UK Visas and Immigration incorrectly rejected a family's application for leave to remain in the UK

What happened

Miss K applied for leave to remain in the UK for herself and her three children. She asked UKVI to waive the fee on the basis that she could not afford it. When it refused, she sent in an application enclosing the fee, which the local authority had paid. UKVI rejected the application on the basis that no photographs had been enclosed and it returned the fees to the local authority.

UKVI later realised that it had wrongly rejected Miss K's application  as the photos had been enclosed. But it decided that its error did not now matter because Miss K would benefit from a new policy that allowed fees to be waived in circumstances such as hers.

UKVI also told Miss K that it no longer had the family's documents she had sent it because everything had been returned to her.

UKVI later granted Miss K and her children leave to remain in the UK.

What we found

UKVI incorrectly rejected Miss K's application, which delayed her and her children's entitlement to social security benefits and local authority housing by eleven weeks.

UKVI found Miss K's documents and returned them to her.

Putting it right

UKVI apologised for its error in rejecting Miss K's application and for not returning her documents promptly. It agreed to pay Miss K around £500 for lost social security benefits and £750 compensation for the inconvenience caused.