We offer professional services to guide you through the immigration process for entering and remaining in the UK. We assist with all immigration applications. We also assist with making asylum claims, fresh asylum claims, Tribunal appeals and Judicial review. Our team is committed to providing you with clear and efficient service through what can be a difficult and stressful process. You case will be dealt with by a qualified Solicitor who may be assisted by an Immigration caseworker or paralegal.
Our fees are structured as follows:
Immigration
In country extension applications for further leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain– fixed fee of £1500.00 plus VAT of 20% (total cost will be £1800)
(please see further below for circumstances where VAT applies).
Our Fee includes the following work and typical timescales:
1.Taking your instructions, assessing your evidence, preparation and lodging of your online application with the Home Office: 1 – 2 months. This is dependant on the expiry of your current visa and the date of our instructions.
2.Home office processing time – please refer to the gov.uk website for up to date processing times for specific applications but in general applications are processed in approximately 6 – 9 month.
The link to the Home Office website for in country applications is:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/visa-processing-times-applications-inside-the-uk
The link to the Home Office website for out of country applications is:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/visa-processing-times-applications-outside-the-uk
3.Advice on the decision from the Home office – usually provided within 7 days of the decision.
Home office fees
Unless you have been granted a fee waiver by the Home Office the application is likely to attract a Home Office fee as well as payment of the NHS surcharge.
The Home Office fees vary from time to time, here is a link to the current Home Office fees:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visa-regulations-revised-table/home-office-immigration-and-nationality-fees-31-january-2024
Fee waiver application
You can apply for a fee waiver if you’re applying for permission to stay in the UK. This means you will not have to pay a visa application fee if you are eligible.
You may be eligible for a fee waiver if:
- you’re a partner, parent or dependant child of someone who has a family visa or has permission to stay in the UK on the basis of their private life
- you’ve got ‘Discretionary Leave’ or ‘Leave outside the Immigration Rules’ on human rights grounds where you were refused refugee status or humanitarian protection – check your Biometric Residence Permit to see what you’ve got
- you have permission to stay in the UK because you’re a victim of modern slavery or human trafficking
You can apply for a fee waiver if you cannot afford to pay the fee because you:
- do not have a place to live in the UK and you cannot afford one
- have a place to live but cannot afford essential living costs like food or heating
- have a very low income and paying the fee would harm your child’s wellbeing
Your partner and children
You can include your partner and children in your visa waiver application if they’re applying to join or stay with you in the UK as your dependants. Each family member will need to complete a separate visa application and pay the visa fee. Use this service if you cannot afford to pay all or some of the fees.
Our fees for preparing and lodging a fee waiver application are £750 plus VAT where applicable (£900 including VAT) for the main applicant and £500 plus VAT (£600 including VAT) for each dependant applying.
In general it takes approximately 2 weeks to prepare and submit the application. The Home Office can take between 3 – 6 months to make a decision, although it could take longer.
If the fee waiver is approved you will have 10 working days from the date the decision is sent to make the application for leave to the Home Office.
Asylum applications:
Our fees for pursuing an asylum application are £1500 plus VAT if applicable (total £1800). This covers the following work:
Taking your instructions, taking you through your screening interview record and sending any corrections to the Home Office, preparing your asylum statement, conducting research in support of your case and advice on the substantive asylum interview. Following the interview record being received we will take you through this document and send your legal representations and supporting evidence to the Home Office.
We will then wait for a decision on your case. We will attend upon you further and send further evidence and representations as appropriate to the Home Office. Once a decision is received we will discuss this with you, and advise you on the implications of the decision. If you are granted refugee status that will be the end of the matter. If your refugee claim is dismissed we will advise you on the prospects of success in pursuing an appeal before the First tier Tribunal. In some cases the Home Office certify the case if they take the view the case is bound to fail. If the Home Office do this there will be no right of appeal but you will have the option to challenge their decision by way of judicial review – see below. It is difficult to provide time scales for the asylum process because Home Office processing times vary considerably. As a general guide it can take between 12 – 24 months for the application to be decided.
Appeal to the First tier Tribunal
If the application is refused and the decision attracts an in country right of appeal we will assess the prospects of success with you and should you decide to proceed with an appeal against the decision our fees will be as follows:
First tier Tribunal appeal – £2850.00 (plus VAT of 20% where applicable – total legal fees will be £3420.00). This covers lodging the appeal with the Tribunal, preparation of your statement and evidence including evidence from witnesses, lodging of Appellants bundle and representation at the hearing. Any adjourned hearings are charged at £500 (plus VAT of 20% where applicable total fee will be £600 per hearing where VAT applies).
The time scale for an appeal being concluded varies depending on the listing the capacity of the tribunal. In general the time scales for an in country appeal are as follows:
i.lodging of the appeal – must be done within 14 days of the date the decision is sent
ii.Home Office will be directed to file their bundle – average 3 months
iii.The tribunal will direct us to find your bundle and skeleton argument (legal submissions why the appeal should be allowed) – generally one a month after the Home Office have filed their evidence
iv.Respondents review of all evidence filed – generally one month after the filing of your evidence
v.At the Respondent’s review stage the Home Office can decide to withdraw their refusal decision and grant the leave to remain sought. If that is the case that will be the end of the appeal and the Home Office will proceed to grant status subject to security checks.
vi.If the Home Office maintain the refusal decision the matter will proceed to a full hearing which can be listed either by video link or as a face to face hearing – general time scale is within two months of the respondents review decision.
vii.Tribunal decision following an appeal hearing – generally issued within six weeks.
Tribunal fees applicable
There is a £140 Tribunal fee payable to the Tribunal at the time the appeal is lodged.
Permission to appeal
If your appeal is dismissed by the tribunal we will assess the decision with you. If that is an arguable material error of low in the decision you will have the right to make an application for permission to appeal to the upper tribunal. The application is first made to the first tier tribunal and our legal fees for making the application or £450 plus VAT if applicable (total £540 including VAT). If the first year tribunal refused permission to appeal you have the right to challenge the decision by making an application for permission to appeal to the upper tribunal which must again be made on a material error of law. Our legal fees for making the application or £450 plus VAT if applicable (total £540 including VAT). If permission to appeal is granted and the Home Office oppose the application the matter will proceed to an error of law hearing, our fees for preparing the upper tribunal bundle of evidence and representing you at the hearing are £1500 plus VAT if applicable (total cost of £1800). In the event the upper tribunal find that is a material error of law in the first tier tribunal’s decision the Upper tribunal can remake the decision, or remit the matter to the First tier tribunal to be heard afresh (often called a de novo hearing) or to be reheard with some of the previous findings made preserved. You will have the right to file new evidence for the new hearing. Our fees for preparing your case and representing you at the new hearing are £1500 plus VAT where applicable (£1800 including VAT)
Interpreter costs / Expert evidence
Should you require the assistance of an interpreter or expert evidence the following fees will apply:
Interpreters charges – £25 per hour (inclusive of VAT)
Experts – this varies depending on the nature of the report required. We will always endeavour to obtain the most appropriate expert depending on your requirements. As a rough guide experts reports can cost around £1500.00 plus VAT i.e. £1800 including VAT.
DNA reports – also varies depending on the nature of the report required and number of persons to be tested. Starting price is approximately £350.00 – £400 including VAT.
When does VAT apply?
VAT applies on all in-country applications where the person applying has 6 months or more leave to remain.
VAT generally will not apply to entry clearance applications as the person making the application is outside of the UK.
Administrative review
If the Home Office decision does not attract on in country right of appeal you may have the right of an administrative review. This must be made within 14 days on an in country application, and within 28 days on an out of country application. Our fees for pursuing an administrative review are
It is difficult to provide timescales within which the Home Office will decide an administrative review application. At present the Home Office are taking approximately 12 – 18 months.
Judicial review
If the Home Office decision does not attract a right of appeal you may be able to challenge the decision on grounds of judicial are three main grounds of judicial review review. There are three main grounds of judicial review: illegality, procedural unfairness, and irrationality. A decision can be overturned on the ground of illegality if the decision-maker did not have the legal power to make that decision, for instance because Parliament gave them less discretion than they thought. Before a case can be pursued in the Court the Home Office should be given a final opportunity to review the decision. This requires pre action letter (also known as a letter before claim) to be submitted to the Home Office setting out the deficiencies in the decision and the legal challenge being made. Our fees are for preparing and submitting a letter before claim are £500 plus VAT (total £600 including VAT). If the Home Office agreed to review that decision there will be no need to take any further action until a new decision is made. If the Home Office maintained that decision then you will have the right to make an application to the court for a judicial review of the original decision. Any judicial review should be made as soon as practicable but no later than three months after the date of decision. Our fees for making the application for Judicial review are £2500 plus VAT (total £3000 including VAT). There is a Court fee payable of £160 at the time the application is made. Once the application is made the Tribunal will issue the Judicial review and the home office will be directed to file an acknowledgment of service in which they can either agree to review their original decision or contest the application made. We will consider the home office arguments with you and submit further legal argument if required. A judge will then make a decision on the papers either granting permission to bring judicial review or dismissing the application. We will consider the decision with you. If the application is dismissed the court may order that you pay the cost incurred by the Home Office which generally amount to £500. If you disagree with the decision of the judge we will consider the merits of taking the matter further. You have 9 days from the date the decision is sent to apply to the court for an order hearing of the case. Our fees for making the oral application are £500 plus VAT (total £600 including VAT), plus there is a Court fee of £395. Our fees for representing at the oral hearing are £2000 plus VAT (i.e. total of £2200). At the order hearing the judge can either grant the application or dismiss the application. If the application is granted the matter will be sent back to the Home Office to re make the decision. If the application is dismissed the matter can be challenged further by making an application for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal. Our fees for making this application are £2000 plus VAT where applicable ( total £2200 including VAT).