Some Appellants might find  themselves having lodged an appeal  in the  Immigration Tribunal but without having  provided the relevant  appeal fee  for various reasons – the most obvious simply being  lack of resources.

Upon receipt of such an appeal, the Tribunal will send a , “Requirement to pay a Fee” Notice and  will require receipt  of such payment  within a set time period.  Failure to  provide the required fee(s)  will  result in the Tribunal taking no further action on the appeal.

A further problem experienced by some Appellants is that although proof of  receipt  of asylum support is required to accompany the  lodged appeal when applying for a fee exemption,  it is sometimes the case that  affected  claimants, who may be relying only  upon an Article 8 claim and  therefore not receiving legal aid,   may have been receiving asylum support for several years yet have no current updated  letter from Asylum Support  evidencing   receipt of  such support. Updated letters  from Asylum Support are currently  notoriously difficult to  obtain  timely upon request. The result sometimes is that  the Tribunal has indeed   been closing appeals  for failure to  provide  either the required  current written proof  asylum support or the appeal fee itself.

Where the appeal is to be closed the Tribunal will send a Notice titled “ Closure of Appeal” stating to the following effect:

“Your appeal was  lodged on (date) without payment  and with no application of a Lord Chancellor’s Certificate of Fee Satisfaction.  The Tribunal notified you that unless a payment of £140.00£800.00 was received by (date) your appeal would be closed. No fee payment has been received by the tribunal. Your appeal is therefore closed  and the tribunal will take no further action on it”.

The relevant question will then be how to get the appeal reinstated.

 

What is the appeal fee required per Appellant?

 

For Home Office decisions dated between 19 December 2011 and 9 October 2016 for each person appealing, the following appeal fee applies:

• £80 for an appeal to be determined on the papers provided; or

• £140 for an appeal to be determined at an oral hearing.

For Home Office Decisions dated 10 October 2016 and after, the applicable appeal fees for each person appealing are:

• £490 for an appeal to be determined on the papers provided; or

• £800 for an appeal to be determined at an oral hearing.

For further clarifications on exemptions, remissions and exceptional circumstances,  my  blog article of last month may be of  use :New Immigration and Appeals Tribunal Fees Increase Guidance.

 

The application for reinstatement:

 

The Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) Rules 2014, 2014 No. 2604 (L. 31) become relevant.

Rule 7  provides:

“Striking out of an appeal for non-payment of fee and reinstatement

7.—(1) Where the Tribunal is notified by the Lord Chancellor that a certificate of fee satisfaction has been revoked, the appeal shall automatically be struck out without order of the Tribunal and the Tribunal must notify each party that the appeal has been struck out.

(2) Where an appeal has been struck out in accordance with paragraph (1), the appeal may be reinstated if—

(a) the appellant applies to have the appeal reinstated; and

(b) the Lord Chancellor has issued a new certificate of fee satisfaction.

(3) An application made under paragraph (2)(a) must be made in writing and received by the Tribunal within 14 days, or if the appellant is outside the United Kingdom within 28 days, of the date on which the Tribunal sent notification of the striking out to the appellant”.

 

Where the appeal fee has been sourced and paid within the 14days/28days  or where  there is an intention to  request an exemption or show exceptional circumstances,  it is important that  the time limit be adhered to.  Consideration  of the application  for reinstatement depends upon the Tribunal staff  exercising discretion in this regards.  The reasons why  payment  of the appeal  fee was made  only until after closure of the appeal  would need to  be provided.

 

Additionally, reliance upon  other aspects of the Rules  themselves is likely to assist.

 

Rule 2 of the 2014 Procedure Rules provides:

 

“Overriding objective and parties’ obligation to co-operate with the Tribunal

2.—(1) The overriding objective of these Rules is to enable the Tribunal to deal with cases fairly and justly.

(2) Dealing with a case fairly and justly includes—

(a) dealing with the case in ways which are proportionate to the importance of the case, the complexity of the issues, the anticipated costs and the resources of the parties and of the Tribunal;

(b) avoiding unnecessary formality and seeking flexibility in the proceedings;

(c) ensuring, so far as practicable, that the parties are able to participate fully in the proceedings;

(d) using any special expertise of the Tribunal effectively; and

(e) avoiding delay, so far as compatible with proper consideration of the issues.

(3) The Tribunal must seek to give effect to the overriding objective when it—

(a) exercises any power under these Rules; or

(b) interprets any rule or practice direction.

(4) Parties must—

(a) help the Tribunal to further the overriding objective; and

(b) co-operate with the Tribunal generally”.

Within the application for reinstatement, the Tribunal’s attention can therefore be drawn to the need to deal with  cases justly,  dealing with cases in ways which are proportionate to the anticipated costs and resources of the Appellant and so as to enable an Appellant to participle  fully in the proceedings.

Unless stated otherwise, the reinstatement application can be sent to :

Arnhem Support Centre,  P O Box 6987, Leicester, LE1 6ZX

Fax:0870 739 5895

 

What if the time limit  for a reinstatement application has run  out?

Once again the 2014 Procedure Rules  can be relied upon:

Rule 20 provides:

 

“Late notice of appeal

20.—(1) Where a notice of appeal is provided outside the time limit in rule 19, including any extension of time directed under rule 4(3)(a) (power to extend time), the notice of appeal must include an application for such an extension of time and the reason why the notice of appeal was not provided in time.

(2) If, upon receipt of a notice of appeal, the notice appears to the Tribunal to have been provided outside the time limit but does not include an application for an extension of time, the Tribunal must (unless it extends time of its own initiative) notify the person in writing that it proposes to treat the notice of appeal as being out of time.

(3) Where the Tribunal gives notification under paragraph (2), the person may by written notice to the Tribunal contend that—

(a) the notice of appeal was given in time; or

(b) time for providing the notice of appeal should be extended,

and, if so, that person may provide the Tribunal with written evidence in support of that contention.

(4) The Tribunal must decide any issue under this rule as to whether a notice of appeal was given in time, or whether to extend the time for appealing, as a preliminary issue, and may do so without a hearing.

(5) Where the Tribunal makes a decision under this rule it must provide to the parties written notice of its decision, including its reasons”.

 

 

A new appeal would need to be  lodged  and the notice of appeal must include an application for  an extension of time asking  that the Tribunal accept the appeal  as  lodged in time. Reasons must be the provided for this. An appropriate chronology of events  and other relevant  submissions would need to be carefully set out so as to persuade the Tribunal to accept the appeal as lodged in time.

Again Rule 2 of the 2014 Procedure Rules  as set out above can be relied upon and  the Tribunal’s attention can be drawn to the need to deal with  cases justly, dealing with cases in ways which are proportionate to the anticipated costs and resources of the Appellant and so as to enable an Appellant to participle  fully in the proceedings.