Appeals/Upper Tribunal

Appeals/Upper Tribunal

Duncan Lewis has its own team of in-house advocates who specialise in representation at Immigration Tribunal Hearings. The department assists and advises on every decision to refuse an application that is made by the Home Office or decisions to refuse entry made by British overseas missions.

It may be that you require advice on whether or not the best option for you is in fact to appeal a decision or to make an application with more supporting evidence. It may be that you require assistance in appealing the decision to refuse you political asylum in the UK or to grant you leave to remain as the spouse of a British citizen.

Whatever your situation, we have a court advocate with expert knowledge of the appeals system who will know best how to present your case and advise you fully on the strength of pursuing your appeal. We are also able to assist where your appeal has already been heard, and you need advice on the merits of an application to the Upper Tribunal.

An individual who has been unsuccessful in their appeal against an immigration decision in the First Tier Tribunal may apply for permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal to have their decision looked at again in certain circumstances.

Under this process a written application can be submitted to argue that the decision of the previous tribunal was wrong because of a material error of law. If the court agrees that there is an arguable error of law, then there will usually be a further hearing to argue the point. At this hearing legal arguments would be heard to decide whether or not the decision of the Judge is correct, or whether or not the appeal needs to be reheard. This could happen where an Immigration Judge has failed fully to take into account important evidence, where he has failed to apply the correct legal principles or where the decision given does not set out properly the reasons for how the original decision was reached.

Upper Tribunal work is a complex area requiring particular expertise. For this reason Duncan Lewis has specialist Immigration solicitors dedicated to this type of work, which is well equipped to handle the advocacy requirements of the Upper Tribunal process.

The team has extensive experience in making applications to the Upper Tribunal and in arguing appeals in every area of immigration and asylum law.

At Duncan Lewis we scrutinize the Court’s decision in great detail in every case to ensure that every individual gets a fair and just hearing by checking that there has not been any failure to consider all of the evidence or the personal circumstances of an individual in their earlier appeal hearing. We have acted in a number of cases that have been reported in the Law Reports and our Advocacy department has an excellent reputation in this complex and important area of law.

Our immigration solicitors can also assess whether Legal Aid funding is available for your appeal. If Legal Aid funding is not available our lawyers can discuss the other alternative funding options available to cover the cost of your appeal.