Visitor Visa Refused Four Times

They say that about 20% of visitor visa applications are refused. There are various different possible reasons for refusal, including that the decision maker (Entry Clearance Officer (ECO)) does not believe that the applicant is a “genuine” visitor and thus that it is not certain that they would return home at the end of the visit.  

In the case of Ms Shajna Begum, a Bangladeshi national living in Bangladesh, she applied for a visitor visa in December 2023. She did not know this, but this was going to turn into a long and complicated story. She wanted to come to the UK to support her cousin, who was due to give birth. She was living in Bangladesh with her husband and two young children, and this was made clear in the visa application form. In response to the question “Does anyone rely on you for financial support” she accurately responded “No” (she was financially dependent on her husband). 

This application was refused, on the “genuine visitor” grounds, because there were some issues about the financial documents enclosed with the application and also because the ECO was not satisfied that she had significant ties to Bangladesh (despite the husband and kids). 

There was no right of appeal, and in January 2024 Ms Begum sent a pre-action protocol letter (PAP) to the ECO stating that she was minded to challenge the decision by way of Judicial Review before the Upper Tribunal. This persuaded the ECO to withdraw the decision and think again, but alas the application was re-refused and this time a new ground emerged, that she did not have a genuine relationship with her cousin.

Not to be deterred, she sent another PAP and, again, the ECO withdrew the decision but again it was re-refused. By now it was March 2024. One issue was that in the application form a mistake had been made about income; however, this mistake had been corrected in a cover letter to the application but this correction had evidently not been taken on board by the ECO.

Again she sought to challenge by way of Judicial Review and this time the case reached the Upper Tribunal. The Tribunal’s decision, made in July 2024, was that the ECO had to reconsider the latest refusal. This they did but again there was a refusal, made in October 2024. (We imagine that by this time her cousin had surely given birth.)

Still not to be deterred, Ms Begum sent yet another PAP, but this time the ECO declined to withdraw the decision. Ms Begum persisted, and ultimately the Tribunal gave permission for the new case to proceed, in April 2025 (The King on the application of Shajna Begum v ECO JR-2024-LON-003343).

By now some of the issues, but not all of them, had been narrowed. The judge (Upper Tribunal Judge Grey) noted all the previous litigation between the two parties and stated inter alia that “The arguable failure [of the ECO] to consider material which was relevant to the applicant’s intentions also arguably rendered the respondent’s [ECO’s] refusal of entry clearance at least arguably irrational”.

This was the cautiously-worded starting point, but the judge went on to make a detailed analysis of the case history and found various failings of the ECO, not limited to failure to consider all the evidence. Some of the reasoning was indeed found to be irrational and the ECO had not correctly followed the Home Office’s published policy guidance about considering visitor visa applications. 

Thus the decision could not stand and it was quashed. 

As is sometimes the case, the ECO’s decision was written in a slovenly way that would not stand up well before a court. We relish the judge’s comment “In a decision which appears to lack some care in terms of the drafting at various points…”. There was a strong flavour throughout this case that “the left hand did not know what the right hand was doing”, which is very typical of UK Visas & Immigration. 

But we also saw how a determined person can succeed.

If you have had a visitor visa refusal we at GSN Immigration can do our best to help you. 

Oliver Westmoreland

Senior Immigration Lawyer