Ms H complained about UK Visas & Immigration's (UKVI) handling of her request to extend her student visa, and particularly that it retained her passport and took ten years to make a decision. She said that this caused her severe personal, financial and career problems, and her family suffered stress and financial hardship.
What happened
Ms H came to the UK in 1996 on a student visa, which was extended while she completed a degree. In 2001 she started an accountancy course and applied for her visa to be extended three months after the previous visa expired. The organisation that handled immigration cases at the time sent her case to the wrong team, and it was put into storage and stayed there for nearly ten years. In 2011 UKVI turned down her application. By that time, Ms H had stopped her studies and had a partner and child. UKVI asked Ms H to arrange to leave the UK. She appealed against the decision, and it was overturned by a tribunal in early 2012. There was then a delay of nearly 14 months before UKVI granted her three years' leave to remain.
What we found
UKVI's delays in processing Ms H's visa application were excessive, and its reasons for rejecting it were wrong. However, as Ms H was no longer a student by the time UKVI made its decision, it was correct to refuse her application. When UKVI later decided that she should leave the UK, it did not clearly record its reasons, although we did not find that the decision itself was wrong. Once the tribunal had overturned the decision to remove Ms H, there were unnecessary delays in UKVI granting her leave to stay in the UK, and it did not prioritise her case as it should have done. It was not wrong for it to keep her passport until it had made a decision.
UKVI's delays caused uncertainty and anxiety to Ms H. But, as she had only applied to stay as a student for a few months, she should have known that after that time she needed to take action to prevent UKVI treating her as an overstayer. Although the initial uncertainty and anxiety Ms H and her family suffered were caused by the organisations that handled immigration in the UK, their subsequent problems were not caused by UKVI's failings. The delay in UKVI granting her leave after the appeal hearing overturned the UKVI decision caused her stress, anxiety and inconvenience.
Putting it right
UKVI apologised to Ms H and paid her compensation of £500.
UK Visas and Immigration
UK
Did not apologise properly or do enough to put things right
Apology
Compensation for non-financial loss