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On this page
Administrative review is an internal Home Office check of a refusal for caseworking error. It is available for most points-based and work, study and visit decisions that have no right of appeal. It is cheap, but it is narrow and currently slow.
Which decisions
Refusals of applications under the points-based routes (Skilled Worker, Student, Graduate and others), some visitor decisions, and decisions to cancel leave in those routes. Human rights and protection refusals go to appeal instead.
Time limit and fee
- 14 days from receiving the decision if you are in the UK; 28 days if outside the UK; 7 days if you are detained.
- Fee £80, refunded if the review succeeds.
What it can and cannot do
The reviewer checks whether the caseworker made an error: misapplied the Rules, overlooked evidence that was submitted, or made a factual mistake. You cannot submit new evidence, except to show that the evidence was in fact submitted or to respond to a point first raised in the refusal. If your application was refused because something was missing, administrative review will not help; a new application will.
Waiting times
As at 13 October 2026, GOV.UK says administrative review decisions can take 12 months or more. While the review is pending you keep the leave you had under the rules on extension of leave, if you applied in time, but you may not be able to travel or switch. For many clients that wait is itself a reason to reapply or to consider judicial review instead.
What we do
We read the refusal against the application and tell you which route is best: review, new application or judicial review. If review is right, we draft it to identify the error precisely, because the reviewer will not look for it.
Ask a question
Not sure where you stand? Ask a solicitor and we will reply by phone or email.
