What it is like to work as UK immigration lawyer

Our firm assists with a variety of Immigration and Nationality cases. UK immigration is certainly not a boring area of law to practice. The immigration law is dynamic and changes to the rules and policies are published daily.

Immigration laws are so infamously complex to the point that even the immigration judges and Home Office representatives sometimes have to admit that they are unable to comprehend it. If you enjoy reading caselaw you may attempt to read a recent case of Kabir . This case very well illustrates the problem with poorly drafted immigration rules. When the case was at the Upper Immigration Tribunal (UAT) the Home Office Presenting Officer was unable to explain the immigration rules in the Appendix EU. It is quite alarming that Home Office representative is unable to explain the immigration rules.

Further below we present a snapshot of our most recent challenging matters that we have completed successfully. We selected the cases with some complex legal or practical circumstances to illustrate their complexities. This will give you an idea as to the type of UK immigration cases we handle at Thaxted Legal.

Our success stories – Sponsor Licences and sponsored work visas

Some sponsor licence applications and work visa applications are more complex than others. Below we give a number of different examples of sponsor licence and skilled worker visa cases that we’ve completed.

  • It is normally much easier to obtain a sponsor licence for a larger company than for a micro one. We recently assisted with a sponsor licence application for a small limited company with only one Director with no employees. We prepared the case with diligence and included detailed explanations. The work was rewarded as the Home Office granted our client’s Skilled Worker sponsor licence before the 8 weeks standard processing time.
  • Another sponsor licence matter, which presented challenges for very different reason, was a case where the sponsor licence applicant business already submitted their sponsor licence application without any legal assistance. They received a request for further documents and information from the Home Office with a very short deadline. When they got in contact with us, this client had only few days left to fulfil this obligation. We explained to client what is required from them. The sponsor company managed to provided us with their information and documents for our review in the evening on the final day. We worked until late at night and managed to submit all the documents and information timely. Their Skilled Worker sponsor licence was granted by the Home Office within a few days.
  • Further example is a case when a sponsor licence applicant was a well established sports club. They submitted the application without legal assistance. With the application they failed to submit some of the mandatory documents and information and the application failed. At this point the senior management of the club contacted us to seek help. We prepared a new application within a short time. We used the Priority Service for the application.Their sponsor licence was approved within a week or so after submission.
  • We recently assisted a large fishing company to obtain skilled worker visas for a number of seafarers to work in the UK waters. The skilled worker visa applications had additional complexities as the migrant workers were from Philippines and required an exit clearance before departure.
  • We helped many clients from the care industry sector to prepare responses to Home Office request for information and documents for Certificate of Sponsorship allocation. Our work resulted in Certificates of Sponsorship being allocated by Home Office within a short period after the submission of further evidence and information.
  • We prepared sponsor licence application for small construction company and the licence was granted on the basis of documents provided without any prior Home Office visit.
  • We helped to obtain a skilled worker visa to sponsor a nanny from overseas.
  • We assisted a number of businesses to obtain sponsor licence and switch their employees from graduate visa to skilled worker.
  • We regularly review sponsor employer’s practices and procedures, train sponsor employers’ key personnel and advise on sponsorship compliance duties.

Our success stories – Settlement (ILR) Applications

  • We assisted an individual and his family with obtaining Tier 1 Entrepreneur Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). The challenge in this case was that the applicant Tier 1 Entrepreneur changed his type of business to Property Management, which on the face of it is not permitted by the immigration rules. We analysed the immigration rules and Home Office Tier 1 Entrepreneur Guidance and we found a loop hole which we used to justify that our client’s case should succeed. The application was successful within a couple of months of submission.
  • We assisted with another Tier 1 Entrepreneur Indefinite Leave to Remain application for an individual who run a very small business. The business suffered losses and had very small turnover. We managed to successfully convince Home Office that our client meets the Genuine Entrepreneur Test.

Our success stories – EU Settlement Scheme

  • We assisted an EU national who instructed us after their EU Settlement Scheme application was refused. The applicant had historic residence in the UK prior to end of December 2020. We relied on this residence and resubmitted EUSS application for Settled Status. The application was filed after the June 2021 deadline but it was successful and our client was granted the Indefinite Leave to Remain (Settled Status) under the EU Settlement Scheme.
  • We assisted EU national who had previous refusal of EUSS application and had a long gap in his residence. We managed to convince the Home Office to grant him Settled Status – ILR under the EU Settlement Scheme.

Our success stories – Family applications

  • We have assisted a large number of family visa applicants, including spouses, unmarried partners, same sex partners and fiances, to obtain their initial UK visas, extend their family visas and obtain Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR – Settlement) in the UK and ultimately to obtain British citizenship. Many of the applications involved complex financial circumstances and unique relationship circumstances. Making a thorough assessment of each case at the start, taking the right immigration path, and then gathering the correct supporting documents are the key to success.
  • We were instructed by an applicant (mother) who was granted her UK visa but her child’s visa was refused on the grounds that the father of the child was not applying for UK visa. The legal issue involved was ‘Sole Responsibility for a child’. We write more about Sole Responsibility in UK immigration law in our blog here. We had only short window of time to prepare a new application for the child as the mother had to be in the UK by a specific time. We prepared detailed case with relevant supporting documents and detailed cover letter presenting a compelling case for our client. The child’s visa was granted within 2 week’s time and our client arrived in the UK with her child timely to start her planned activities.
  • We assisted with Spouse visa extension FLR (M) application and the applicant’s visa extension was granted within 2 working days after she attended her biometric appointment. The very fast approval was made without our client paying any extra expedited Home Office fees. Our client paid the standard application fee only.

Our success stories – short term visas

  • We assisted a number of foreign companies to bring their workers to the UK to work for large UK businesses. Our work involved reviewing complex documentation and finding best immigration solution that would allow the foreign workers to arrive in the UK within a short period of time. The UK immigration officers at the border reviewed the supporting documents that we prepared and allowed the workers to the UK without any questioning. We provided the clients with an immigration path that saved them time, money and allowed them to achieve their goals.