Immigration & Asylum

The UK immigration laws have been changing at a rapid pace in recent years. Immigration Rules and related guidance, which is required to meet entry into and/or to remain in the UK, has been evolving at a fast pace since the introduction of the Point Based System (PBS) in 2008 and with the Minimum Income requirements for family reunions in 2012. As a result, things often get very complicated; expensive and time consuming to fix. It is paramount, therefore, to obtain expert assistance to deal with your immigration matters.

We have specialist immigration lawyers that deal with all areas of immigration law – no matter how complicated the immigration problems are. These range from entry clearance and/or leave to remain application, citizenship, bail and detention matters, appeals before the Immigration and Asylum Tribunal or challenging the negative Home Office decision through to Judicial Reviews where necessary.

Our expert immigration practitioners have years of experience of dealing with all aspect of immigration law with high success rates. In our dealings we prioritise in allocating our resources, systematically evaluate and assess the need of each client with great care to maximise their chances of success. We take pride in our services and client satisfaction is at our forefront which results in new client referrals by existing clients and service users.

You can safely rely on our services for all your immigration needs.

Our immigration services include:

• Tier 1: Investor, Entrepreneur and Exceptional Talent
• Tier 2: Skilled workers with job offer, Intra-company Transfer and Representative of an Overseas Business
• Minister of Religion
• Tier 4: (General) Student Visa
• Tier 5: Temporary worker – Charity worker, Religious Worker Visa
• Visitor visa: Family and general visitors including business and entertainer visitors’
• Family visa: Entry clearance application for spouse and fiancé, children and dependant relatives
• Leave to remain: Application for leave to remain as spouse, parents and dependant relatives, family and private life and long residence
• Settlement: Application for Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK
• Citizenship: Application for naturalisation/registration as a British citizen
• Application for Right of Abode in the UK
• EEA/EU: Application for leave to remain under the EU Settlement Scheme for EU nationals and their non-EU Family members
• Asylum: Claim to recognise as a refugee in the UK or Humanitarian Protection
• Human Rights: Application to remain in the UK under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights
• Detention: Application for temporary release, immigration bail and challenging removal directions
• Appeals: Appeals against an immigration decision of the ECO or the Home Office
• Judicial reviews: Challenging the validity of the negative immigration decision of the Home Office or ECO

Commercial Property

We deal with all aspects of commercial property such as the following:

• Drafting and negotiating terms of commercial lease
• Lease transfers
• Renewals and extension of lease
• Rent reviews
• Conveyancing
• Any other matters relating to commercial properties.

Landlord & Tenant

Having a secure home is a fundamental human right that everyone is entitled to. Unfortunately, sometimes individuals are deprived of these basic rights by the actions of others; the authorities and on occasion the need to move to better accommodation.

We act for both landlords and tenants in the following matters:

• Tenancy Agreements- terms
• Housing Applications, Overcrowding and Transfers
• Homelessness
• Rent arrears, possession claims and unlawful eviction
• Housing Disrepair
• Right to Buy/Acquire- Council and Housing Association properties
• Leaseholders and service charges
• Any other matters relating to housing

Litigation

Legal disputes can arise in all kinds of area, whether it is in the private or public sphere. Someone has to commence an action to address their grievances or enforce their rights. At other times, one has to defend themselves to avoid or minimise huge cost orders. By taking a positive step engaging our firm, we will be taking care of your legal needs, representing you and taking the burden from you. We will take care of all your legal needs; representing you and do our upmost best to secure a favourable outcome for your case

Some of the areas of law that we cover in this field include the following (this is not an exhaustive list):

• Injunction- protection from Harassment
• Consumer issues

Welfare Benefits

We help members of the public with their benefit cases to ensure that they get what they are entitled to by maximising their income for themselves and their families. There are some of the areas we cover in this field:

• Advice on entitlement to benefits such as Tax Credits, Child Benefits, Job Seekers’
• Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Housing Benefits
• Application for Universal Credits
• Challenging and appealing benefit decisions such as overpayments and refusals
• Applications to lift suspension of benefits, including Housing Benefit
• Any other matters relating to welfare benefits

Employment Law

Employment Law is constantly changing and it is very difficult to keep track of legal changes in this area. For employers this means that they can easily fall foul of the law with significant cost implications. For employees, by knowing your rights gives you better bargaining powers to negotiate pay, promotion and freedom from discrimination.

We act for both Employers and Employees in the following matters:

• Contracts of Employment
• Breach of contract claims
• Unpaid wages, holiday pay, national minimum wage and sick pay
• Unlawful deduction of wages
• Redundancy
• Maternity leave and family-friendly rights such as parental leave, working part-time and working from home
• Discrimination- including race, sex, disability and religious beliefs
• Unfair Dismissals
• Compromise/ Settlement Agreements

Criminal Law

We know that sometimes people can fall foul of the law and sometimes by mistake and sometimes without realizing it. You can commit a strict liability offence by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. We can privately advise and represent defendants in cases where Legal Aid is not available.

Some of the areas we can help you with include the following:

• Public carriages offences
• Touting
• Fly-tipping
• Breaches of market licenses
• Public transport Penalty Fares
• Speeding, PCN and motoring offences
• Breaches of various local authority by-laws and regulations

Taxi Licensing Appeals

Working as a Professional Taxi or PHV driver in London could be exciting and rewarding knowing you are helping to keep the city moving and vibrant. This is an important role and very beneficial to both the individual and the economy of the city.

This may not be without its challenges from the stringent regulations and Laws in place to ensure excellence safety and wellbeing of passengers through their journeys. Transport for London (TfL) is the licensing authority for London’s taxi and private hire vehicles (PHVs). PHVs plays an important role in delivering passenger transport services in London, and the standards sets by TfL is to ensure the safety of passengers and other road users.

As the licensing authority for PHV driver licences, TfL grants licence to applicants where satisfied that the applicant “is fit and proper person to hold a licence” along with other requirements. ‘Fit and Proper” is an important test and TfL has a duty to ensure that holders of PHV licence are ‘fit and proper person’ for such purpose throughout the validity of their licence period.

TfL may suspend or revoke a PHV driver licence when “no longer satisfied that the licence holder is fit to hold such a licence”. Unfortunately, refusals of TfL licence application, suspension and revocation are common phenomena of the trade.

When this happens, our team of expert well renowned in the TfL Appeal process are on hand to help however complicated the issue concerned.

You can surely rely on our expertise for a successful outcome to your problem based on your supporting evidence.