What happens if my EU settlement scheme application is refused?

How do I challenge an EUSS refusal?

The following information contains a general explanation about how you can challenge an EU Settlement Scheme refusal decision if you disagree with the outcome. There may be situations where specific rules that are not covered here apply. If you are refused status under the Scheme, we strongly recommend speaking to a qualified and regulated legal adviser to best understand your options. We have provided more information about finding a qualified and regulated legal adviser in the section Where can I find regulated immigration advice?.

If the Home Office grants you pre-settled status instead of settled status and you think that you should have been granted settled status, you can challenge this decision in the same way you challenge a refused application (we will refer to refusal decisions which includes this situation). Family members who have been refused an EUSS Family Permit can also challenge the refusal decision in the same way.

It is important to understand the reasons why your application has been refused to see if you will be able to successfully challenge the refusal. This is why we recommend speaking with a qualified and regulated legal adviser, who can explain what the best approach to take is. 

To challenge a Home Office refusal you must appeal to the Immigration Tribunal where independent immigration judge will decide the case and issue a written judgment saying whether the Home Office decision is correct. If the Immigration judge decides that the refusal was not correct then they will substitute a new decision telling the Home Office to grant you status. 

In the past a refused applicant could apply for an administrative review which is a review carried out by the Home Office to see if the decision was correct. This option he is no longer available and therefore anyone who gets a refusal decision now must apply to the Immigration Tribunal. For those who have applied for an administrative review when this option was available, if the outcome of the administrative review is that the Home Office upholds the refusal decision, the person can then make an appeal to the Immigration Tribunal arguing that the Home Office decisions (both the initial refusal and the administrative review) are wrong. 

If you have new information and / or evidence that you would like to be looked in your appeal, this can be sent to the Immigration Tribunal to consider. 

You must pay a fee to have your refusal decision looked at again. The fee is £80 or £140 for an Immigration Tribunal appeal. In some cases, the appeal fee will be refunded if the Home Office wrongly refused your application based on the evidence you provided with your initial application. 

There are different time limits for notifying the Immigration Tribunal that you want to challenge the refusal decision: 

If you are inside the UK: 

• You can appeal to the Immigration Tribunal within 14 days from the date the refusal decision was sent to you by the Home Office. 

• You can appeal to the Immigration Tribunal after the Home Office has refused your administrative review application. You must appeal within 14 days from the date the administrative review refusal was sent by the Home Office. 

If you are outside the UK: 

• You can appeal to the Immigration Tribunal within 28 days from the date you receive the refusal decision from the Home Office. 

• You can appeal to the Immigration Tribunal after the Home Office has refused your administrative review application. You must appeal within 28 days from the date you receive the administrative review refusal from the Home Office. 

In some situations, it may be possible to apply outside of these deadlines. However, you would need to have a very good reason for missing the deadline and therefore, it is extremely important wherever possible to challenge the decision within the given timeframe. If you are applying late, you must explain to the Immigration Tribunal why you missed the deadline. A decision will be made on whether you have a good reason for applying late and if so, the challenge will be allowed to proceed. You can see more information about appealing to the immigration tribunal here. 

Can I make another application if my first EU Settlement Scheme application is refused? 

Although it is possible to make another application to the scheme if you believe you have wrongly been refused status, as this application would be made after the deadline you would need to justify why you are making a late application. In most cases, the Home Office will expect a refused applicant to have applied for an administrative review (when this option was available) or appeal to the Immigration Tribunal, rather than submit a new application. This means it is very likely a new application will be rejected as invalid and will not be considered. However, if there are compelling reasons why a new application should be considered even though it is late, the Home Office may accept the application. 

If you have been granted pre-settled status and you believe you should have been granted settled status, you can submit a new application to the Home Office to show that you should be given settled status. This application will be accepted and processed as it is not considered a late application, as you will hold pre-settled status when you make the new application. 

What if I am an EU citizen resident by 31 December 2020 but the Home Office says I am a joining family member? 

It is possible that EU citizens who were resident by 31 December 2020 may receive a decision from the Home Office which decides that rather than being a “principal rights holder”, they are a joining family member of another EU citizen. This situation should only occur if the Home Office believes both of the following are true: 

• There is insufficient evidence of the EU citizen applicant living in the UK by 31 December 2020 (or that they did live in the UK by this date, but have since broken their continuous residence), and

• The applicant has an eligible family relationship with an EU citizen who was resident by 31 December 2020. For example, if the applicant is married to an EU citizen with pre-settled or settled status and the marriage took place by 31 December 2020, they can qualify as a joining family member.  

In this scenario, the Home Office rules do not allow a person to challenge the decision that they are a joining family member rather than a principal rights holder. This means the applicant cannot appeal to the Immigration Tribunal to show that they were resident in the UK by 31 December 2020 (and have not broken their continuous residence). The Home Office guidance advises in this situation that, if the applicant believes they have been wrongly granted status as a joining family member, they should submit a new application with evidence that they were resident by 31 December 2020 and have maintained continuous residence. As the applicant in this situation will have been granted status, their new application will not be considered a late application. 

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This site offers information about Brexit, how it may impact you as an EU citizen and your family living in the UK, and what you may need to do next. It summarises key issues and is purely for information purposes and has no legal force. It does not provide any legal interpretation of EU or UK legislation and is not meant to replace specialised legal advice on UK immigration rules.