New visa application during administrative review

Short answer

Yes, you can make a new immigration application while an administrative review is pending, but doing so has an automatic and important consequence. If you submit a fresh application for entry clearance, permission to enter, or permission to stay while your administrative review is still outstanding, the Home Office will treat the pending administrative review as automatically withdrawn.

How the rule works

The current Home Office position, set out in Appendix Administrative Review of the Immigration Rules and the accompanying caseworker guidance, is that you cannot pursue both at the same time. The two possible sequences produce different outcomes.

If you first apply for administrative review and then make a new application, the administrative review is treated as withdrawn. You do not need to email the Home Office to withdraw it, as this happens automatically once the new application is made.

If you first make a new application and then try to apply for administrative review of the earlier decision, the administrative review application will simply be rejected.

Either way, the practical effect is that you cannot keep the administrative review alive once you have lodged a fresh application. You are effectively choosing one route over the other.

Why this matters

An administrative review is a review of whether a caseworking error was made in the original decision. If your review succeeds, the original refusal can be corrected without a new application, which is usually cheaper and can preserve your original position, including matters such as continuity of lawful residence if the review is decided in your favour.

By contrast, a fresh application starts the process again. It means paying a new application fee and, where relevant, the Immigration Health Surcharge again, and being assessed against the Immigration Rules as they stand at the date of the new application. If the rules or your circumstances have changed, the outcome could differ. You also give up any argument that the original decision was simply wrong and should be overturned.

Points to check before you decide

Your immigration status and the effect on any section 3C leave. If your previous leave was extended by section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971 because you applied in time and then sought administrative review, withdrawing that review by making a new application, or making a new application at the wrong time, can affect whether your leave continues. This is a common area where things go wrong, so the timing and sequence matter.

Whether the original decision actually contained a caseworking error that administrative review can fix. Administrative review is narrow and only addresses eligibility errors, not fresh evidence or a change in circumstances. If your real position is that new evidence or a change in facts would help, a fresh application may be the better route in substance.

The specific route you are in. The withdrawal rule described above does not apply in the same way to the EU Settlement Scheme and Frontier Worker permit reviews, which operate under different provisions. If your review is under one of those schemes, the position needs to be checked separately.

Whether you are inside or outside the UK, and the deadlines. Administrative review must generally be requested within 14 days of the decision if you are in the UK. If that window is still open, you may want to keep the review alive rather than trigger its withdrawal prematurely.

Practical next steps

1. Identify exactly what error, if any, you say the Home Office made in the original decision, and whether it is the type of error administrative review can correct.

2. Check your leave position, including whether you currently have section 3C leave and how a new application or a withdrawal would affect it.

3. Decide which route gives you the better prospects and the better protection of your status, rather than trying to run both.

4. If you conclude that a fresh application is the right choice, be aware that lodging it will end the administrative review automatically, so make sure the new application is properly prepared and evidenced before you submit.

Key missing facts

The best answer depends on details you have not given, in particular which visa route you are in, whether you are in the UK or overseas, whether your previous leave was extended by section 3C, the exact date of the refusal and of any administrative review request, and whether the problem is a caseworking error or a change in your circumstances. If you can set these out, the analysis of which route to take can be made much more precise.