Home Office and Immigration Complaints

UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) operates a formal complaints process for complaints about its service (as distinct from its decisions). You can complain about:

• Unreasonable delays in processing your application
• Lost documents submitted with your application
• Rude or discriminatory treatment by UKVI staff
• Incorrect fees being charged or refund delays
• Failure to follow UKVI's published service standards
• Poor communication or failure to respond to correspondence

Complaints are submitted via the online form at gov.uk/complain-uk-visas-immigration. You can also write by post. Include your case reference number or application reference, the details of the problem and its impact, and what outcome you want.

UKVI aims to respond within 20 working days. If you are not satisfied with the response, you can request an escalated review. At that point, if the complaint is still unresolved, you can approach the PHSO via your MP.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) can investigate complaints about the Home Office and UKVI, but only after:

1. You have exhausted UKVI's internal complaints process
2. You refer the complaint to your MP
3. Your MP refers it to the PHSO on your behalf

MPs have a longstanding role in helping constituents pursue complaints against government departments. Contact your MP's office (via writetothem.com or parliament.uk/find-your-mp) and explain your situation. Many MP offices deal with Home Office cases regularly and can be effective at securing responses to delayed applications even outside the formal PHSO route.

The PHSO can investigate maladministration — systemic failures, unreasonable delays, incorrect advice — and can recommend remedies including apologies, corrections, and financial payments where losses have occurred. The PHSO cannot review immigration decisions on their merits.

The Professional Standards Unit (PSU) within the Home Office investigates allegations of serious misconduct by staff, including:

• Discrimination or harassment by Border Force or immigration officers
• Bribery or corruption
• Unauthorised disclosure of personal data
• Use of excessive force at the border or in detention

The PSU is separate from the UKVI complaints process. Complaints can be submitted via the Home Office website or via a dedicated referral from the ICIBI. For complaints about Border Force specifically (at ports and airports), a separate complaints process exists through the Border Force website.

If you experienced mistreatment in an immigration removal centre or during the detention process, you can also contact the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, which has jurisdiction over immigration detention facilities.

The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) is an independent body that scrutinises the efficiency and effectiveness of the Home Office's border and immigration functions. The ICIBI:

• Conducts thematic inspections of UKVI, Border Force, and Immigration Enforcement
• Publishes inspection reports highlighting systemic failures and making recommendations
• Does not deal with individual complaints or cases

If you are aware of a serious systemic issue — for example, a widespread policy being applied incorrectly, or a pattern of discrimination in how a particular type of application is handled — you can draw this to the ICIBI's attention. Individual casework should continue through the UKVI complaints process and MP referral route.

For immigration decisions you disagree with (visa refusals, leave to remain decisions, deportation orders), the routes are through the immigration tribunals and courts — First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), administrative review by UKVI, or judicial review in the High Court. Always seek specialist immigration legal advice for these routes. See our general judicial review guide.