Visa Appeal

[JHol]

Hi, all,

A friend of mine applied for Irish visa (Preclearance), visa was refused.
He appealed the decision; made a very good appeal. A month later he gets an e-mail from the Preclearance that they “found in their database that he has a visa refusal in the past”. There was nothing mentioned in the Letter of Refusal about his previous visa refusal. It is only being brought now, after the appeal.

Is normal for them to come up with new reasons for refusal even after issuing the letter of refusal?

Thank you

[Nala2021]

What were the reasons for refusal in the refusal letter?

[JHol]

ID Insufficient documents
F Finances

Only these two were in the letter of refusal

[Nala2021]

I assume then that the appeal letter focused on the reasons that were on the original letter. Is there a way that you can do an FOI request in order to perhaps begin to clarify the actual processing of the visa application? (I mean the original application, not the appeal one). It is there that perhaps you could see procedural errors. It is not fair or just that your friend did not have the chance to appeal the said reason that they mentioned (that apparently led to the refusal). Was your friend aware that there was a visa refusal in the past?