Human Rights Appeals

What Is a Human Rights Appeal?

Section 82 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 gives a right of appeal where the Home Office refuses a human rights claim: a claim that removing you from, or refusing you entry to, the UK would be unlawful under section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998. Applications under Appendix FM, Appendix Private Life and Appendix Adult Dependent Relative count as human rights claims, so their refusal normally carries a right of appeal.

Home Office guidance adds that a person who still holds permission to stay (other than section 3C leave) cannot be removed, so a refusal made while that permission is running is not treated as the refusal of a human rights claim and carries no right of appeal: take advice quickly on the alternatives, which may include a fresh application or judicial review.

This page covers family and private life refusals. Preparing the claim is covered on our human rights immigration pages, protection refusals on our asylum appeals page and appeals against deportation on our deportation page.

The Legal Test the Tribunal Applies

The only ground of appeal is that the decision is unlawful under section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 (section 84(2) of the 2002 Act). The Tribunal decides for itself, on the evidence, whether refusal breaches Article 8.

The Rules are the starting point: Appendix FM paragraph EX.1 (a British or seven-year resident child whom it would not be reasonable to expect to leave, or insurmountable obstacles to family life outside the UK with a partner who is British, settled, has protection status or holds one of the other statuses listed in EX.1), GEN.3.2 (unjustifiably harsh consequences) and the residence tests in Appendix Private Life, all explained on our Article 8 family and private life page.

The Tribunal must also apply section 117B of the 2002 Act. Little weight is given to a private life, or to a relationship with a British or settled partner, formed while you were in the UK unlawfully, and to a private life formed while your status was precarious. But if you are not liable to deportation, and you have a genuine and subsisting parental relationship with a qualifying child (a child under 18 who is a British citizen or has lived in the UK for seven years or more) whom it would not be reasonable to expect to leave, the public interest does not require your removal (section 117B(6)). Section 117B(6) does not apply if you are liable to deportation: in that case the harder tests in section 117C apply, and you should read our deportation appeals page.

Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 requires the Home Office to have regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in the UK, and the Rules and Home Office guidance treat a child's best interests as a primary consideration, though not the only one.

Appealing From Inside or Outside the UK

A claim made in the UK is appealed from inside the UK, and an in-time appeal is a barrier to removal while pending. A claim made from abroad is appealed from abroad. Voluntarily leaving the UK while an in-country appeal is pending means it is treated as abandoned under section 92(8), unless the claim was certified so that the appeal must be continued from abroad. Being removed by the Home Office against your will is different: the Court of Appeal held in SR (Algeria) v SSHD [2015] EWCA Civ 1375 that 'leaves' in section 92(8) means leaving voluntarily, so a forced removal does not abandon your appeal. Tell us at once if you are removed while an appeal is pending.

Certification changes this, and section 94 contains two different certificates. A certificate under section 94(1) that the claim is clearly unfounded removes the right of appeal altogether (section 94(3A)), leaving judicial review of the certificate as the only challenge. A certificate under section 94(7) that you are to be removed to a safe country of which you are not a national does not remove the right of appeal but moves it out of the UK (section 92(3)(a)). There is also no right of appeal where further submissions are rejected and do not amount to a fresh claim under paragraph 353.

Under section 94B the Home Office may certify that refusing you entry, removing you or requiring you to leave before your appeal is decided would not itself be unlawful under the Human Rights Act, so the appeal must be brought or continued from abroad. The absence of a real risk of serious irreversible harm is only one factor in that assessment, not the whole test. Home Office guidance (version 10.0, 8 May 2026) restarted section 94B certification after a long pause following Kiarie and Byndloss, and says the policy is to focus it on people liable to deportation, so it is uncommon in an ordinary family or private life case. Section 96 certification, where a ground could have been raised in an earlier appeal or in response to a section 120 notice and there was no satisfactory reason for not raising it, also removes the right of appeal.

Evidence of Family and Private Life

The Tribunal decides on the evidence and may consider matters arising after the refusal. Home Office guidance lists what is expected: a marriage certificate, tenancy agreements, joint bills and bank statements, and letters from people who know the relationship. For a child, the guidance calls the birth certificate the best evidence that the child is under 18; we add letters from the GP and the school to show the parental relationship and the child's life here.

Common problems we see include:

• relationship evidence that proves a marriage but not a shared life
• nothing on why the child could not reasonably be expected to leave the UK
• medical letters that say nothing about treatment abroad
• a new relationship or child raised for the first time at the hearing, which the Tribunal cannot consider without Home Office consent under section 85

How the Appeal Process Works

1. Check the letter and the deadline: 14 days from the decision being sent if you are in the UK, 28 days from receiving it if you are outside, or from your departure if you had to leave the UK to appeal. A late appeal must ask for an extension and give the reason.
2. Lodge the appeal online, pay the fee unless you are exempt (fee and exemptions are on GOV.UK) and choose a decision on the papers or a hearing.
3. We draft grounds on why refusal breaches Article 8 and prepare the bundle of statements and documents.
4. We file the appeal skeleton argument and evidence; within 14 days the Home Office must state in writing whether it still opposes all or part of the appeal and on what grounds, and the Tribunal then lists the hearing.
5. At the hearing, sometimes by video link, you and your witnesses give evidence, with an interpreter where needed.
6. The decision is sent in writing; if allowed, the Home Office revises its decision.

If the appeal is dismissed, you can seek permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal within 14 days of the written reasons (28 days from abroad), but only for an error of law. Otherwise the options are narrow. Paragraph 353 further submissions are only open to a failed asylum seeker who is in the UK and has no outstanding protection or human rights claim or appeal, and they must be lodged at an in person appointment at a Service and Support Centre: submissions that do not meet those validity requirements may be rejected as invalid and never considered (paragraphs 353AA to 353AC), and paragraph 353 does not apply at all to claims made overseas.

If you did not claim asylum, or you are outside the UK, the route is a fresh application, which will only succeed where you now meet the Rules or there are exceptional circumstances under GEN.3.2. Once appeal rights are exhausted you are liable to removal: see our removal directions page.

When Legal Advice Is Especially Important

• Your letter says the claim is certified or gives no right of appeal
• You have a British or seven-year resident child and the refusal says it would be reasonable for the child to leave
• Your stay depends on leave extended by section 3C: you cannot make a further application while it runs, and leaving the UK ends it
• Your circumstances have changed, for example a new child or partner
• You are detained or removal directions have been served

How RakLAW Solicitors Can Help

RakLAW Solicitors act in human rights appeals from 42 Shad Thames, a short walk from Tower Bridge. We read the refusal letter, draft the grounds, take witness statements and prepare the submissions on proportionality and the children's best interests. We represent you at the First-tier Tribunal. Our charges are on our immigration fees page, and a free 15 minute consultation is available on 0203 345 2000.