Judicial review is a legal challenge against a decision of a public body. It can be used where the Home Office has made a negative decision against an immigration applicant or a body sponsoring an immigration applicant, and there is no immigration appeal available.
Depending on the nature of the immigration law issue, a judicial review claim must be submitted to the Upper Tribunal or Administrative Court. The claim must be submitted promptly and, in any event, no later than three months of the decision in question. Part of this period is spent submitting pre-claim correspondence (pre-action protocol; or ‘PAP’) and preparing the claim. An Immigration Barrister should therefore be instructed to prepare the claim as soon as possible.
If the judicial review claim is successful, then the Home Office will reconsider the immigration application and will probably have to pay the applicant’s legal costs. Those costs will be the Immigration Barrister’s professional fees plus Tribunal or Court fees. The Tribunal or Court fees payable will depend on the stage of the judicial review claim that is reached. All Tribunal fees are set by HM Courts and Tribunals Service and are subject to change, so your Immigration Barrister will advise you on the precise figure before you begin your judicial review claim. The fees in the table below are accurate at the date of writing.
There are 2–4 stages of judicial review, as set out in the table below. At each stage it is possible that the Home Office might decide to settle the judicial review claim and reconsider its decision. If the judicial review claim is not successful, then the Home Office’s decision will stand, and the applicant will probably be liable to pay the Home Office’s legal costs.
Figure 1: stages of a judicial review claim
This guide has been prepared for informational purposes. It is not intended to be immigration advice or advice on UK immigration law or procedure, unless specifically validated by one of our immigration law barristers.
If you need immigration advice, then please contact our immigration law barristers. We are Immigration Lawyers specialising in all types of UK immigration matters including immigration appeals and judicial review.