We provide a fixed-fee service to advise, assist and represent our clients through the complex visa application and immigration process. We can offer a full service from start to finish or a simple assessment to guide you on an application you intend to make personally.
We offer everybody a free initial appointment with our immigration solicitor to discuss your query and to enable you to decide if you wish to instruct us to assist you with your matter. Our immigration solicitor has a wealth of experience and demonstrates very high success rates. We strive to make our service as accessible as possible and pride ourselves in providing honest advice at every stage as to the prospects of success, so you know what the outcome is likely to be. We consistently strive to provide high levels of legal advice and service to all those who are in need of good quality Immigration advice. We will work on a case from the start, in the middle or even when you think it has reached its end with no more places to turn. Come and meet with us for a friendly, confidential discussion to see how we can help.
Our services include:
One-off assessment appointments.
Applications to visit the UK.
Entry clearance or further leave to remain as a student.
Applications to enter or stay in the UK as a worker.
Applications to enter or remain in the UK as a dependant family member – spouses, civil partners, unmarried partners, dependant parent (or grandparent) and dependant children.
Applications to enter the UK for the purposes of marriage, fiancé visa or marriage visitor.
Applications for British Citizenship.European free movement applications.
Brexit-associated applications for settled / pre-settled status.
Asylum applications.
Windrush applications.
Immigration appeals.
Travel document/passport applications.
Biometric residence permit applications.
Others.
What are the options for Ukraine nationals?
Following the statement made by the Home Secretary to Parliament on 1 March 2022, the Ukraine Scheme has been introduced to allow Ukrainians and their family members who were resident in Ukraine before 1 January 2022 and who have family members in the UK to apply to come to the UK. It is free to apply and allows you to live, work and study in the UK and access public funds.
To apply to the Ukraine Family Scheme, you must:
be applying to join or accompany your UK-based family member; and
be Ukrainian or the immediate family member of a Ukrainian national who is applying to the scheme;
and have been residing in Ukraine on or immediately before 1 January 2022 (including those who have now left Ukraine)
You can apply if you’ve already arrived in the UK provided you meet the requirements. If you had permission to stay in the UK on or before 18 March 2022, you can apply to the scheme from 3 May 2022. Your partner and children can also apply if they’re in the UK as your dependents. If you previously had permission to stay in the UK but it has expired since 1 January 2022, you’ll also be eligible to apply. Your application will be subject to security checks.
Your family member must be a British national, someone settled in the UK, someone from the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland who has pre-settled status and started living in the UK before 1 January 2021 or someone with refugee status or humanitarian protection in the UK.
You must provide evidence that your UK-based family member is one of the following:
an immediate family member – spouse or civil partner, unmarried partner, child who is under 18, parent (if you are under 18), fiancé(e) or proposed civil partner,
an extended family member – parent (if you are over 18), child who is over 18, grandparent, grandchild or your partner’s grandchild, brother or sister, aunt or uncle, niece or nephew, cousin, mother-in-law or father-in-law, grandparent-in-law, brother-in-law or sister-in-law,
an immediate family member of an extended family member – spouse or civil partner of an extended family member, child under 18 of an extended family member, parent of a child under 18 who is an extended family member, fiancé(e) or proposed civil partner of an extended family member
If your UK-based family member is your (or an extended family member’s) spouse, civil partner, fiancé(e) or proposed civil partner the relationship must have started before 1 January 2022.
Other family members will be considered where there are exceptional circumstances. If successful, you can stay in the UK for up to 3 years. You must apply online. If you are outside the UK, if you hold a valid Ukrainian international passport or an expired Ukrainian international passport with a formal extension stamp issued by the Ukrainian government, you do not need to attend an appointment to give your biometric information. If you do not hold a Ukrainian international passport you will need to book and attend a biometric appointment. If successful you will receive an official permission letter confirming that you can travel to the UK. When you arrive, you will need to show your permission letter to Border Force officers who will endorse your passport with a 6-month entry stamp. This is evidence of your right to work, study and claim benefits in the UK. You will need to submit your biometrics within 6 months of arriving to extend your stay for up to 3 years. You will then be issued with a biometric residence permit (BRP). If you need advice as to whether you or someone you knows qualify under this scheme, or on any other immigration matter, please call for a free initial assessment on 0116 242 1120. Our immigration solicitor, Louise Koch, would be happy to discuss your query with you.
Changes to the Immigration rules for applications being made on or after 20 June 2022.
It is currently possible to apply for 30 months leave on the basis of the Private life you have established in the UK. From 20/6/22, it will still be possible to apply on the same private life grounds. These are:
be a child resident in the UK for at least seven years who can’t reasonably be expected to leave (seven-year children)
be aged 18 to 24 and resident here for at least half their life in the UK (young adults)
be resident here for more than 20 years face very significant obstacles to integration in their country of return
Until now, successful applicants have been granted 30 months’ permission to stay. Repeat applications have to be made every two and a half years before you become eligible to apply for indefinite leave.
The good news is that the new rules allow young adults and seven-year children to choose whether to apply for 30 months’ or 60 months’ permission; the only difference expected will be the application fee. Previously, applicants had to complete ten years on the private life route before they could get ILR. It will now be possible for a child who was born in the UK to apply for ILR immediately after spending the first seven years of their life here provided they can show that it would not be reasonable to expect them to leave the UK. For seven-year children who weren’t born in the UK, there is a new accelerated route enabling them to get ILR after five years’ leave instead of ten. The same applies to young adults. Everyone else on the private life route still needs to complete ten years after being granted permission before they can get ILR.
New, stricter, suitability requirements have also been introduced. A prison sentence of at least 12 months now prevents a person from ever getting ILR on the private life route (previously they could do so if 15 years had passed since the end of the sentence). People in this position will have to make endless extensions if they wish to remain in the UK. A prison sentence of less than 12 months prevents a grant of ILR for the first five years after the sentence is completed. It also disqualifies a child or young adult from obtaining ILR on the accelerated five-year route. The same applies where the applicant has been involved in a sham marriage or civil partnership, practised deception or breached conditions, or where they have an outstanding litigation or NHS debt.
A new “continuous residence requirement” has been introduced for applications for ILR as a partner or parent on the ten-year route. Where previously there was no need for applicants to have spent a certain amount of time physically in the UK, now they are limited to a maximum of 180 days’ absence in any 12-month period. There will be some exception for absences due to work, study, or supporting family overseas as long as the UK remains the applicant’s place of permanent residence and they maintain a family life here. Other exceptions include time spent out of the UK due to a pandemic or life-threatening illness for example. Additionally, absences pre-dating the new appendix will be disregarded if they were followed by a grant of permission on private or family life grounds. As mentioned above, applicants can now combine periods of permission in different private and family routes (including Appendix FM) in order to reach the requisite ten-year period for settlement: see paragraph SETF 11.6. They also face tougher suitability requirements, as summarised above.
If you wish to discuss an immigration application, we offer an initial free consultation. Please call our Immigration Solicitor Louise Koch on 0116 242 1120.
The Community Advice & Law Service are proud to be listed in the member of Directory of Immigration Advisors for Trinity SELTS.
Trinity provides Secure English Language Tests (SELTs) across the UK, these tests are approved for applications to UKVI for visas, leave to remain and citizenship. For further information on Trinity College please visit: www.trinitycollege.com
Further Leave To Remain (visa extension) (A2)
After two-and-a-half years in the UK, non-EEA nationals on the five-year partner or parent route to settlement must pass a SELT in speaking and listening at A2 level in order to qualify for further leave to remain. Trinity’s GESE Grade 3 exam (CEFR A2): 7 minute speaking and listening test | speaking and listening only | Provisional result received in 24 hours | Certificate usually sent within 7 days
Indefinite Leave To Remain (to settle) or British Citizenship (B1)
For Indefinite Leave To Remain (to settle) or British Citizenship you must pass a Secure English Language Test (SELT) in at least CEFR level B1 in Speaking and Listening. Trinity’s GESE Grade 5 exam (CEFR B1)
10 minute speaking and listening test
Speaking and listening only
Provisional result received in 24 hours
Certificate usually sent within 7 days
You also need to take a ‘Life in the UK’ Test as part of your application. This is not a Trinity test. Visit the government Home Office website for more information about the Life in the UK Test.