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Application To High Court For Permission To Apply For Judicial Review (JR)

If a person wants a judicial review of an immigration decision in High Court they must first apply to the High Court for permission. This should be done as soon as possible, but normally no longer than 3 months from the date of the decision, although the courts can decide to accept applications after that time limit.

How To Apply?

You can apply to the High Court for permission to apply for Judicial Review (JR) by using N461 Judicial Review Claim Form. The person who brings a claim for judicial review in High Court is known as the claimant and the person against whom the judicial review is brought is the defendant, normally the Secretary of State for the Home Department (‘SSHD’) but it can be an Immigration Officer or Entry Clearance Officer when their decision is being challenged.

The claimant sets out the grounds of their claim, and includes any evidence they wish to rely on and asks for permission to be granted. Once received by the High Court the application is ‘sealed’ by the court. This means the court stamps the application to show it has been received. The papers must then be served on the Defendant, the Secretary of State.

Application For Urgent Consideration Or Interim Order

If you want to make an application for your application for permission to be heard/considered by a Judge as a matter of urgency and/or to seek an interim injunction, you must complete a Request for Urgent Consideration, Form N463: Application for urgent consideration. The form sets out the reasons for urgency and the timescale sought for the consideration of the permission application, e.g. within 72 hours or sooner if necessary, and the date by which the substantive hearing should take place.

Where you are seeking an interim injunction, you must, in addition, provide a draft order; and the grounds for the injunction. You must serve the claim form, the draft order and the application for urgency on the Respondent and interested parties (by FAX and by post), advising them of the application and informing them that they may make representations directly to the Court in respect of your application.

A High Court judge will consider the application within the time requested and may make such order as he/she considers appropriate. The judge may refuse your application for permission at this stage if he/she considers it appropriate, in the circumstances, to do so.

If the Judge directs that an oral hearing must take place within a specified time the High Court will liaise with you and the representatives of the other parties to fix a permission hearing within the time period directed.

Where a manifestly inappropriate urgency application is made, consideration may, in appropriate cases, be given by the High Court to making a wasted costs order.

Acknowledgement Of Service (AOS)

Once the grounds have been served on the Defendant, there are 21 days to file a paper response to the claim, this is known as an Acknowledgement of Service (AoS). The AoS allows the Home Office to confirm whether it accepts the claim detailed in the judicial review or whether they wish to contest the claim. If they are contesting the claim the AoS, will include their summary grounds of defence (SG) and any evidence the Home Office wishes to rely on as to why the claim should not be granted permission to proceed.

Decision On Permission Application

Once the court receives these documents a single judge will look at the papers and decide whether or not to grant permission. The test for granting permission is whether the judge thinks the claim is arguable. This is a low threshold. If the judge does not think the claim is arguable, the judicial review will be refused permission to proceed. Both parties are then notified of this decision by means of a court order. If permission is refused, the judge may also certify the claim as being ’totally without merit’. This is added when the judge considers the claim is completely hopeless. A ‘totally without merit’ finding stops the claimant from renewing their judicial review to an oral permission hearing, but they may appeal this decision to the Court of Appeal.

If the judge does consider the claim to be arguable, he or she will grant permission. In this circumstance, the case will proceed to a full substantive hearing. In either case, both parties are notified of the judge’s decision by means of a court order.

Legal Costs If Your Application Is Unsuccessful

The general rule is that the party losing a substantive claim for judicial review will be ordered to pay the costs of the other parties. However, the Judge considering the matter has discretion to deal with the issue of costs as he/she considers appropriate in all of the circumstances. Costs may be awarded in respect of an unsuccessful paper application. Any application by the Respondent/interested party for costs will normally be made in the Acknowledgment of Service.

How Can We Help?

As specialist immigration JR solicitors, we can represent you in your application to the High Court for permission to apply for Judicial Review (JR) and carry out all the work on your permission application until decision is made on your permission application by the High Court Judge. If instructed to represent you regarding your application for permission to apply for Judicial Review (JR), the casework we will carry out on your behalf will entail the following:

Taking detailed instructions from you and advising you about the relevant immigration laws and procedures to be adopted by the High Court in your application for Judicial Review (JR);
Discussing your permission application for Judicial Review (JR) in detail with you and advising you about the weaknesses and strengths of your Judicial Review (JR) application;
Discussing with you the reasons given by the Home Office, UKVI for the refusal of your application and possible grounds for a paper application for permission to apply for Judicial Review (JR);
Discussing with you the response to Pre Action Protocol (PAP) as received from the Home Office, UKVI and how the response does not address the possible grounds for Judicial Review;
Instructing a Barrister for grounds in support of the application for permission to apply for Judicial Review;
Completing the Claim Form for Judicial Review and discussing the same with you;
Preparing the list of essential readings, index to the JR bundle and paginated bundles for filing permission for Judicial Review;
Preparing a cover letter to introduce and support your permission application for Judicial Review (JR);
Filing the application for permission for Judicial Review with the High Court;
Serving a sealed copy of the JR claim form and all other supporting documents on the Defendant and notifying the High Court of the same;
Considering contents of the Acknowledgement of Service (AoS) upon receipt of the same from the Government Legal Department (GLD) and re-assessing merits of the permission application;
Doing all the follow up work until decision is reached by the High Court judge on your permission application;
Discussing the decision of the High Court judge with you and advising you on the same including advising you on the next steps and course of action in your application.

How Much We Charge?

Unless your matter is very complicated, our fees for our professional services for an application to the High Court for permission to apply for Judicial Review are as given in the fee table below:

Our Service	Fixed Fee Range	Hourly Rate
Full representations to cover all our work on your application to High Court for permission to apply for Judicial Review (JR)	£1000 + VAT to £5000 + VAT	£150 + VAT to £350 + VAT per hour

The agreed fixed fee or hourly rate will depend on the complexity of the application and the volume of casework involved in the application. In addition to our fixed fee, the applicant will also have to pay the court fee for Judicial Review and the Barrister’s fee for drafting grounds for Judicial Review.

No Win No Fee

We can also act for you on no win no fee basis in relation to your application to the High Court for permission to apply for Judicial Review if we find that the chances of success in your application are 100%. The fee to be charged on No Win No Fee basis will depend on the complexity of the case and chances of success in the case. If the paper application for permission to apply for Judicial Review is unsuccessful, you will not have to pay our fees for our professional services.