How can technical issues derail a visa application?
A visa refusal isn’t always about missing evidence. Sometimes, the system fails and a simple visit visa turned into a procedural puzzle, In this Keynote, Dhruti Thakrar and legal assistant Blerta Berisha explain why challenging refusals can make all the difference.
Dhruti Thakrar
Dhruti Thakrar is a leading UK immigration solicitor and partner at Keystone Law, with over 28 years of experience advising multinationals, blue-chip firms, startups, and high-net-worth individuals. Recognized by The Legal 500, she specializes in both corporate and personal immigration law, sponsor licence compliance, and complex casework.
Sometimes it’s hard to know whether to laugh in disbelief or cry in frustration. That was exactly our reaction during a recent UK visit visa case that turned into a masterclass in bureaucracy.
The applicant was a practising medical doctor who has lived in Saudi Arabia for over 20 years. She had strong financial evidence and a clear purpose: to visit her newborn grandchild in the UK. Her daughter, also a doctor, lives here with her skilled worker husband. Everything about this application was straightforward. However, her visa was refused twice.
Why was the visa refused?
UK Visa and Immigration (UKVI) claimed she hadn’t submitted the required financial documents. Except she had, and this has been stated in a detailed cover letter. With no right of appeal for visit visas, this was escalated by issuing a Pre-Action Protocol letter and lodging a Judicial Review application.
UKVI’s solicitors agreed to reconsider but claimed they couldn’t access some of the documents because they lacked “PDF Reactor” software. VFS Global, the global outsourcing and technology services company for visas, claimed its system automatically converts files into standard PDFs. PDF Reactor is an HTML-to-PDF converter, not a viewer and all documents were uploaded correctly using Adobe.
Even stranger, earlier correspondence from UKVI suggested they had received and reviewed the evidence. At no point was anything asked to be re-submitted, despite the letter explicitly inviting them to do so if there were any issues.
All evidence was submitted on time and in the correct format. UKVI’s failure to retrieve it was not the applicant’s fault. This kind of inconsistency isn’t just frustrating; it’s a procedural irregularity and a breach of their duty to consider all relevant information. Clarification was sought on file formats, retrieval steps, and why no re-submission was requested. UKVI didn’t engage further but did agree to reconsider and have since issued the visa
This case is a reminder that refusals aren’t always about missing evidence. Sometimes the system itself fails. If you know you’ve submitted everything properly, don’t accept the refusal at face value. Challenge it. Technical glitches, real or overstated, should never block a legitimate application.
If you have questions or concerns about visa applications, please contact Dhruti Thakrar and Blerta Berisha.