Last updated: 20 August

If you receive a refusal of your asylum or immigration application, you may have the right to appeal at a court called the First-tier Tribunal (the Immigration and Asylum Chamber). 

If your appeal is dismissed by the First-tier tribunal, you may be able to apply for permission to appeal at the Upper Tribunal if you are bringing a judicial review challenge.

This page looks at the courts above the First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal.

You need permission to appeal at all the courts explained on this page. It is very hard to succeed at this level without the help of a good lawyer.

On this page, you will find introductory information about the following courts: 

diagram showing the asylum and immigration courts above the First-tier Tribunal

Court of Appeal (England and Wales)

If you were granted permission to appeal at the Upper Tribunal and your case was then dismissed by the Upper Tribunal, you may be able to appeal to the Court of Appeal. This is very tricky without the help of a lawyer.

You will need permission to appeal at the Court of Appeal. You first apply for permission from the Upper Tribunal. If the Upper Tribunal refuses you permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal, you can apply for permission directly from the Court of Appeal. See the Tribunal website for more information on how to appeal here.

Court of Appeal (Northern Ireland)

If you were granted permission to appeal at the Upper Tribunal in Northern Ireland and your case was then dismissed by the Upper Tribunal, you may be able to appeal to the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland. This is very tricky without the help of a lawyer.

Cases refused by the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland can be appealed at the UK Supreme Court.

Court of Session (Scotland)

The court is divided into the Outer House and the Inner House. The Outer House can hear judicial reviews. The Inner House is an appeal court, like the Court of Appeal in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. You can learn more about the Court of Session here.

If you were granted permission to appeal at the Upper Tribunal in Scotland, and your case was then dismissed by the Upper Tribunal, you may be able to appeal to the Court of Session. This is very tricky without the help of a lawyer.

You will need permission to appeal at the Court of Session. You first apply for permission from the Upper Tribunal. If the Upper Tribunal refuses you permission to appeal to the Court of Session, you can apply for permission directly from the Court of Session. See the Tribunal website for more information.

Cases decided by the Court of Session can be appealed at the UK Supreme Court.

High Court

Judicial reviews in asylum and immigration cases in England and Wales are usually heard at the Upper Tribunal. Judicial reviews in other areas of law in England and Wales are normally heard at the Administrative Court of the Queen’s Bench Division, which is part of the High Court.

Judicial reviews in Scotland are heard at the Outer House of the Court of Session. Judicial reviews in Northern Ireland are heard at the High Court in Belfast.You can learn more about judicial review challenges in our Toolkit page here.

Supreme Court

If your case is refused in the Court of Appeal or Court of Session, the highest court in the UK to which you can appeal is the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (often shortened to ‘UKSC’) is the final court of appeal in the UK for civil cases (this includes immigration and asylum), and for criminal cases from England, Wales and Northern Ireland. 

You can learn more about the Supreme Court here.

The UKSC only hears appeals of cases where a final decision on the legal arguments in a case would be of general public or constitutional importance (this means wider society would benefit from a decision being made on the issue). It is therefore very difficult to have your case appealed to the UKSC.

European Court of Human Rights

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is responsible for making sure that member states of the Council of Europe respect the rights protected in the European Convention on Human Rights. The UK is a member state of the Council of Europe, and the European Convention on Human Rights became part of UK law in the year 2000.

The Council of Europe is not the same as the European Union (EU). Although the UK left the EU as a result of Brexit, it remains a member of the Council of Europe and the European Convention on Human Rights still applies in the UK.

Individuals trying to get their asylum/human rights cases heard at the ECtHR usually do so after being refused permission to apply for judicial review. If you are considering applying to the European Court of Human Rights, you should read the Court’s guidance document here.

Applying to the ECtHR successfully is extremely difficult. An application is only likely to succeed with a very good legal team.

European Court of Justice

The European Court of Justice is formally known as the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The court is responsible for providing advice to national courts about the proper implementation of European law, and ensuring that European law is applied equally across member states of the European Union. 

So, the work of the CJEU is directly related to membership of the European Union. 

It is very unusual for the European Court of Justice to be involved in individual asylum and human rights cases. A UK court may ask the Court of Justice for clarification on how a particular aspect of European law is to be used.

The European Court of Justice will continue to consider cases from the UK which were pending at the time the Brexit transition period ended. If the European Commission wishes to bring infringement proceedings against the UK for breaches of EU law that took place during the transition period, it has four years from the end of the Brexit transition period in which to do so.