Refused a UK visa: review, appeal and the 7, 14 and 28-day deadlines

A visa refusal does not always mean reapplying and paying the fee again. There are three separate ways to challenge a decision, and they are not interchangeable: your decision letter says which one is open to you. The deadlines are short — between 7 and 28 days.

What are the three routes after a refusal?

There are three, and you do not choose between them — exactly one is available.

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An administrative review, where the Home Office reviews its own decision. An appeal to the independent First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), where a judge hears both sides. And a reconsideration request, which exists only when you have no right to either.

GOV.UK puts it plainly: you cannot ask for a reconsideration if you have a right of appeal or a right to a review. An appeal, in turn, covers only a closed list of decisions, not every refusal.

What is an administrative review and what does it cost?

It is a paid review of the decision inside the Home Office: £80, applied for online.

You can use it if all of the following apply: you are outside the UK, you applied from outside the UK, and your application was refused. There is a separate route for people who applied in the UK and for a visa cancelled at the border; the fee is the same £80.

There is no second review of the same refusal, unless the first one found new reasons for it — your decision letter will say so.

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How long do you have to apply?

The clock runs from the day you got the decision: 28 days if you are outside the UK, 14 days if you are in the UK, 7 days if you were detained that day.

For a visa cancelled at the border the rule is the same — 14 days, or 7 if you were detained. If it was cancelled at UK border controls outside the country, in Paris, Brussels, Dunkirk, Coquelles, Calais or Lille, the deadline is 28 days.

How long does the result take?

A long time, and the department says so itself: an administrative review can currently take 12 months or more.

If there is no decision after 6 months, the Home Office will contact you with an update; the delay does not affect your rights. In the UK with expired permission, you will not usually be removed until it is complete. A border cancellation review is faster: usually 28 days or more.

When is the review cancelled with no refund?

The request is withdrawn automatically if you do something the department treats as giving it up, and the fee is not refunded.

It goes if you make any other immigration or visa application. In the UK two more grounds apply: asking for your passport back so you can travel, and leaving the country. Asking for a review after submitting a new application gets the request rejected outright.

You can withdraw it by email, giving your name, date of birth, nationality and reference: administrative.reviews@homeoffice.gov.uk from abroad, admin.review.enquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk from inside the UK.

Who can appeal to the tribunal?

Only someone with a legal right of appeal; the letter normally says so.

The list is closed: refusal of a protection (asylum) claim and revocation of protection status; refusal of a human rights claim; refusal of a residence document or deportation under the EEA Regulations 2016; revocation of British citizenship; decisions under the EU Settlement Scheme, on a frontier worker permit and on an S2 healthcare visitor visa. Otherwise an administrative review is what remains.

What does an appeal cost and who is exempt?

£82 without a hearing and £144 with one. You do not pay if you get asylum support or legal aid, or are under 18 and receive services from your local council, and you can ask for help with court fees if you have little or no savings.

The deadlines match the review: 14 days from inside the UK, 28 days from abroad. If the letter says you must leave the UK first, the 28 days run from the date you left. A late appeal must come with an explanation, and the tribunal decides whether it can still hear the case. Procedural questions: contactia@justice.gov.uk, 0300 123 1711, weekdays 9am to 4pm; the tribunal does not give legal advice.

What if you have neither an appeal nor a review?

A reconsideration request — but only if you are in the UK and applied from here.

The single ground is that immigration rules or policy were not applied correctly. It covers applications to move a visa to an eVisa (transfer of conditions), to move indefinite leave to remain to an eVisa (no time limit), and to extend, switch or settle — and cases where the application succeeded but the leave type or expiry date looks wrong.

If a TOC or NTL application was refused, only three kinds of new evidence count: the date of the application, the authenticity of your documents, and information that reached UKVI before the decision date but not the deciding team. Write a letter explaining why the decision is wrong, citing the rules you applied under, and send it to the team named in your decision letter — no later than 14 days after the decision.

What to check first

The decision letter: it names the route, and that sets the deadline, the fee and the address.