Visa refused? What to do next

A refusal is not a ban. In most cases you can apply again, and in most cases you should not do it straight away.

The first job is to read the refusal and find the reason. The second is to work out which route you have: an appeal, a review, a court challenge, or a fresh application. For a visit visa, the answer is usually a fresh application, made once you can fix what the officer said was missing. You will not get the fee back.

Everything below was read on the official page on 30 September 2026, and each rule links to it.

At a glance

Refused by	Appeal?	Fee refunded?	Main route
United Kingdom, visit visa	No	No	Reapply; judicial review within 3 months if the decision was unlawful
Schengen state	Yes, under that state’s law	No, with narrow exceptions	Appeal to the refusing state, or reapply
United States, 214(b)	No	No	Reapply when something has changed
Canada	No appeal; judicial review	—	Reapply, or Federal Court within 15 or 60 days

Read the refusal first

Every refusal in this guide comes with written reasons. That letter is the most useful document you have. It tells you what the officer was not satisfied about, and so what a new application has to answer.

Read it slowly. Write down each reason in one line. Then, for each, ask: was this missing, was it unclear, or was it simply not believed? Those need different fixes.

United Kingdom

No appeal for a visit visa. The gov.uk page on the immigration tribunal lists the decisions you can appeal. They are protection and human rights claims, EU Settlement Scheme decisions, and a few others. An ordinary visit visa refusal is not on the list. The page adds that you will usually be told in your decision letter whether you have a right of appeal.

No administrative review either. Administrative review is the Home Office checking its own decision for a caseworking error. The Immigration Rules list the routes it covers in paragraph AR 1.1, and Appendix V: Visitor is not among them.

Judicial review is possible, but narrow. You can ask the Upper Tribunal to review a decision you think was unlawful, irrational or unreasonable. It is not for decisions you think were simply wrong. The gov.uk guidance says the tribunal must receive your application “no later than 3 months after the date of the decision”. The first-stage fee is £179, and £897 more if permission is granted. This is a legal process. Take advice from a qualified adviser before starting it.

The fee is gone. The Standard Visitor page says: “You will not get a refund of the application fee if you get a shorter visa or if your application is refused.”

Declare it next time. A past refusal is a relevant fact. Under paragraph SUI 9.1 of the Immigration Rules, Part Suitability, an application “must be refused” where the applicant used deception by “not disclosing relevant facts”. Hiding a refusal turns a fixable problem into a much worse one.

For UK fees and documents, see our United Kingdom page.

Schengen area

The standard form. Every Schengen state refuses on the same form, set out in Annex VI of the EU Visa Code. It is a list of numbered reasons with tick boxes. The ones people see most often are:

• justification for the purpose and conditions of the stay was not provided;
• no proof of sufficient means of subsistence;
• the information on purpose and conditions was not reliable;
• reasonable doubts about the authenticity of supporting documents;
• reasonable doubts about your intention to leave before the visa expires;
• no proof of adequate travel medical insurance.

The ticked box is the real reason. Answer that box, not a generic list of documents.

You have a right to appeal. Article 32(3) of the Visa Code says refused applicants “shall have the right to appeal”, against the state that made the decision and “in accordance with the national law of that Member State”. The form itself has blanks for the law that applies, the authority to appeal to, and the time limit. So the deadline is on your refusal notice, and it differs from one country to the next. The European Commission’s applicant guide confirms you will be told why you were refused and how to appeal.

Two examples show how different the routes are:

• Germany ended its informal “remonstration” step, a request to the mission to look again, worldwide from 1 July 2025. The Federal Foreign Office says the legal route through the courts is not affected, and that you can submit a new application at any time. If you read older advice about remonstrating with a German consulate, it is out of date. See our Germany page.
• France requires an administrative appeal before any court case. For a short-stay visa it goes to the sous-directeur des visas at the Interior Ministry. For a long-stay visa it goes to a commission, often called the CRRV. Either way, article D312-4 of the French immigration code gives you thirty days from notification of the refusal. See our France page.

The fee is not refunded. Article 16(7) of the Visa Code says the fee “shall not be refundable”, except where the consulate was not the right one to apply to or the application was inadmissible (Articles 18(2) and 19(3)). A refusal on the merits is neither.

For the full process, see the Schengen visa guide.

United States

214(b) is the common one. The State Department’s own manual, 9 FAM 302.1, says visitor visa cases “are most often refused under INA 214(b)”. It means the officer was not satisfied you qualify for the visa, most often because you did not overcome the legal presumption that you intend to immigrate. The same section says a 214(b) refusal “is not a permanent ineligibility”. You can apply again.

There is no appeal. The US Embassy in London puts it plainly: after a 214(b) refusal “there is no review process or appeal”, and sending more documents afterwards will not change the decision. If you left out something important, “the proper course of action is to reapply”. A new application means a new form, a new fee and a new interview.

The same page adds something worth knowing: the interview “is not primarily a document-based process”. The officer is assessing intent. A thicker folder does not fix a weak case.

221(g) is different, but it is still a refusal. A 221(g) refusal means the application is incomplete: a document is missing, or it needs further processing. People often hear that 221(g) is “not a refusal”. The manual disagrees. It says a 221(g) refusal “is, legally, a refusal on a visa application, even if that refusal is eventually overcome.” The practical difference is that the same application can go ahead once you supply what was asked for. The London embassy page says the officer will tell you which documents are needed at the interview.

If you are ever asked whether you have been refused a US visa, a 221(g) counts.

For fees and appointments, see our United States page.

Canada

Read the officer’s notes. Since 29 July 2025, IRCC sends officer decision notes with refusals of visitor visas and other temporary residence applications. They are written by the officer who decided the case and explain why it was refused. Some portions may be removed to protect sensitive information.

Requesting your file is still possible, with limits. An Access to Information request costs CA$5, but only a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident, or a person or company currently in Canada can make one. If you are outside Canada, someone who qualifies must request it on your behalf, with your signed consent.

Reapply only if something has changed. IRCC says you can apply again at any time, unless your decision letter says otherwise. But its help centre is blunt: applying again with the same information, even through a consultant or agent, “will likely not change this decision”, and hiring one “doesn’t increase the chances”.

Judicial review. If you think the decision was unreasonable or unfair, you can ask the Federal Court for leave to review it. The Federal Court gives the deadline as 15 days if the matter arose in Canada, or 60 days if outside Canada, from when you were notified of the decision. A visitor visa refused at a consulate abroad usually falls in the 60-day group. Take advice before filing.

See our Canada page.

Strengthening a new application, honestly

A new application succeeds when it answers the reasons for the last one. Not when it is longer.

• Answer each stated reason. If the form said your purpose was not justified, show the purpose: an invitation, a booking, a conference registration. If it said funds, show where the money comes from and that it has been there for some time, not a lump sum deposited last week.
• Show real ties. Employment, study, family, property, a business. The US embassy in London lists “personal circumstances, travel plans, financial resources and ties” as what its officers weigh.
• Wait for a real change. A new job, a longer bank history, a completed earlier trip. If nothing has changed, the decision probably will not either.
• Be consistent. Every date, amount and address must match across the form, your documents and anything you said at an earlier interview. In the Schengen area, refusals are recorded in the shared Visa Information System.
• Declare the refusal. Always.

Agents who promise approvals, and fake documents

No agent can guarantee a visa. The officer deciding your case does not know who filled in the form. Canada’s immigration department says so directly: an agent “doesn’t increase the chances” of approval. Anyone promising otherwise is selling you something that does not exist.

Fake or altered documents are far worse than a refusal. The consequences are set out in law:

• UK: paragraph SUI 12.1 of Part Suitability sets a mandatory refusal period of 10 years from the date of refusal where someone “used deception in an application”. For visits, this applies to visa applications. This rule used to sit in Part 9 of the Immigration Rules, which has been replaced by Part Suitability.
• Schengen: a false or forged travel document, and doubts about the authenticity of supporting documents, are both listed refusal grounds in the Visa Code, and refusals are recorded in the shared Visa Information System under Article 32(5).
• US: the manual contrasts 214(b) with a misrepresentation finding under INA 212(a)(6)(C)(i), which it describes as a permanent ineligibility.

A refusal for weak evidence can be fixed. A finding of deception follows you for years, sometimes for life. If an agent offers to “arrange” a bank statement, an employment letter or an invitation, walk away.

Checklist

• Read the refusal letter or form. Write down each stated reason.
• Note any deadline on it, and the date you received it.
• UK visit visa: no appeal, no administrative review. Judicial review within 3 months, only if the decision was unlawful.
• Schengen: appeal to the refusing state under its law, within the time limit on your form. Germany has no remonstration since 1 July 2025; France gives 30 days for the administrative appeal.
• US 214(b): no appeal. Reapply when your circumstances have changed. A 221(g) is still a refusal; supply what was asked for.
• Canada: read the officer decision notes. Federal Court within 15 days in Canada, 60 days outside.
• Do not expect the fee back.
• Reapply only when you can answer every reason.
• Declare every past refusal.
• Never use an agent who promises approval, and never submit a document you did not get from its real source.