Our initial consultation meetings provide an opportunity for an in-depth discussion of your immigration issue with a specialist immigration Lawyer with relevant expertise.

Whether you are considering applying for a UK visa from overseas, seeking to extend your stay in the UK or contemplating challenging a Home Office immigration decision, our immigration Lawyers will draw on their expert knowledge and years of experience to advise you. Meetings typically last for 40 minutes and can take place at our office in Richmond, or via Skype, Zoom or telephone.

During the consultation meeting, your Lawyer will obtain further information from you and answer any questions that you have about your immigration matter. They will confirm the options available to you and the most appropriate next steps in the circumstances of your case.

After the initial consultation meeting, your Lawyer will provide you with a written summary of the main points discussed during the meeting, as well as the advice provided.

Thereafter, you will be free to act on our advice and incur no further legal costs. Alternatively, you may wish to instruct one of our immigration Lawyers to undertake further work on your immigration matter.

Our immigration lawyers work directly with individuals and businesses, within the UK and overseas, to prepare high quality visa and immigration applications.
The precise work involved in the preparation of a visa or immigration application varies from case to case. However, if you instruct us to prepare an application for entry clearance, leave to remain or settlement, for example, we will:

• Provide you with a dedicated and experienced immigration Lawyer to work on your matter;
• Accurately identify both the type of immigration application you should make and how your application should be structured for success;
• Provide you with expert advice as to the requirements of the Immigration Rules for your immigration application, as well as any relevant Home Office policies and case-law;
• Advise you in detail as to the documentary evidence that you will need to submit in support of your immigration application, including any requirements in terms of the content and format of these documents;
• Check all your supporting documents for compliance with the requirements of the Immigration Rules and advise you as to any required or recommended amendments;
• Complete the relevant immigration application form(s);
• Draft Legal Representation in support of your immigration application (this is an expert legal opinion, prepared by your Lawyer, which will set out all the requirements of the Immigration Rules and explain to the Home Office, in detail, why your application should be approved);
• Prepare your application bundle ready for submission to the Home Office;
• Arrange for a second Lawyer to independently check your completed immigration application prior to submission to the Home Office;
• Scan your finalised application bundle ready for submission to the Home Office;
• Submit your immigration application to the Home Office on your behalf;
• Act as your agent for all correspondence with the Home Office, up to and including receipt of the decision on your immigration application;
• Provide you with professional advice throughout the process of preparing your immigration application, by email, telephone or in-person as required;
• Provide you with professional advice as to the next steps once you have received a decision on your immigration application.
• In appropriate cases, we may also undertake further work, such as:
• With your consent, make a Subject Access Request to the Home Office for disclosure of your immigration file;
• Help you to obtain evidence from third-parties such as banks and accountants by preparing draft letters for the third-parties to complete;
• Help you to prepare a business plan in support of your application;
• Help you to obtain expert reports in support of your application.

The exact scope of work that we undertake will be set out in a written report which you will have an opportunity to review and approve prior to instructing us to prepare your visa or immigration application.

You may wish to prepare your application yourself and have it checked by an immigration Lawyer prior to submission.  This can also be arranged, based on your individual needs.

How long will my immigration application take?
The exact time it will take to prepare your immigration application will depend on a number of factors, including:

• The nature of the application;
• The amount of supporting evidence that we need to consider;
• Whether you are applying with dependants;
• Your immigration history;

We recommend that, if possible, you allow 6 weeks to prepare an immigration application properly.However, we can often complete the work more quickly than this if required. We will discuss your target application date with you at an early stage of the process and will only take your matter on if we are sure that we can deliver on time. We cannot guarantee how long the Home Office will take to process your immigration application, but the Home Office service standard for in-country applications is within 8 weeks via the standard application process, within 5 working days via the priority service and within 1 working day via the super priority service.

For applications submitted outside the UK you should receive a decision on your visa application within 3 weeks of attending your appointment at the visa application centre (or within 12 weeks if applying to join family in the UK). Most visa application centres also offer a range of priority and premium services which can significantly speed up the decision-making process. 

We would be pleased to discuss these options with you if a quick decision is required.

Our application checking service offers a cost-effective way to ensure that your visa or immigration application satisfies the requirements of the immigration rules.
If you are willing to prepare your visa or immigration application yourself, our immigration Lawyers can check your application and advise you as to any required or recommended amendments, before you submit your application to UK Visas & Immigration.

If you instruct us to check your visa or immigration application we will:

• Provide you with a dedicated and experienced immigration Lawyer to work on your matter;
• Check your completed visa or immigration application against the strict requirements of the Immigration Rules, Home Office policy and any relevant case-law;
• Advise you at a consultation meeting (either in person or online or telephone) as to any required or recommended amendments to your application.

Following the consultation meeting, you will be able to make any necessary changes to your visa or immigration application before you submit it to the Home Office.

Our immigration Lawyers work directly with individuals and businesses, within the UK and overseas, to prepare appeals against decisions of the Home Office and provide representation at immigration appeal hearings.

Whether you wish to apply to the Home Office for Administrative Review, pursue an appeal against a decision of the Home Office before the First-tier Tribunal, Upper Tribunal or higher courts, or challenge a decision of the Home Office by way of Judicial Review proceedings, our immigration Lawyers can assist.

The precise work involved in the preparation and presentation of an immigration appeal varies from case to case. However, if you instruct us to prepare an appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (IAC), for example, we will:

• Provide you with a dedicated and experienced immigration Lawyer to work on your appeal;
• Accurately advise you as to the merits of your appeal based on the requirements of the Immigration Rules, as well as any relevant Home Office policies and case-law;
• Complete and lodge the relevant notice(s) of appeal with the Tribunal on your behalf;
• Draft detailed grounds of appeal in support of your appeal;
• Advise you in detail as to the documentary evidence that you will need to submit in support of your immigration appeal;
• Check all your supporting documents for compliance with the requirements of the Immigration Rules and advise you as to any required or recommended amendments;
• Draft your witness statement in support of your immigration appeal (this is a detailed personal statement, which you will sign, which will stand as your evidence at the appeal hearing);
• Draft additional witness statements for any witnesses who will give evidence at the appeal hearing;
• Draft a skeleton argument in support of your immigration appeal (this is a detailed legal submission, prepared by your barrister and read by the Judge, which will set out legal arguments as to why your appeal should be allowed);
• Prepare and scan indexed and paginated appeal bundles ready for submission to the Home Office and Tribunal;
• Serve your immigration appeal bundles on the Home Office and Tribunal;
• Provide you with representation by a dedicated and experienced immigration Lawyer at your immigration appeal hearing (your Lawyer will question witnesses and make oral submissions to the Judge on your behalf, arguing why your appeal should be allowed);
• Act as your agent for all correspondence with the Home Office and Tribunal, up to and including receipt of the decision on your immigration appeal;
• Provide you with professional advice throughout the process of preparing and presenting your immigration appeal, by email, telephone or in-person as required;
• Provide you with professional advice as to the next steps once you have received a decision on your immigration appeal.
• In addition to preparing and presenting immigration appeals before the First-tier Tribunal, our immigration Lawyers also regularly provide the following services:
• Advise as to the merits of appealing against immigration decisions of the First-tier Tribunal;
• Applications for permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal against immigration decisions of the First-tier Tribunal;
• Preparation and presentation of immigration appeals before the Upper Tribunal;
• Advise as to the merits of appealing against immigration decisions of the Upper Tribunal;
• Applications for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal against immigration decisions of the Upper Tribunal;
• Preparation and presentation of immigration appeals before the Court of Appeal;
• Advise as to the merits of applying for Administrative Review;
• Applications for Administrative Review;
• Advise as to the merits of applying for Judicial Review;
• Drafting of Pre-action Protocol letters / Letters before claim in advance of Judicial Review proceedings;
• Applications for Judicial Review;
• Representation at Oral Permission Hearings in Judicial Review matters;
• Representation at Judicial Review hearings;
• Representation at immigration bail hearings;

How long will my immigration appeal take?

We will ensure that your appeal is lodged within any time limits set out in law. We cannot guarantee how long it will take for your appeal to be heard. It is possible that the Home Office may decide to withdraw their refusal decision based on our representations. If they do not then, if you are appealing to the First-tier Tribunal, it is likely to take between 6 and 12 months for your appeal to be listed for hearing. Different timeframes may apply to different stages and types of appeals.
Appealing is not always the most appropriate way of challenging an immigration decision.  If we think that a fresh application would be a quicker and/or more cost-effective solution then we will let you know.