Can your visa be revoked, curtailed, cancelled?
Well, it can, but the Home Office would have to give a good reason, or at least what they think is a good reason.
They could revoke/curtail/cancel (which have similar meaning) a migrant’s visa for example on the grounds that the leave was obtained fraudulently, or that the migrant is acting in breach of immigration conditions, or that they no longer meet the requirements for the visa, or that they have acquired a criminal conviction. In some cases a migrant’s visa can be cancelled when they try to enter the border. Not only this but the Home Office can similarly cancel a migrant’s settlement status.
In some cancellation cases it might happen that there could be disagreement as to whether a migrant is really guilty of what they are accused of, but in other cases the Home Office can cancel leave even if the migrant is clearly innocent of any wrongdoing. For example, a student’s educational institution could lose its sponsor licence or a sponsored employee’s employer could lose its sponsor licence, and in these situations the Home Office will also cancel the migrant’s visa. “No sponsor licence no visa”, as you might say.
This sort of thing might seem unfair and, to make things even more unfair, there is in many cases no right of appeal to the First-Tier Immigration Tribunal or right of administrative review to the Home Office against cancellation of leave – with the exception of those who hold leave under the EUSS or other European visa schemes, who have the right of appeal. There is in other cases the potential right to judicial review before the Upper Immigration Tribunal but this remedy suffers from the unfortunate defect that if the migrant is unsuccessful they may face substantial loser’s costs.
The brighter side of this, if there is one, is that if the revocation is made in connection for example with a sponsor licence issue and the migrant is not implicated in any wrongdoing they will be given 60 days’ notice of the revocation, which might give them time to find another sponsored job or another course – but of course that might not be sufficient or feasible. But, in any case, this will only happen if the migrant has at least 60 days leave remaining on their visa; if they do not they will only have the amount of notice corresponding to the amount of leave they have left.
It is fair to say that this is a bleak legal landscape. If you receive a cancellation decision from the Home Office we can advise you about your options and the strength of your case and whether or not it is appropriate to challenge.
Oliver Westmoreland
Senior Immigration Lawyer