Translations for visa refusals, administrative reviews and appeals

Three ways forward after a refusal

A refusal notice tells you which paragraph of the rules was not met and whether you have a right to administrative review or appeal. Administrative review is for caseworking errors and does not allow new evidence. A fresh application lets you put in corrected or additional documents, which is usually where translation problems are put right. An appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) exists for human rights refusals, including most family visa refusals, and for protection claims; the evidence goes into a bundle that the judge and the Home Office presenting officer read before the hearing. Deadlines are short, sometimes 14 days, so the first call after a refusal should be to a solicitor or regulated adviser, and the second can be to us.

What refusal letters say about translations

Common phrases include “not accompanied by a certified translation”, “the translation does not contain the translator’s details” and “the document provided is a partial translation”. The standard the caseworker was applying is the GOV.UK certification wording in the box, or on the family routes paragraph 1(j) of Appendix FM-SE with its credentials item for in-country applications. The fix is a fresh, complete translation that carries the accuracy statement, the date, the translator’s or company representative’s name and signature, the company’s contact details and, for leave to remain, its credentials. If the translation refused on format was ours, we re-issue it free of charge under our accuracy and acceptance policy; if it came from elsewhere we translate again from the original document rather than editing someone else’s work.

Evidence for an appeal bundle

• The Turkish documents from the original application, re-translated where the translation was the problem: nüfus kayıt örneği, marriage and divorce records, bank statements.
• New evidence of the relationship or circumstances: messages and call logs, photographs with Turkish captions, letters from relatives.
• Witness statements from family members in Türkiye, written in Turkish and translated. In the civil courts Practice Direction 32 asks the translator to sign the original statement and certify that the translation is accurate; tribunal practice follows the same logic, so we certify the statement and its translation together.
• Court decisions and medical reports where the appeal turns on them.
• Expert or country reports written in Turkish, translated in full.

Where a relative in Türkiye needs to give a statement to your solicitor, we provide remote interpreting for the call, and court interpreting for the hearing is described on our court and tribunal interpreting page.

Where appeal evidence goes wrong

• The same document translated by two different people at two stages, producing inconsistencies the presenting officer raises at the hearing.
• Messages translated selectively, leaving gaps in the chronology.
• A relative’s statement translated without the declaration of truth and signature block.
• Translations that arrive after the bundle deadline in the tribunal’s directions.
• Names spelt differently across the original application, the refusal notice and the new translations.

How we work on a refusal

Send the refusal notice and the translation it criticises. We tell you whether the problem is one of format or of content, and quote for the pages that need redoing. Translations are complete, certified on every page with company details, and paginated to your representative’s index if you send it. For fresh applications the turnaround is 1–2 working days; for appeal bundles we work to the tribunal’s directions and offer express service for 60% more when the deadline is inside two working days. Prices start at £10.00 per page, so re-translating a two-page nüfus record and a six-page statement costs about £80. No UK VAT is charged. Our explainer on why translations are rejected lists the causes we see most.