Immigration Judicial Review: How The Procedure Works

Further detail

Detailed information about our Judicial Review service

A challenge on Judicial Review grounds must be brought on either illegality, irrationality and procedural impropriety. These grounds must be made out in the Pre-action protocol letter and then the claim form.

Illegality is relatively simple, it is where the public body had made a decision which has broken a prescribed law.

All applications for judicial review must be lodged within 3 months of the decision that is being challenged. Please be aware that the pre-action protocol does not count as an application so does not pause the deadline for lodging a judicial review application with the High Court. The Civil Procedure rules also make clear that the deadline is that the claim” must be filed promptly” and in any event not later than three months. So the claim should be submitted without reasonable delay.

Aside from emergency applications, applications for judicial review must be preceded by a pre-action letter, which is part of the pre-action protocol. This is essentially a letter from the Immigration Lawyers to the lawyers from the Home Office (the Government Legal Department) which sets out the grounds for judicial review, so that the Home Office can decide if they can resolve the matter without recourse to the Claimant’s Immigration Solicitors filing an application.

Once a Pre-action protocol is submitted, and responded to, then the Judicial Review claim form can be submitted at the High Court. The Home Office can then choose to defend the matter or to acknowledge the matter and delay the defence. If they choose to eventually defend the matter, then claim form goes to be considered by a High Court judge. He can then decide the matter in the claimant’s favour or refuse.

If you feel you have received a decision which is unfair, please contact us via phone, email or enquiry box above.