On average, this type of work takes between 12-30 hours to complete. This means that on average costs are between £1800 and £6000 (depending on the hourly rate applicable). All figures exclude VAT (if applicable) and do not include costs of any disbursements (see below).
The exact number of hours it will take depends on the circumstances in your case. Such as:
- The reasons given by the Home Office for refusing your application
- The amount of supporting evidence that we need to consider
- The amount of supporting evidence we need to gather to address the Home Office refusal
- If the appeal is adjourned for any reason and the timing of any adjournment
- Your current immigration status
- Your immigration history
- Which language(s) you speak
Preparing for your appeal requires careful assessment of the reasons why your application has been refused and gathering sufficient evidence to respond to those reasons.
The overall costs will depend on the seniority of the advisor you want to use – see information about our staff on the ‘Our Team’ section of our website and their hourly rates on the ‘Prices‘ page).
What services are included?
- discussing your case and the refusal letter in detail and confirming as soon as we can the prospects of an appeal succeeding;
- preparing and submitting the notice of appeal;
- identifying what work is needed to address the reasons for refusal;
- giving you advice about the practical and procedural aspects of appealing the Home Office decision, including what will happen on the day of the hearing;
- preparing a witness statement from you and any other appropriate witnesses*;
- gathering other supporting evidence (such as medical records and bank statements, etc);
- preparing an indexed and paginated bundle of all the documents we intend to reply on and providing copies to all parties before the hearing;
- reviewing the appeal bundle prepared by the Home Office;
- instructing a barrister** to represent you at the hearing;
- liaising with you and any third parties (with your permission, for example your employer) whilst your appeal is pending;
- giving you advice about the outcome of the appeal and what will happen next if you won the appeal or, if you lost the appeal, advice about the procedure for appealing to the Upper Tribunal.
* It may be possible in some cases to ‘unbundle’ some of the work that is needed to be done, for example for you and any witnesses to prepare a draft (a first write out) of what you/they intend to say and for us to work on that draft to finalise it. This can reduce costs, especially if there are lots of witnesses who will attend the hearing as witnesses in support of your appeal.
** The barrister’s fees will depend on the type of case and location of the appeal. As a guide, the barrister’s fees to represent you at the hearing will be between £750 – £1500 (plus VAT if applicable and travel costs if applicable). The actual cost will also depend on which barrister is used (as their fees also depend on their seniority and experience). We will talk to you about which barrister’s are available, what experience they have and of course, their costs. If a hearing is adjourned and the barrister needs to attend the Tribunal on another date, then a further fee will be payable to the barrister. If this happens we will negotiate on your behalf to have the further fee (for the barrister to attend on the next date) reduced to reflect the fact that you have already incurred the original fee.
Disbursements (not included in costs set out above):
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as the Tribunal appeal fee / medical or other experts’ fees / interpreter fees, etc. We can handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.
- Interpreter’s fees at approximately £30 per hour (depending on availability). If you need an interpreter then we might need between 3-6 hours’ of attendance with you to prepare your witness statement. The same applies in relation to any witness(es) who also require the services of an interpreter. (The number of hours will also depend of course on the complexity of your case and the issues that arise during our meetings and preparation).
- Independent expert reports e.g. medical experts / independent social worker reports and in deportation cases, a risk of reoffending report. We will let you know as soon as possible if we consider an expert report is necessary (and why) and provide quotes for the reports once received from the expert(s).
- The fee estimate range given for this type of application does not cover us attending the hearing(s). Our attendance is not necessary where you are being represented by a barrister. If, regardless, you want us to attend the hearing, we can of course but there will be additional charges (at the hourly rate, plus VAT if applicable, plus travel costs and travel/waiting time, charged at half the hourly rate).
The costs set out here do not include:
- The First-tier Tribunal appeal fee – details of which can be seen here.
How long will my appeal take?
From the point of submitting your notice of appeal to receiving the decision from the Immigration Judge can be between 4-8 months. Some cases can take a lot longer however.
