Student Visa application rejected. What are her options?

[hcraw96]

I'm asking this on behalf of my Chinese friend who is studying a Masters degree with me. She is from China. She received a Home Office letter a few days ago telling her that her Tier 4 student visa application has been rejected due to not sending her BRP in time, and from that point forward she is an 'overstayer' and must leave the country. Now normally one could say that this is her fault, but the letter also says that the Home Office wrote to her twice previously saying that her application was invalid because she had not sent her BRP. She has never received those letters. If she had, she could have rectified her application whilst she still had leave to do so. She will either return to China in a few days to re-apply for her visa (her uni department will allow this) or she will hire an immigration lawyer.

My question is, would it be cheaper in the long run to hire an immigration lawyer rather than returning to China to re-apply? Can an immigration lawyer lodge an appeal with the Home Office on the basis that she had not received those two letters that would have let her know that she needed to rectify her application? Finally, if it would be better that she returns to China to re-apply, will her chances for re-applying be bad because she has 'overstayed'?

[bigben1982]

Hi,

Just thought about sharing my experience.I came across similar situation in 2008 when I applied for my student visa extension.Home office told me that they sent 2 letters requesting additional documents.I never received those letters.I came to know that this happened when they sent me the 3rd letter with the refusal note.

I would say from my experience,apply for an appeal within time frame given using a solicitor's help.In my case,HO couldn't prove that they sent me the letters because those were ordinary mails.Not recorded delivery/registered ones.It took almost a year to get the visa after in country appeal and going through court hearing.

If you appeal within the time frame allowed,applicant will not be an over stayer. Hope this information helps.

[CR001]

Hi,

Just thought about sharing my experience.I came across similar situation in 2008 when I applied for my student visa extension.Home office told me that they sent 2 letters requesting additional documents.I never received those letters.I came to know that this happened when they sent me the 3rd letter with the refusal note.

I would say from my experience,apply for an appeal within time frame given using a solicitor's help.In my case,HO couldn't prove that they sent me the letters because those were ordinary mails.Not recorded delivery/registered ones.It took almost a year to get the visa after in country appeal and going through court hearing.

If you appeal within the time frame allowed,applicant will not be an over stayer. Hope this information helps.

Points Based Visas, which is what a student visa is, no longer have appeal rights within the UK. They have the option of administrative review, which is when HO has made an error.

https://www.gov.uk/immigration-asylum-tribunal

[sah10406]

Can an immigration lawyer lodge an appeal with the Home Office on the basis that she had not received those two letters that would have let her know that she needed to rectify her application?

Paragraph 34B of the immigration rules says an applicant should have one chance to correct an invalid application. It sounds like the Home Office did this, and that they actually gave her two chances.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration ... -in-the-uk

She received the notice of invalidity fine, so it seems the correspondence address was correct. The lost letters must have been Royal Mail's fault.

will her chances for re-applying be bad because she has 'overstayed'?

It depends how long she has overstayed. An overstay of more than 30 days means someone has a 12-month entry clearance ban.

A university student has access to free professional immigration advice at their university, so those folks will be the best source of advice on her options.