminal offence/s which caused serious harm
- You were convicted of a criminal offence in the UK or overseas and received a non-custodial sentence or received an out-of-court disposal that is on your record (again, this ground doesn’t apply if you are applying for a Visit Visa of less than six months or if over twelve months has elapsed from the date of your conviction and non-custodial sentence)
If you or a family member has a prior criminal record and you are unsure what effect this had on the visa refusal or on your prospects of securing a visa in the future, our Visa Appeal Solicitors can advise.
False representations and visa refusals
The contents of a visa application must be 100% accurate. If they aren’t, your application could be refused on the grounds of false representation.
False representations include:
- Falsehoods in the application
- Forged or false documents in support of the visa application
- Failing to provide relevant information
An application can be refused on this ground even if you were unaware that a representation was false. For example, if you thought an offer of employment from a sponsoring employer was genuine or that your sponsoring spouse’s business accounts accurately reflected their profits and provided evidence that the Spouse Visa financial requirement was met.
Other grounds for visa refusal
Other grounds for visa refusal include:
- Involvement in a sham marriage
- Failure to provide the required information
- Debt to the NHS
Whatever the grounds for your visa refusal our expert Immigration Lawyers in London can analyse the Home Office refusal letter and your original application and advise you on your options and next steps.
Help from a UK Visa Refusal Lawyer
You generally have four options if your visa application is refused:
- Administrative review
- Appeal
- Try again with a repeat but improved application
- New application for a different type of visa
The best option for you can only be decided after our Visa Refusal Solicitors in London have considered the contents of your original application and the Home Office's reasons for refusal.
Time limits apply so it's important to seek immigration legal advice as soon as you receive your letter from the Home Office.
With some visa refusals, there are no grounds to appeal. In other situations, you may have grounds to start an appeal but decide on cost grounds to make a fresh application.
Applying for an administrative review
The Home Office refusal letter says if you have the right to ask for an administrative review of the decision to refuse your visa application. For example, you can't request an administrative review if you applied for a short Visit Visa. You also can't do a two-pronged approach of applying for a fresh visa and pursuing an administrative review of the decision to deny you a visa. An administrative review isn’t an option if you need to leave the UK while the application is pending because your administrative review is automatically withdrawn if you leave the UK.
An administrative review is a relatively cheap option as the Home Office request fee is modest but the review involves another Home Office official checking the earlier application to ensure that the laws and guidance were followed. You don’t get the chance to introduce extra evidence or to prepare an improved application.
Appealing a visa refusal
Every visa refusal doesn’t come with a right to appeal the decision. If you have a right to appeal speak to a Visa Appeal Lawyer about the costs, timescales and your prospects of success. It's best to take immigration appeal legal advice so you can work out the most cost-effective way forward and the one that’s most likely to result in your securing a visa.
If you decide to appeal it is essential to instruct an Immigration Tribunal Lawyer UK with experience in representing appellants in judicial review or Immigration Tribunal proceedings.
Reapplying after visa refusal
Whether you are applying again for the same type of visa or applying for a different type you must ensure that you take specialist immigration legal advice to make this application the best it can be. That involves a compellingly written application together with the correct evidence that addresses any potential problem areas. For example, a previous overstay or a breach of the working conditions on your Student Visa.
Immigration Appeal Lawyers in London overcoming UK visa rejections
OTS Solicitors has some of the best Immigration Appeal Lawyers in London. The firm is recognised for the quality of its immigration law legal advice in the leading guide, The Legal 500.
We will start by reviewing your application and the correspondence received from the Home Office. We will then come up with a plan of action and explain our recommendations, the timeframe and costs so you can make an informed decision.
UK Online Visa Refusal Lawyers in London
For advice on how to appeal a visa refusal in the UK call London-based OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
Our lawyers speak Arabic, Armenian, Farsi, French/Mauritian Creole, Spanish, Tamil Tagalog/Ilonggo, Urdu/Punjabi.
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