Immigration

Consistently ranked as a leader in its field by the Legal 500 and Chambers Guide to the UK Legal Profession, our fully qualified immigration law team is renowned for combining a wide-ranging business immigration practice with expertise in individual matters. We offer focused solutions across the board and representation at appeals and court cases.

As the immigration rules become more complex legally, we have made it our business to ensure that our advice covers more than an outline of options. Using our experience, knowledge and contacts to solve problems for our clients, being proactive, and, when required, tough with the authorities, delivering our work within cost expectations and ensuring that we are accessible are important to us. We complement our personal service with technology as and when it benefits our clients.

As with many leading practices, our lawyers have long-established relationships with the immigration authorities in the UK, as well as British embassies and consulates abroad. This enables us to ensure that the majority of cases we handle are dealt with conveniently and expeditiously for our clients.

Our service differs, however, in our response to the increasing number of instances where the UK Border Agency seeks to exercise its powers outside the legal framework, or where its rules are unclear. If necessary, we will not hesitate to obtain clarity or take legal action to redress the balance and protect the reputation of our clients. Our immigration team shares Penningtons' overall ambition of ensuring that the rule of law is upheld and applied fairly.

We have helped many individuals worldwide secure approvals and visas under the old highly skilled migrant programme and the replacement tier 1 (general) scheme, which enables them to be employed or self-employed, full-time or part time. We have also switched many people who hold work permits and who are anxious about their employment situation into tier 1 (general), often securing fresh leave to enter within one or two weeks.

We assist entrepreneurs wishing to establish businesses or invest in the UK. We provide advice on all other immigration categories, including spouse, civil partner and unmarried partner visas, applications by non EEA-family members, student, asylum and human rights applications and those based on exceptional/compassionate circumstances. We offer competitively priced and budget fee structures where required and have successfully completed a number of compassionate cases on a pro-bono basis.

Our immigration team also acts for businesses >>.

Immigration services for private individuals at a glance:

  • challenges: appeals, reconsiderations and judicial reviews
  • complex cases: asylum claims, human rights applications and cases which fall outside the rules
  • EU/EEA: family permits, applications for residence cards and documents, complex EU law
  • family cases: spouse, civil and unmarried partner, children and other relatives
  • path to citizenship: British nationality and citizenship cases
  • permanent solutions: indefinite leave to remain/permanent residence applications
  • Points Based System for highly skilled individuals
  • those seeking to invest and/or establish businesses: tier 1 (investor), tier 1 (entrepreneur) and tier 1 (post study) applications