UK Visas and British Citizenship

Multi Travel Visas o ffers bespoke Russian visa service. It is very fast and convenient and a visa applicant can submit an application - and biometrics - at our office in the City of London (Monument area). This service allows us to act as a visa centre and collect the biometrics (fingerprints) at our office in the City of London , which is easily accessible by all transport links. Under this procedure we prepare an application form, check the documents, order a visa invitation if needed. Then, rather than going to the visa centre and queuing there for hours, we will provide a biometric kit at our office. Conveniently, you would have a 1 – 1.5 hour window to come to our office (the day/time pre-arranged as convenient). Right here, on the spot, and without queuing, you will be able to provide the biometrics (fingerprints), we will ‘submit’ your documents and pay the application fees to the official staff operating the biometric kit (here at our office). If there are any issues with t...

A business plan was made compulsory for initial applications from 6 April 2015.   Over the past several years we’ve been dealing with the Entrepreneur visa applications for our clients. As a part of each application, we have to read client’s business plan, ask to make changes and generally, to include the information relevant to the Entrepreneur visa rules as well as based on the questions a client may be asked at a interview (from our experience of clients’ visa interviews). Our experiencedallowed us to develop an approach to creating the business plans from a Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa point of view. Instead of using standard templates, we focus on what the visa officers want to see, ie on what a migrant will be required to do while holding this visa: investment of £50,000 or £200,000 and what your client is going to spend it on. For example, paying yourself a salary is not counted, yet it is very common for clients to do this.      Another example will be includ...

A Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) category is one of the very few remaining visas, which allows to come to the UK to work. It leads to permanent residency after 5 years, does not require a job offer and does not depend on an employer for sponsorship. The “catch” is the applicant needs to have access to £200,000, available to start or join a business in the UK. The funds can be from family or other third party sponsors, including in the form of a loan. Although it is a substantial amount of money, it is more realistic than an Investor visa, which requires £2 million. This category is becoming very popular since a Highly Skilled visa was closed in 2011 while the UK is a fantastic place for business! The idea behind an Entrepreneur visa is sometimes described as “active investment”. Once a migrant has a visa, this is when the hard work really begins! One has to register a business in the UK, invest the money and create 2 jobs for settled workers and generally, to be active in the business....

Multi Travel Visas Ltd can assist with renewing a UK passport using same-day or 1 week service at the Passport Office in London, with the authorisation from you as per the government requirements. We can submit applications on next working day after receiving your documents, there is no need to wait for an appointment. We may also be able to submit on the same day if we receive your documents before 12pm (midday) and they are in order. We can also help if for some reason you are unable to apply yourself. If you don't have time to travel to a Passport Office yourself we can apply on your behalf (you don't have to come to London). If you are living/working abroad you can courier documents to our London office and we can submit them promptly for same-day service. This includes if your passport has run out of pages or if you need to renew not only yours but also/or your child's passport urgently.  Example: British expats living or working in the USA, the Middle East, Asia an...

Multi Travel Visas Ltd is an accredited agency with the official French visa centre in London, we have many years of experience of working with French and other Consulates. We use a separate system of appointments and can provide an appointment sooner than available for the public. FRENCH SCHENGEN VISA: It is possible to obtain a visa within 4 working days from the date of the biometric appointment for most nationals, such as Filipino, South African, Russian, Indian, Chinese, Turkish and most others. It takes longer for some nationals, up to 3 weeks, a list is available on our website: http://www.multitravelvisas.co.uk/schengen-visa-france.php   GERMAN SCHENGEN VISA: German Schengen visa takes 5 working days from the date of appointment. No biometrics, no personal attendance needed! Furthermore, spouses and family members of UK/EU citizens don't have to book tickets/accommodation before applying for this visa. This is the best Embassy to apply for a Schengen visa ...

A very informative and practical 2-day weekend course at our office in the City of London!  1st 4Immigration Ltd is a practicing OISC-accredited immigration company, OISC ref F200800152. After many years of experience – and hundreds of successful cases – we are sharing our experience to help you to prepare for your OISC Level 1 assessment and accreditation or, if you are already practicing, to increase your knowledge. You can read Testimonials on our immigration cases here. TRAINING DATES:     Weekend 26 - 27 September 2015 (in time for OISC exam on 28 September). Weekend 24 - 25 October 2015 (in time for OISC exam on 29 October). Weekend 14 - 15 November 2015 (in time for OISC exam on 23 November). Weekend 12 - 13 December 2015 (in time for OISC exam on 17 December). Our tutors are our very own OISC-accredited practicing immigration advisers who handle the real cases during the week and teach on weekends. You can read abo...

This post does not cover all scenarios but does cover most common enquiries in our day-to-day practice. This category, Family Life and Private Life but Family Life in particular, has become very popular when it was introduced on 9 July 2012 (feels like it was yesterday). In this post we are focusing on FLR(FP) application on the basis of Family Life as a Spouse/Partner of a British Citizen or as a Parent of a British child, in the 10-year route (not in the 5-year one). This category is meant to be used as exception from the Rules, so Family Life application involved Exception section of the Appendix FM and a paragraph EX.1. Why do we advise against it? Firstly, because we advise to use it as a ‘last resort’, this is what it was designed for. It was not designed to be a routine application to avoid having to meet one of the rules for an application without exception (ie for an application ‘within the Rules’, such as FLR(M)). This category should not be a starting point. ...

5 years and 10 years refer to the number of years a migrant needs to spend in the UK, in the given category, to qualify for permanent residency. So, in the 5-year route one needs 5 years and in the 10-year route twice more, ie 10 years. It means if you get a visa in this route, you'd need 5 or 10 years respectively from the date of the first visa. It does not relate to the number of years preceding to the first application in this route. When does each of them apply? 5-year route is for a migrant who is applying as a Spouse/Partner, or as a Parent, of a UK citizen under the Appendix FM and who is able to meet all the requirements. This is also known as application “within the Rules”. It means one can meet all the requirements, be it applying at the right place (ie switching from another category when it is allowed), meeting the Financial or English language requirements or otherwise.    10-year route applies to the applications under FLR(FP) category, as a Spous...

If you are considering making an application under a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) or (Investor) category from outside the UK (known as Entry Clearance), from 1 September 2015 you will need to provide a criminal records check (ie a certificate) from each county where you lived for at least 12 months in the last 10 years (excluding the UK as this can be checked on the UKVI system). It will also apply to the adult dependants of the main applicant. If it may take a long time to obtain such a certificate in your country, you can avoid doing it by making your application in August. You can submit the online application form and pay a Home Office fee before 1 September for your application to be deemed as "submitted in August", even if your appointment to submit the documents and biometrics is some time after that. This is because of the term of ‘date of application’, which is based on the date of payment in the overseas applications. The general logic does not change, all v...

We offer an intensive Saturday course at our office in the City of London. 1st 4Immigration Ltd is a practicing OISC-accredited immigration company, OISC, ref   F200800152. We are also a recognised CPD provider and can be found on the OISC list of the training providers. This course has a particular emphasis on Tier 2 General and Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa categories, applying for a Sponsor Licence and using Tier 2 Code of Practice as well as qualifying for an Indefinite Leave in these routes. It also covers (often forgotten in training) rules for family members of PBS migrants. You can earn 7 core CPD hours credit, subject to the successful completion of the test after the course. As a practicing company, we are offering to share our experience to help you deal with the applications of Points-Based System migrants, their family members and ILR applications based on PBS categories. You can read   Testimonials on our immigration cases here. Our tutors are our very own OISC-...

Our favourite expression is “the answer is in the Rules”. And it is, in this case in the Appendix FM: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-rules-appendix-fm   In Family life with a partner, then Section EC-P: Entry clearance as a partner, Section E-ECP: Eligibility for entry clearance as a partner, then in Financial requirements. In this case a list of those who are exempt will be in the below paragraphs: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ E-ECP.3.3... (a) the applicant's partner must be receiving one or more of the following - (i) disability living allowance; (ii) severe disablement allowance; (iii) industrial injury disablement benefit; (iv) attendance allowance; (v) carer's allowance; (vi) personal independence payment; (vii) Armed Forces Independence Payment or Guaranteed Income Payment under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme; or (viii) Constant Attendance Allowance, Mobility Supple...

This post is in response to numerous enquiries about the existing exception for partners and parents under the Appendix FM. This exception, mentioned in paragraphs EX.1 and EX.2, allows some migrants to bypass the rules, such as on the Financial Requirement £18,600 or English or even allows to switch inside the UK instead of having to apply abroad for an Entry Clearance. Of course, it sounds good that there is an exception from the rules. However, EX.1 paragraph, under the Section EX, is not a standalone rule, ie not a rule you can apply under. Instead it is used as a part of other sections in the Appendix FM. Those other sections tell you when it can be applied and what happens if it does apply (ie what rules can be waived) and what decision you may get (ie that it will be in the 10-year route). In this post we are concentrating on the rules for partners of UK citizens, rather than parents (a parent of a British child has an additional requirement not to eligible to apply as a ...