Discover the importance of Annaizu Compliance Management in today's business landscape and how a Home Office compliance management platform can help your business streamline its compliance efforts, reduce risks, and stay ahead of regulations.
A UKVI decision letter states the outcome of an application — granted, refused, or that further information is needed — and, for a grant, the conditions attached to the permission given. What you do next depends entirely on which of those three outcomes it is.
What to check on the letter before doing anything else
Decision letters vary in format depending on the route and whether the decision came from inside or outside the UK, but a handful of details matter regardless of layout:
- The exact route and permission type granted or refused — this determines what work, if any, the person is allowed to do.
- The date of the decision itself, which can differ from the date the letter is received or the date it's shown to you.
- Any conditions code or wording restricting hours, sponsorship, or public funds access.
- Whether the letter references a right of appeal, administrative review, or neither.
Treat mismatches between what's on the letter and what an employee tells you verbally as a reason to check the underlying eVisa record, not a reason to doubt the employee — online records occasionally lag behind a paper decision by a few days.
Grant, with conditions
A grant letter sets out the permission type, its expiry (if any), and any work or study restrictions. These conditions are binding regardless of what was discussed at interview — treat the letter, not the interview, as the source of truth when running a right to work check.
The letter isn't the right to work evidence itself
It's worth being explicit about something employers sometimes get wrong: for the great majority of non-British and non-Irish nationals, a decision letter on its own — however official it looks — is not what you rely on to establish the statutory excuse. The online checking service, accessed via a share code the employee generates from their eVisa, is the mechanism the law actually points to. The letter is useful context (it explains what the eVisa record should show, and gives you something to query against if the online record looks wrong), but the share code check is still the step you need to complete and file. Don't accept a photocopy of a decision letter as a substitute for running that check.
Refusal
A refusal letter should state the specific reason. For employer-sponsored cases, a refusal on a role you sponsored is a reportable event through the Sponsor Management System — don't treat it as purely the applicant's problem to resolve alone.
Refusal, appeal rights, and Section 3C leave
Not every refusal ends someone's right to work immediately. If the applicant made their application before their previous permission expired, and that application is refused with an in-country right of appeal or administrative review, their previous conditions can continue automatically under what's known as Section 3C leave while the appeal or review is pending. This matters enormously for a right to work check: an employee with a refusal letter in hand may still, correctly, have the right to work if they're within this extended period. Don't take the refusal letter at face value as the end of the story — check the current position through the online service, which should reflect whether 3C leave applies, rather than assuming refusal automatically means the person must stop working.
Request for further information
This pauses the decision, not ends it. Respond to exactly what's asked, by the deadline given, and keep a dated copy of the response — see our guide on tracking an application awaiting a decision for how this affects timing.
Sponsored workers: what a refusal means for the Certificate of Sponsorship
Where the applicant was relying on a Certificate of Sponsorship you assigned, a refusal doesn't automatically free that CoS up for reuse. Depending on the reason for refusal, you may need to consider whether to reassign a fresh CoS for a further application, whether the refusal reflects a wider issue with how the role or salary was set up (worth checking against current going rate requirements before trying again), and whether the pattern of refusals across your CoS usage is something a compliance officer would want to see explained at a future audit.
FAQ
Can a decision letter's conditions be appealed separately from the main decision?
Generally no — conditions are part of the grant itself. If they seem wrong, that's a query for the case, not a separate appeal.
How long should employers keep decision letters on file?
For the duration of the person's employment plus the period your right to work record-keeping policy requires — treat it as part of the same evidence file as the original check.
What is Section 3C leave, and should employers rely on it directly?
It's the automatic continuation of a person's previous immigration conditions while an in-time application or appeal is pending. Employers shouldn't try to work out whether it applies from the letter alone — confirm the current position through the online right to work check, which is designed to reflect it.
Do employers ever receive a copy of the decision letter directly from UKVI?
No — decision letters go to the applicant or their representative, not the employer. You'll only see one if the employee chooses to share it with you, which is why the online check, not the letter, remains your primary evidence source.
Related: UK Visa Application Tracking · Immigration services · Skilled Worker Going Rates
GOV.UK references: Contact UKVI
.svg)