U.K. Student visa refusal

Question

I was given 30/30 and 10/10 points for the application but was refused because it says there has been no evidence of support from my parents for me to travel because I'm under 18. However in the visa counter the Indian man gave my father a letter to sign and we have informed him that I am under 18. Also, I have not received any email asking for any missing documents they simply refused me. Any recommendations? Should I appeal or just submit a new one

Answer 1

If you were refused under the points-based system, you would not have a full right to appeal. You can apply for an administrative review, at no charge. Your refusal notice will include guidance on how to do this.

If your Tier 4 visa application is refused, and you think a mistake has been made, you can ask UK Visas & Immigration to check its decision. This is known as an administrative review and there is no charge. You must ask for an administrative review within 28 days from the date you receive the refusal notice.

As you note, evidence of support was either not included or insufficient, and you may want to address that shortcoming before reapplying.

The UK Visas and Immigration can guide you:

Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 came into force on 2 November 2009. It requires the UK Visas and Immigration to make arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in discharging its immigration, nationality and general customs functions.

All applicants who are under the age of 18 must show that:

• they have adequate travel, reception and care arrangements for their stay in the UK;
• they have a parent or guardian in their home country or country of habitual residence who is responsible for their care; and
• their parent / guardian agrees to them travelling.

Parent / Guardian consent

[T]he ECO needs to establish and record that the parent / guardian is in the home country and that the parent / guardian agrees to the child travelling to the UK.

The ECO should therefore expect to see:

• A letter of consent from a parent or legal guardian consenting to the arrangements for their travel to, reception and care while in the UK. If a foster care arrangement exists, this is to include details of the intended foster carer - name, date of birth, address where child will be living, relationship of foster carer to child and authority from the parent or legal guardian for the foster carer to care for the child during their stay in the UK.
• Where applicable, a letter from the school to include details of the foster care arrangement and that they have or will notify the local authority (and the reply from the LA if they have one).

The ECO should refuse the application if they have doubts about whether consent has been given, or where there is nothing from the parent or guardian and no reasonable explanation as to why this is so.

What are suitable travel, reception and care arrangements

This will vary from application to application and depends on whether the child is accompanied or unaccompanied. In all cases a clear record of who is responsible for the child’s welfare in their home country and whilst in the UK is imperative.

For host families the ECO needs to establish the identity and address of the hosts and must ensure that the care arrangements are satisfactory. In routine cases this could mean seeing a letter from the host family.

Proviso details must be updated to show that satisfactory care arrangements are met and to include the name, address and telephone number of the intended family / carer, as well as the parents’ contact details. Failure to ensure this information is readily available may result in a lengthy delay for the child at the port of arrival.

Child protection and duty of care is very much in the fore-front of Immigration Officers’ minds and where a child does not present any kind of paperwork concerning the care arrangements, officers will pursue enquiries as they see fit to satisfy themselves that the children are not at risk.

Note: "Proviso" refers to its internal system.