Chapter 25 Annex 2

New Referral/Deferral Procedures

1. Background
UKvisas and the Border and Immigration Agency, (BIA) Home Office have been working jointly to improve the Service Level Agreement timings for applications which are referred for decision and deferred for information from Home Office files. Agreement has been reached by all departments within BIA that new Service Level Agreements (SLA) can commence from 2 July 2007. Under the new SLA there will be a reduction in time for processing referred applications from 13 weeks to 20 days, deferred applications will be processed within 10 working days. Improved SLAs are something which have been asked for by EC staff for a considerable period of time and will greatly improve efficiency at Posts. This will be hugely beneficial to both applicants and EC staff but in order for this to work all the procedures laid in this guidance must be adhered to.

2. Procedures to be followed
All referrals for a decision or deferrals for information from the home Office should be sent through the Home Office referrals mailbox (HOreferralsLon on the GAL) which is managed by Entry Clearance Policy team.

The subject line of the email should clearly show which area of the Home Office the referral or deferral is for and include the applicants name and post reference. Where posts are requesting a case to be looked at urgently they should copy their referral to the ECO support mail box putting 'urgent HO Referral', case type and applicant's details in the subject line and explain why they are requesting that this is looked at expeditiously. HOreferralsLon will return incorrectly titled emails to posts.

3. Proforma
All referrals and deferrals must be accompanied by the proforma in Annex 25.1.1. Any referrals or deferrals that do not include this proforma will not be processed and will be returned to post. Any referrals which are not accompanied by all supporting documents will not be processed and will be returned to post.

Correctly completing the proforma should ensure that posts clearly set out:

• The applicant's personal details
• Which business area the referral/deferral is for
• Whether it is a mandatory/optional referral or deferral
• Date the referral/deferral was sent
• Why the case is being referred or what information is required from the deferral.
• That in the case of referrals that all supporting material has been (or in the case of BCU will be ) sent.

4. Supporting Documents
When referring a case for decision VAFs and interview notes and supporting documents should be sent with the proforma. Interview notes should be sent as a word document but other supporting material should be scanned and sent by email (other than BCU cases, which will continue to be sent by Diplomatic Bag). Any posts without scanning facilities should contact the ECO support team for advice.

In exceptional circumstances, and with the agreement of the ECO Support Team, where emailing supporting documents is not possible, faxes should be considered but posts should fax no more than 15 pages at a time, numbering each batch and stating on the covering sheet how many pages are being sent in total.

Posts should only send documents that are relevant to the referral and ensure that all foreign language documents are translated. Where applicable, currencies should be converted into Sterling. Care should be taken not to send duplicates of documents.

5. Replies & Acknowledgements
On receipt of requests, an acknowledgement will be sent to posts by the Home Office through the HO referrals mailbox confirming:

• Date of receipt
• Home office number
• When a reply can be expected (see 'Service Levels' below)
• Contact details of a HO rep to be used under exceptional or urgent circumstances only - not for routinely chasing requests.

When a decision has been made it will be accompanied by the decision notification section of the proforma stating:

• When action was taken
• What action was taken (grant, refusal, forwarding of documents)

Replies will be sent to posts' referral mailbox. It is important that these mailboxes are monitored on a regular basis to avoid unnecessary work chasing responses that have already been sent. The Bring Up option on Proviso should be used, and where a response has not been received within the allotted time scale a chaser should be sent to the HO Referrals mail box and copied to the ECO Support mail box.

Following this process will enable ECO Support to escalate outstanding casework enquiries to a higher level and ensure that prompt action is taken in responding to post.

On receipt of decisions from the Home Office an acknowledgment, which is found at the final section of the proforma, should be sent by posts to the Home Office through the HO Referrals mailbox. This provides an audit trail showing that the process has been completed.

6. Referral types and documents required

6.1 NCC2
Referrals should be made for cases other than EEA, Work Permit, HSMP, Business or nationality/right of abode cases, where post wish to, or are obliged to, ask the Home Office to make the decision on an application. For example, where an application falls outside the rules but there are compelling compassionate reasons for it to be considered. It is important that posts do not (not) make a decision locally on applications that do not fall within the rules without referring.

The referral should include the following paperwork:

• Proforma*
• VAF
• Interview notes wherever possible. (This gives the caseworker a chance to see what the applicant has to say and to pick up any other points that are not on the VAF)
• Any relevant supporting documentation
• A note from the ECO outlining the case, highlighting the reasons why it should be considered outside of the Rules and the main issues involved.
• In cases where the applicant is travelling urgently an indication of the departure date.*

Once a referral has been made by a post, regardless whether it is a mandatory or a discretionary referral, a local decision on the application cannot be made.

6.2 Business Case Unit (BCU)
BCU handle all business related applications. Innovator, Establishing a Business and Investor applications are mandatory referrals and posts should not make a local decision.

Other business related applications such as Sole Representatives are not mandatory referrals and should only be referred to BCU where an application is complicated or falls outside the rules and there are compassionate compelling reasons for it to be considered favourably.

The following documentation should be referred:

• Proforma
• Interview notes
• Supporting documents

All BCU referrals should be sent by bag to:

Business Case Unit (BCU)
PO Box 3468
Sheffield
S3 8WA

6.3 Evidence and Enquiry
Deferrals for information from Home Office files from Evidence & Enquiry (E & E). The same proforma should be used when requesting information from Home Office files. in order to receive a timely response posts must be clear in what is required from a person's Home Office file. These files are often large and it is not necessary for post to have all the documents. E & E do not necessarily need the background to the case but will want to know which documents to look for.

Requesting documents is optional and as such should only be made where a decision cannot be made locally with the information already available to an ECO.

If a response is not received within the time frame posts should send a chaser to HO Referrals mailbox copied to ECO Support mailbox.

6.4 Work Permits UK
WPUK referrals including ECAA and HSMP should be directed to this section.

Deferrals for Work Permits UK should also be sent via the HO Referrals mail box using the same proforma and including the same information as for E & E.

6.5 Euro Casework
Entry clearance referrals & deferrals for European casework should be addressed to 'Euro Casework'. Referrals should only be made where it is not possible to make a decision locally.

6.6 ASU
ASU deal with confirmation of sponsors details for Visa applications.

If policy advice is required for any applications they should in the first instance be addressed to the ECO Support mailbox.

7. Mandatory Referrals
Mandatory referrals and to who they must be referred:

7.1 NCCS
All appplications which do not (not) fall within the Immigration Rules. These will include:

• Dependants of a person with Humanitarian Leave to Remain (HLR) which was granted before 30 August 2005 (see AECIP 84/05)
• Other dependant relatives of a recognised refugee (e.g. children over 18) (DSP 16)
• Persons exercising rights of access to a child (DSP 10)
• Dependants of a person with Exceptional or Discretionary Leave to Remain (ELR or DLR) who have yet to obtain their ILR (DSP 16)

7.2 BCU

• Investors
• Setting up a busibess
• Innovator

7.3 UKvisas

• Nationality referrals (see AECIP 140/04)
• Non-conducive refusals - refer to ECO Support
• People attending court trials - refer to ECO Support
• Issuance of a EU UFF for a person who does not hold another form of acceptable identification - refer to ECO Support
• Surrogacy cases - refer to ECO Support

8. Service Levels Agreements
Having reviewed its processes the Home Office now aims to complete referrals within 20 working days and deferrals/requests for information within 10 days.

The 'clock' will start on receipt by posts of an acknowledgement from MM that sufficient information has been received to enable their request to be processed. Therefore it is vital that requests are correctly completed and addressed to the correct department. Cases will be acknowledged within 2 working days of receipt.

Where there are circumstances affecting the Home Office's ability to meet these timescales a holding response will be forwarded to posts explaining the reasons for any delay, with an email/phone contact should the posts wish to discuss. These contact details should not be used for routine or unsolicited contact and chasing of requests or this service will be withdrawn.

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