Administrative Review

Administrative review is a way of asking the Home Office to look again at certain refusals where it believes a caseworker made a mistake. It is not an appeal: there is no hearing and no independent judge. Instead, a different Home Office official checks whether the original decision was made correctly under the Immigration Rules and published guidance.

Which decisions are eligible

Administrative review is only available for decisions listed in Appendix AR of the Immigration Rules. These are mainly refusals on work, study, business and certain other routes, including:

• Skilled Worker, Global Business Mobility, Temporary Work and similar work routes.
• Student, Child Student and Graduate.
• Innovator Founder, Global Talent, Scale-up and High Potential Individual.
• Hong Kong British National (Overseas) and Turkish ECAA routes.
• Some other routes, such as UK Ancestry and Youth Mobility.

It is also available where permission was granted but you believe the length or conditions of the grant are wrong.

It is not available for visitor visa refusals, family (Appendix FM) decisions or EU Settlement Scheme decisions. If your refusal involves a protection or human rights claim, you may have a right of appeal instead. See our immigration appeals page.

What administrative review can correct

A review is limited to caseworking errors, for example where the caseworker failed to apply, or misapplied, the Immigration Rules or published Home Office guidance. New evidence can only be considered in limited circumstances. It is not an opportunity to make a new or different application.

Time limits

• In the UK: 14 calendar days from receiving the decision.
• If detained when the decision was made: 7 calendar days.
• Entry clearance refusals (outside the UK): 28 calendar days.

Late applications are only accepted where it would be unjust not to, and the application was made as soon as possible.

Fee, process and timescales

• The Home Office fee is currently £80, and applications are made online.
• Only one review of a decision is generally allowed. A second review is possible only where the first maintained the refusal for different or additional reasons.
• The Home Office says it can currently take 12 months or more to decide an administrative review.

The review may succeed (the decision is withdrawn and reconsidered), fail, or maintain the refusal for different or additional reasons.

Your status while the review is pending

If you applied in the UK while you still had permission, and apply for administrative review in time, your existing permission and conditions generally continue while the review is pending, and you should not be removed during that period. A pending review is treated as withdrawn if you make a new application, ask for your passport back to travel, or leave the UK.

If the review fails

If administrative review maintains the refusal, it may be possible to challenge the decision by judicial review, which must be brought promptly and in any event within 3 months. In other cases, a fresh application addressing the reasons for refusal may be the better option.

Common problems we help with

• Refusals based on a misreading of financial, salary or sponsorship evidence.
• Documents that were submitted but not properly taken into account under the rules.
• Grants of permission for the wrong length of time or with incorrect conditions.
• Uncertainty over whether a refusal carries administrative review, an appeal, or neither.

Because the review is limited to errors in the original decision, it is important to identify those errors precisely and explain them clearly with reference to the rules.

How Stonebridge can help

• Checking whether your decision is eligible for administrative review.
• Identifying caseworking errors in the refusal.
• Preparing clear, focused grounds and submitting the application in time.
• Advising whether a new application or judicial review would be more suitable.

Time limits are short, so please book a consultation as soon as you receive a refusal.