How an appeal case works

If you have the right of appeal the first stage is that the “grounds of appeal” must be prepared and lodged with the Tribunal. This involves writing and submitting a legal argument which explains in what way you intend to challenge the decision. This must be submitted within the deadline.

Subsequently you will receive a Notice of Hearing from the Tribunal. This tells you when the appeal hearing will happen and also at which hearing centre (there are various hearing centres in the UK).

You will then need to prepare and submit bundles of papers to the Tribunal and the Home Office. The bundles should be in an appropriate format and should contain a “skeleton argument” (which is another legal argument that summarises the issues and develops them as necessary), witness statement(s) (for you and any other witnesses you want to have), and any other documents that you wish to submit which will help your case.

If you are having an “oral hearing” (ie a live hearing in front of an Immigration Judge) you can represent yourself at the hearing, or you can choose to be represented by a lawyer. At the hearing you and any other witnesses must give evidence and you and they can be questioned about their evidence and your case.

After the hearing, and usually within two or three weeks, you will receive a detailed written decision from the Tribunal (called a “determination”), which will tell you whether you have been successful or unsuccessful in your case. The losing party will have the right to challenge the decision with the Upper Immigration Tribunal if they think that the Judge’s decision contained any error. So if your appeal has been unsuccessful you may be able to challenge the decision if it seems wrong.