We are proud to share a recent success for one of our clients. Her Graduate visa was refused on 12 June 2025.
We filed an administrative review the following day, and after approximately 16 months, the Home Office has overturned the refusal and granted the visa.
The case began with a timing problem. Our client's student visa was due to expire on 4 February 2024. She had a resit exam booked for 3 March 2024, and her university would not release her result until May 2024.
That gap is the difficulty. A Graduate visa application cannot be made until the university confirms the student has successfully completed the course. Her permission to stay would run out three months before that confirmation existed.
We submitted a fee waiver application before her student visa expired.
An application made in time extends a person's existing permission under section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971, so she remained in the UK lawfully while the Home Office considered it. The Home Office asked for further information. We provided it. The fee waiver was refused.
We then submitted an FLR (HRO) application, which kept her status protected while she waited for her result. When the university released it in May 2024, we varied that pending application into a Graduate visa application instead of starting a fresh one.
The distinction matters. Varying an existing in-time application keeps the original application date, so her continuous permission was never broken.
If your student visa is running out before your final result is confirmed, speak to us before it expires. Once permission has run out, the options narrow sharply. Book a consultation with our team.
The Graduate visa was refused on 12 June 2025. We filed an administrative review on 13 June 2025, the day after the refusal.
An administrative review is not an appeal. It asks the Home Office to look again at its own decision and correct a caseworking error. There is no hearing, and in most cases no new evidence is considered. The review stands or falls on the material the caseworker already had, which is why the grounds have to be right first time.
The review then took approximately 16 months. She remained in the UK throughout.
The refusal was overturned and the Graduate visa granted. Our client can now work in the UK without sponsorship.
A refusal is not the end of the matter. And the groundwork done at the start, keeping the application in time and varying it instead of starting again, is what kept this case alive long enough to be put right.
We handle personal immigration applications, refusals and administrative reviews for students, graduates and skilled workers.
You can read more of our success stories, including a visitor visa refusal we overturned, or see our full range of services for individuals.
If your visa has been refused, or your permission is running out before your results are confirmed, NARA Solicitors can help.
Book a consultation with NARA Solicitors today.
