UK visa problem? Check the route, deadline and documents

Start with what you need to do next

UK immigration rules cover different application and challenge routes. Your nationality, location, current permission, application history and the relevant dates can change the answer. This guide helps organise those questions; it does not decide your eligibility.

Use the official adviser guide to check registration, professional authorisation, permitted level and fees. The Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 regulates specified immigration advice and services, with statutory scope, supervision and exceptions. An adviser must be authorised for the work involved; appearing on a register does not make the service free.

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Flag detention, removal directions, a reporting date or imminent expiry immediately to the appropriate qualified adviser. Do not wait for a routine appointment or a complete document bundle before raising an urgent deadline.

A refusal letter does not give you a free choice of remedy

A First-tier Tribunal appeal is an independent tribunal process where legislation gives an appeal right. Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 sections 82 and 84 cover specified protection and human-rights decisions and grounds, with important limitations; other regimes also exist. Not every visa refusal, cancellation or nationality decision can be appealed in the same way.

Administrative review under Appendix AR concerns eligible decisions and whether the Home Office incorrectly applied the relevant Immigration Rules or published guidance. It generally considers the original application, with limited specified exceptions for new evidence. It is not a new application on any basis the applicant chooses.

Read the decision’s remedy information with the actual rules and your adviser. If no ordinary appeal or review is available, another application or legal challenge may need assessment. Judicial review, onward appeals, citizens’ rights and specialist routes have their own requirements; this page does not supply their deadlines.

Do not submit a fresh application as an automatic response to refusal. Under Appendix AR, a later application can invalidate a proposed review or cause a pending review to be treated as withdrawn. Leaving the UK or requesting your passport to travel can also affect a pending review.

1. Identify the decision, relevant route, decision date, sending date and receipt/service record, including correspondence to a representative.
2. Confirm the available remedy, recipient, valid method, deadline and any fee or exemption. Obtain advice about delay immediately if the date may have passed.
3. Agree who will prepare, submit and follow up the challenge. Retain the complete submission, payment or exemption evidence and acknowledgement.

Continued leave under Immigration Act 1971 section 3C and protection against removal have specific conditions. A challenge, help request or booking is not a general assurance that you can remain, work or travel. Ask about the actual permission and any separate urgent action.

Check both the time limit and the event that starts it

The table gives selected ordinary rules, not every immigration procedure. First-tier Tribunal Rules 11, 19 and 20 and Appendix AR 2 govern the distinctions. An appeal notice must reach the tribunal in time; an administrative-review application is made when submitted online.

For the ordinary in-country tribunal route, rule 19(2) uses the date the decision notice is sent. Some public guidance describes receipt instead. Do not use that later event without checking the governing rule and actual notice with an adviser.

If a deadline may have passed, seek advice immediately rather than assuming either that nothing can be done or that lateness will be excused. Tribunal extension applications need reasons. Under Appendix AR 2.14, a late review may be accepted if it would be unjust not to waive the limit and it was made as soon as reasonably practicable. Different routes have different tests.

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Calendar days and the tribunal’s time-computation rules are not interchangeable. Notice may be served electronically or through a representative; keep the full service record. Border cancellation, citizens’ rights and other special procedures need separate checking.

Check the current application route before relying on a headline number

For a Skilled Worker application, check sponsorship, the job and occupation code, salary, English and application history. The usual salary comparison is at least £41,700 or the relevant going rate, whichever is higher, but other salary and occupation branches apply. It is not a minimum for every work visa or every worker.

The current Skilled Worker Rules include skill-list, transitional and other specific provisions. Care-worker applications and dependants have restrictions and exceptions. Do not assume every medium-skilled job, care worker or family member qualifies. Check the relevant rules and dependant guidance for your proposed application.

For a family visa, first distinguish joining a qualifying family member from joining someone temporarily in the UK as a worker or student, where a dependant route may apply. The ordinary partner minimum income requirement is £29,000, but transitional and specified-benefit rules can differ. Savings, income sources and evidence need route-specific assessment; one savings figure is not a universal substitute.

A Graduate visa is different from sponsored work and is not itself a settlement route. For non-doctoral qualifying applications, the current rule gives two years if the application is made before 1 January 2027 and 18 months if made on or after that date. Doctoral qualifications retain a three-year period. Other eligibility requirements still apply.

Before extending or switching, check whether your present category allows the application from inside the UK, when it must be made, the required evidence and the effect on dependants. An application that is incomplete or invalid may not protect your position; do not rely on an online account or draft form as a submitted valid application.

This is a route guide, not a complete visa test. Use the current route-specific guidance and confirm fees, English/evidence requirements and conditions before applying. Published future rules and policy consultations do not by themselves change today’s eligibility.

Use the official registration route and specialist help

The official asylum guide explains claiming protection where return would be unsafe. At the border, tell a Border Force officer that you want to claim asylum. If already in the UK, the registration appointment line is 0300 123 4193, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Calling for an appointment does not itself register the claim; follow the screening instructions and do not attend a registration location without an appointment.

Screening and the substantive asylum interview are not always two separate appointments: some applicants may be invited to a Single Protection Interview. Tell the appropriate service about interpretation, dependants, health and access needs. Seek a regulated specialist’s advice and follow any reporting or document requirements.

The length of a protection grant depends on the applicable Part 11 rules. For claims or further submissions made on or after 2 March 2026, an ordinary refugee or humanitarian-protection grant is for a minimum of 30 months. Qualifying unaccompanied children, including the specified category who reach 18 while the claim is pending, have a minimum five-year branch. Earlier claims have different provisions. The date of the decision is not the general trigger for this change.

The official document guide helps organise identity and address evidence. Asylum helplines and qualifying legal aid may help; neither support nor a favourable decision is automatic. Dependants’ permission and their own protection needs require separate attention.

Do not assume the former refugee family-reunion route is open for a new application. The current family-reunion guide says new applications are no longer accepted; it distinguishes applications made before 3pm on 4 September 2025 and possible family-visa routes. Seek advice about the route that actually applies.

If protection, detention or removal is urgent, approach the appropriate specialist or official service promptly. A commercial consultation is not a prerequisite to seeking asylum or checking available funded help.

Five years in the UK does not automatically give settlement

Some current routes, including qualifying Skilled Worker and Appendix FM partner routes, have a five-year qualifying period, but the required permission, residence history and other conditions still matter. The partner settlement rules and Skilled Worker settlement rules are different tests.

Do not apply a single 180-day absence rule to every family or settlement application. Appendix Continuous Residence specifies the routes to which it applies and its exceptions. Other routes have their own residence provisions. Keep accurate travel and permission records for assessment.

British citizenship is a separate application with its own requirements. Settlement is not citizenship, and a general five-plus-one-year summary does not establish eligibility. Likewise, the earned-settlement consultation is not a substitute for the Immigration Rules applicable to your application.

Check the version and commencement of any change. For example, future English-language provisions in the Skilled Worker settlement rules should not be described as already applying to every October 2026 application.

An eVisa records status; an ETA authorises travel

An eVisa is a digital record of identity, immigration status and conditions. Check the UKVI account, current passport and personal details before travel or sharing proof with an employer or landlord. Use the official correction route if the record is wrong; updating an account does not grant new permission.

Do not assume all physical evidence has become unusable. Current guidance preserves valid vignettes and some indefinite physical evidence, with specific procedures for obtaining digital access. The appropriate proof depends on the document and status.

An electronic travel authorisation (ETA) is different from an eVisa and does not guarantee entry. Whether one is needed depends on nationality, permission, journey and exemptions. It ordinarily lasts two years or until the linked passport expires, whichever is sooner. Use the official guide to check your circumstances; an ETA does not permit any work, residence or activity you choose.

Do not share your UKVI password or one-time access codes with an AI information line. Ask an instructed professional how to share necessary records securely.

Separate application fees, challenge fees and professional costs

The current First-tier Tribunal Fees Order and Immigration and Nationality Fees Regulations set different charges. A private consultation fee is not a Home Office or tribunal fee. Check exemptions and relief before paying, without overlooking the deadline.

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The ordinary tribunal means-based fee-remission scheme does not apply to an appellant outside the UK when the appeal notice is given; a separate exceptional-circumstances power exists. Ask about the actual exemption or relief, rather than assuming all appeals are free. See the current Order, official visa fee table and in-country fee-waiver guidance.

Prepare these eight groups for a useful advice appointment

Start with the next deadline and the complete notice. This is an organising checklist, not a mandatory filing bundle for every application. Tell the adviser immediately if something is missing or time is short.

1. The complete decision, refusal or cancellation notice, reasons and every attachment.
2. Evidence of sending and receipt: envelope, email and portal notifications, plus correspondence with any representative.
3. Your passport or travel document, current permission/eVisa record, expiry date and conditions. Keep passwords and one-time codes private.
4. The submitted application, answers and evidence, payment receipt and Home Office or tribunal reference numbers.
5. A dated history of applications, grants, refusals and travel/absences, with any hearing, reporting or removal date.
6. Relevant route evidence: sponsor and job information, course completion, relationship and dependant documents, and accommodation details.
7. Income, savings, benefits and essential-expense evidence relevant to the application, legal aid or fee-relief assessment.
8. Your questions and intended outcome, language or access needs, previous advice, and the urgent issue that needs a decision first.

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