You’ve Received a Deportation Notice
What Happens Next — and Where the Real Chances to Fight It Are
If you are reading this, you or someone you care about has received a letter from the Home Office saying they are liable to deportation. That letter may have arrived while you are in prison. It may have arrived at home. Either way, it is frightening.
This guide explains what that letter means, what happens next, and — most importantly — where in the process you have the best chance of stopping it.
The single most important thing to understand is this: the earlier you act, the better your chances. The representations stage — before the Home Office signs the deportation order — is where you have the most room to argue your case. If you miss that stage, you can still fight it on appeal. But you will be fighting from a weaker position, with less flexibility, and at greater cost.
| Do Not Ignore This LetterIf you do nothing, the Home Office will sign the deportation order without hearing your side. Once the order is signed, the process becomes harder, more expensive, and more stressful. Act now. |
Two Types of Deportation
The first thing to establish is which type of deportation you are facing. The process is similar, but the legal tests are different.
Automatic deportation applies if you are a foreign national who has been sentenced to a total of 12 months or more in prison. Under section 32 of the UK Borders Act 2007, the Home Office has a legal duty to deport you unless a statutory exception applies. From 26 March 2026, this duty also extends to suspended sentences of 12 months or more, for convictions imposed on or after 22 March 2026. The public interest in deporting you is treated as very strong. To resist it, you must show that deportation would breach your human rights — and the threshold for doing so is high.
Conducive grounds deportation applies where your sentence was less than 12 months, or where the Home Office considers your presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good for other reasons. The power comes from section 3(5) of the Immigration Act 1971. The public interest threshold is lower than in automatic deportation cases, which means your human rights arguments carry relatively more weight.
In both cases, the process starts the same way: with the notification letter.
The Process — Step by Step
| Overview1. Notification of liability to deportation2. Your chance to make representations (THIS IS YOUR BEST OPPORTUNITY)3. The Home Office decides whether to sign the deportation order4. If the order is signed: right of appeal (if you have made a human rights or protection claim)5. Appeal heard by an independent tribunal6. Decision |
Step 1: The Notification Letter
The Home Office sends you a letter — sometimes called a “notice of liability to deportation” or a “notice of decision to make a deportation order.” If you are in prison, this will usually be served on you by the prison authorities. If you are in the community, it will be sent by post.
The letter tells you that the Home Office intends to deport you. It sets out the reasons — usually your criminal conviction and sentence — and invites you to provide reasons why you should not be deported.
This is not the deportation order itself. The order has not been signed yet. You still have time to respond.
Step 2: Representations — Your Best Opportunity
| This Is the Most Important StageThe representations stage is where you have the most flexibility, the most room to present evidence, and the best chance of persuading the Home Office not to sign the deportation order. Everything that comes after this stage — the order, the appeal, the tribunal — is harder. Do not waste this opportunity. If you can only afford legal advice at one point in the process, this is where it should be. |
You will be given a deadline to respond — usually 20 working days, though this can vary. Your response is called “representations against deportation.”
Your representations should explain why deporting you would breach your human rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights — the right to respect for your private and family life. This means setting out:
Your family ties: Do you have a partner in the UK who is British or settled? Do you have children? How old are they? Were they born here? Are they in school? What is your relationship with them like in practice — not just on paper?
Your private life: How long have you lived in the UK? When did you arrive? Where did you grow up? Do you have any connection to the country you would be deported to? Do you speak the language? Do you have family there?
Rehabilitation: What have you done since the offence? Have you completed any courses or programmes? Are you working or training? Have you addressed the underlying causes of your offending — such as alcohol, drugs, or associations? Do you understand the harm you caused?
The impact of deportation: What would happen to your partner and children if you were removed? Would they go with you? If not, what would the separation mean for them — practically and emotionally? What would happen to you in the country you would be sent to?
The representations should be supported by evidence: letters from your partner, school reports for your children, employer references, probation reports, certificates from courses or programmes, medical evidence if relevant, and anything else that demonstrates the reality of your life in the UK and the impact removal would have.
If you are in prison, gathering this evidence is harder but not impossible. Your family can collect documents. A solicitor can request probation reports and prison records on your behalf. The important thing is not to let the difficulty of gathering evidence become a reason for doing nothing.
Step 3: The Home Office Decision
After receiving your representations, the Home Office will decide whether to proceed with the deportation order.
If they accept your representations, the deportation process in this case stops. This is rare, but it does happen — particularly in conducive grounds cases where the offending was less serious and the family ties are strong.
If they reject your representations, they will sign the deportation order. This is the formal decision that requires you to leave the UK and prohibits you from returning. Once signed, it invalidates any leave you had.
At this point, if you made a human rights claim as part of your representations (which you should have), the refusal of that claim carries a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal.
Step 4: The Appeal
If the deportation order is signed and your human rights claim is refused, you will normally have a right of appeal. The appeal is heard by an independent immigration judge in the First-tier Tribunal — not by the Home Office.
| DeadlinesIf you are in the UK, you normally have 14 calendar days to lodge your appeal from the date the decision is served on you. If you are in detention, the deadline may be shorter. Do not miss this deadline — in some cases the tribunal can accept a late appeal, but only if you give good reasons and there are no guarantees. |
At the appeal, the tribunal considers your case afresh. It is not limited to reviewing whether the Home Office made an error — it decides for itself whether deporting you would breach your human rights. This is a full merits hearing.
The tribunal applies the statutory framework in Part 5A of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. For automatic deportation cases (12 months or more), the test is demanding. You must show either that one of the statutory exceptions applies, or that there are very compelling circumstances over and above those exceptions. For conducive grounds cases, the test is the standard proportionality balance under Article 8.
The hearing typically takes half a day to a full day. The judge will hear evidence from you and your witnesses, consider the documentary evidence in the bundle, hear submissions from your representative and from the Home Office presenting officer, and reserve judgment. The written decision usually follows two to four weeks later.
If the tribunal allows your appeal, the deportation order falls away and your immigration status is restored. But be aware: the Home Office can seek permission to appeal that decision to the Upper Tribunal. In deportation cases, they often do. The fight may not be over even after a tribunal win.
What If You Missed the Representations Stage?
If you did not respond to the notification letter — because you did not understand it, because you did not have legal advice, because you were in prison and nobody explained it to you — the situation is not hopeless. But it is harder.
The Home Office will have signed the deportation order without hearing your side. You may still have a right of appeal if a human rights claim can be made at this stage. The claim must be based on your current circumstances, and it must be properly evidenced.
The difficulty is that everything you should have presented at the representations stage now has to be compressed into the appeal process. You are end-loading rather than front-loading the work. The tribunal will still consider your case on its merits, but you have lost the advantage of having the Home Office engage with your arguments before making the order.
If you are in this position, get legal advice now. The sooner you engage a solicitor, the sooner the evidence-gathering can begin. Delay only makes it worse.
What the Home Office and the Tribunal Look At
Whether at the representations stage or on appeal, the decision-maker is weighing the public interest in deporting you against your right to family and private life. These are the key factors:
Seriousness of the offence. The more serious the offending, the stronger the public interest in deportation. A single offence resulting in a long sentence weighs differently from multiple minor offences, even if the total time served is similar. The nature of the offence matters — violence, sexual offences, and drug supply are treated more seriously than acquisitive offending.
Your immigration history. How long have you been in the UK? What status did you have? Did you comply with your conditions? A person who has been lawfully resident for 20 years and committed one offence is in a different position from someone who arrived recently and has a history of non-compliance.
Family relationships. The strength and genuineness of your relationships with your partner and children. The question is not just whether these relationships exist, but what they look like in practice. Do you live together? Do you share parenting responsibilities? What would the practical impact of your removal be on your partner and children?
Best interests of children. Under section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009, the best interests of any child affected by the decision must be treated as a primary consideration. This is not a trump card — the public interest in deportation can still outweigh it — but it must be properly assessed. A child who is British, who has lived in the UK all their life, who is in school and settled, whose only meaningful relationship with a parent would be severed by deportation — these are powerful factors.
Rehabilitation. The tribunal draws a clear distinction between not reoffending and genuine rehabilitation. Not reoffending is the minimum. Rehabilitation means demonstrating insight into your behaviour, addressing the causes of your offending, and showing through evidence — not just assertion — that the risk of reoffending is genuinely low. Probation reports, completion of programmes, stable employment, community engagement, and references from people who know you all contribute.
Conditions in the country of return. If you would face specific risks on return — because of your nationality, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, or political opinion — that may engage protection obligations under the Refugee Convention or Article 3 ECHR. If you have a protection claim as well as a human rights claim, both should be advanced.
The Legal Tests — Briefly
The statutory framework for deportation appeals is in Part 5A of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. Without going into full legal detail, there are three levels:
Medium offenders (sentence under 4 years): Deportation can be resisted if you have a genuine and subsisting relationship with a qualifying partner or child and the effect of deportation would be “unduly harsh” on them. Alternatively, if you have been lawfully resident for most of your life, are socially and culturally integrated, and would face very significant obstacles to reintegration in the country of return.
Serious offenders (sentence of 4 years or more): The only route is showing “very compelling circumstances, over and above” the exceptions that would normally apply. This is the highest threshold in the framework. It is not impossible to meet, but it requires truly exceptional facts.
Conducive grounds (under 12 months, not automatic): The standard Article 8 proportionality balance applies. The public interest is still a factor, but it is not given the same elevated weight as in automatic deportation cases. This is, in relative terms, often the most winnable category.
A detailed guide to these legal tests is in our separate guide: Can Deportation Be Stopped? The Legal Tests Explained.
Practical Advice for Families
In most cases, it is not the person facing deportation who first contacts a solicitor. It is their mother, their partner, or another family member. If you are that person, here is what you can do:
Gather the evidence now. Do not wait for a solicitor to tell you what is needed. Start collecting: birth certificates for any children, school reports, letters from teachers, medical records, photographs showing family life, tenancy agreements or mortgage documents, payslips and employment contracts, and any letters from probation or prison staff. The more evidence available at the representations stage, the stronger the case.
Find out the deadline. Ask the person facing deportation (or their prison) when the notification letter was served and what deadline was given for representations. If you do not know the deadline, assume it is urgent and act immediately.
Get legal advice early. A consultation before the representations deadline is worth far more than one after the deportation order has been signed. The representations stage is where the best work can be done.
If they are in prison: Ask the prison whether there is a legal aid surgery or immigration advice service available. If the person is facing automatic deportation and cannot afford private representation, legal aid may be available for the appeal stage, though not always for the representations stage. Either way, do not wait for legal aid to materialise before doing anything — the deadline will not wait.
If they are in detention: Contact Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID) at biduk.org. BID provides free legal representation at bail hearings and can advise on the detention process. Detention is a separate issue from the deportation itself, and getting someone released on bail does not mean the deportation has stopped — but it does mean they can participate more fully in preparing their case.
What Not to Do
Do not ignore the notification letter. This is the single worst thing you can do. Silence is treated as having nothing to say. The Home Office will proceed without your input.
Do not sign anything you do not understand. If you are asked to sign a disclaimer, a voluntary departure form, or any document you are unsure about, ask for legal advice first. Signing a voluntary departure agreement has consequences for any future application.
Do not rely on advice from other prisoners or detainees. Immigration law is complex and fact-specific. What worked for someone else may not work for you. Well-meaning but wrong advice can cause irreversible harm.
Do not assume it will go away. Deportation orders do not expire. If the Home Office does not act immediately, that does not mean they have decided to let you stay. It means they have not got round to you yet. The order can be enforced at any time.
What You Should Do Now
If you or a family member has received a deportation notification, the first step is a legal assessment. This should happen before the representations deadline if at all possible.
We handle deportation cases at Migrant Law Partnership. We will assess your situation honestly, explain your options in plain language, and tell you whether we think your case has realistic prospects. If it does, we will explain the process, the costs, and what to expect. If it does not, we will tell you that too — so you can make informed decisions rather than spending money on false hope.
| Facing Deportation?The representations stage is your best opportunity to fight a deportation order — before it is signed, not after. If you or a family member has received a deportation notice, get legal advice now. Book a free 15-minute consultation. No obligation. Just honest advice about your situation. [Book Your Free 15-Minute Call] |