Frederick Rine Solicitors

IMMIGRATION: WHY FREDERICK RINE

Our experienced immigration team can advise you on all immigration categories relating to individual or personal entry clearance applications and applications to remain in the UK.

We take a team approach so that clients have a dedicated lawyer who will handle their matters and who is fully involved in every stage of dealing with an application. All work is supervised by either a partner or senior solicitor.

Our immigration lawyers have an average of 10 years’ experience each in dealing with immigration applications, from the straightforward to the highly complex.  They also provide specialist immigration advice and guidance for our client’s immigration requirements.

For specialist immigration advice from our experienced immigration solicitors, please contact Mr Frederick Twum-Barima on 0208 440 9833.

Our experienced immigration solicitors can help advise you on all immigration categories relating to individual or personal entry clearance (visa) applications and applications to remain in the UK. Many of the enquiries we receive can be found on our personal immigration FAQs. For more complicated matters or if you would like a team of experts to take the stress out of your application, please contact us.

We are able to assist with the full range of personal immigration matters including:

  • Family Categories: Fiancé(e) or proposed civil partner; spouse or civil partner; children; dependent adult relatives

All Points Based System (PBS) applications including:

  • Tier 1 (Investor)
  • Tier 1 (Entrepreneur)
  • Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur)
  • Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent)
  • British citizenship, including applications for naturalisation, registration and advice on automatic acquisition
  • Indefinite leave to remain in the UK
  • UK Ancestry

HOW DO WE CALCULATE OUR FIXED FEES

Our fixed fee is typically £2,000 inc VAT at 20%.We think it is very important for clients to have choice in terms of how much support they require from us and the costs involved in receiving that support. We offer an initial no obligation consultation and the cost for this is £70- £100 inclusive of VAT. Our fees for the different categories are outlined below under our fees.

The fixed fee we charge will be based on the circumstances in your case, such as:

  • the level of support and assistance you require
  • whether there are any complicating factors in your case (such as previous immigration refusals, or you instruct us when your permission to be in the UK is about to expire or has already expired and you are an over stayer).
  • the amount of supporting evidence that we need to consider whether you are applying with other dependants

WORK INCLUDED IN THE ABOVE FEES

  1. Includes our meeting with you, considering, preparing and working on papers, emails, telephone calls made and received.
  2. Taking instructions in relation to your matter and confirming if the application is the appropriate one for you and tell you what other options might be available to you.
  3. Advising you as to the Immigration rules and telling you whether you meet the rules.
  4. Considering the documents you have provided for your application.
  5. Prepare your application and submit to the Home Office on your behalf.
  6. On receiving the decision from the Home Office advising you of what further steps to take, especially if your application is refused.
  7. Disbursements are not included in the fees, e.g., Home Office fees, court and interpreter fees.

Costs quoted do not include:

  • Home office fees, this is paid directly to the Home Office as part of your application
  • If your application is refused, there will be fees associated with appeals to the 1st Tier Tribunal.

ADDITIONAL FEES MAY SOMETIMES APPLY WHERE:

There are some occasions when we may need to increase our fees by 10%- 20% fee after starting work on your matter. Circumstances in which this might occur include:

  • You have a complicated immigration or criminal history.
  • Your income and savings are structured in such a way that demonstrating you have sufficient funds available to you is not straightforward.
  • The evidence of your studies given to you by your UK course provider needs to be amended. (Student Tier 4 application)
  • The evidence of your finances that you need to submit with your application is not readily available. (specifically student Tier 4 application)
  • We need to repeat our advice to you where that advice has already been clearly explained, or you decide that you would like additional meetings (in person or over the telephone) which exceed the number of meetings which would be required for that type of matter.
  • Where complexities concerning your application which were not disclosed to us at the outset come to light after work has commenced, or you change your mind about the type or nature of application you want to submit.
  • There is a significant change in the law or the required application process after work has commenced which means that work either needs to be repeated or significantly more work is required than originally anticipated. In all cases we will warn you if you are approaching a point at which we feel that additional fees are warranted on the basis of us spending an excessive amount of time on your application.
  • The Home Office raise queries regarding your application after it has been submitted which require detailed representations or additional evidence to be submitted.
  • A high number of absences from the UK over the qualifying period. (specifically applying to become a British citizen or Indefinite leave to remain in the UK on the basis of long residence)
  • The presence of any factors which might call into question the good character of any of the applicants. (specifically applying to become a British citizen)
  • You need assistance obtaining replacement birth or marriage certificates for you or any of your relatives.(specifically applying for a visa to come to the UK in the UK ancestry category)

DISBURSEMENTS (NOT INCLUDED IN FEES ESTIMATES)

  • Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as visa fees. We sometimes handle the payment of disbursements on clients’ behalf to ensure a smoother process.
  • If there is a Home Office interview which we attend with you, there will be additional disbursements in respect of our travel expenses. The cost will be a fixed fee of £500 inclusive of VAT.
  • Independent expert reports e.g. medical experts, DNA. These are not required in many cases: we will let you know as soon as possible if we consider an expert report is necessary. If required, a report form an independent expert costs between £1,000 and £2,000 plus VAT at 20%.
  • Couriers – for applications made overseas you may need to pay an additional charge for a courier to transport your supporting documents to the decision making centre. Charges for this will vary depending on the courier used, distance the documents are being transported and the size and weight of the package.

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO PROCESS MY APPLICATION

  • We will normally be able to submit applications within 2-3 weeks of you instructing us, but can submit applications much quicker than this if required. We will let you know at the earliest opportunity if it is likely to take longer than this or there is any advantage in your application being submitted at a later date.
  • We cannot guarantee how long the Home Office will take to process your application. Experience has shown that this ranges from 3- 12 months in some cases.