UK Visas and British Citizenship

Certainly not as indefinite as most people think. This post is of vital importance to those who have secured an Indefinite Leave to Remain (permanent residency status) in the UK and who are thinking of relocating abroad or taking a job abroad. You will lose your ILR if you leave the UK for more than 2 years in a row and will have to start all over again in the future. Indefinite Leave can be lost, and many lose it, as a result of being away for more than 2 years, such as working in Australia, USA or the Middle East etc. What’s the solution? First to apply for British Citizenship, then to go. Please note we say ‘to apply’ and not ‘to get’. In other words, assuming you meet the requirements and can provide the right documents (which we can advise on), your application for Citizenship is based on the time before the date of application, not after. So, you can apply and then take a job offer abroad because your absences will be counted up to the date of application, not the date of d...

(Addressed to Joanne who dealt with this case): “ Very good job from 1st4 immigration. They have gathered the right documents needed for successful application for my wife. Also listen to their guidance and provide the documents they require ... the right documents and their cover letter make for 100% success. Thank you”.   This came from Chudomir, a Bulgarian national who is now looking forward to his Filipina wife joining him in the UK for Christmas. A Family Permit is issued to spouses and family members of EEA nationals, such as Bulgarian, French etc. An EEA national has to be exercising Treaty rights in the UK, in this case Chudomir was self-employed (and paid via an umbrella company). We are very experienced in dealing with the self-employed people of all nationalities and types of applications, so we were able to advise efficiently.      A Family Permit is a visa for 6 months, which allows to work. The best step would be applying for a Re...

A fresh wave of ‘scary’ changes was announced on the 16 th October 2014. We are going to outline a few, which in our opinion affect the applicants in our immigration practice. From 20 October 2014: Tier 4 Student category: applicants inside the UK will be able to request an Administrative Review if their application is refused – but not an appeal anymore – which is in- line with the rights of those applying outside the UK. This change was implemented almost immediately – to avoid the rush of applications before the changes come in force. Under the Administrative Review process, a different UKVI caseworker will re-consider the case. Additional documents won’t be allowed unless justified to show why it was a mistake to refuse a visa at first place. An appeal would have taken several months (approx 12 weeks) while an Administrative Review is expected to be taking 28 days. Less time for a maneuver for those with visa refusals, thus making it harder to stay in the country. We...

If you are holding a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) or a Tier 1 (Investor) visa we are offering to help with compliance with the Immigration Rules for the duration of the visa and extensions.     For a yearly fee we help to comply with the Rules (and changes of the Rules). For example, during the 3 years of an initial Entrepreneur visa you have to register a business within specific time limit, create 2 jobs for certain types of people and for the duration of 12 months for each job. An Investor has 3 months to invest the equivalent of GBP 750 000 in the ways specified in the Immigration Rules and it does not include property. The remaining amount of GBP 250 000 does not have to be invested but still has to be maintained in the permitted ways. Investments have to be maintained for the duration of the visa, which includes compensating the value if the market changes. Our compliance service includes:   -  Unlimited number of questions re the Immigration Rules...

Multi Travel Visas is a practicing OISC-accredited immigration company in the City of London. Our next   OISC Level 1 course will be held on weekend 29-30 November at our office in the City of London (Monument area). We are offering 10% off the course fee if you book within 1 week, that’s booking by end of Wednesday 5 November. To book online now please visit our website: http://www.mtv-training.co.uk/ Multi Travel Visas Ltd and its sister company, 1st 4Immigration Ltd, are both accredited by The OISC, ref F201100418 and F200800152 respectively.   You can read   Testimonials on our immigration cases here.   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 about them on the   Tutors page. Unlike most traditional courses, ours is conducted using plain language and does not simply contain quotes from the Immigration Rules. We include cases studies...

This category is one of the very few remaining categories, which allows to come to the UK to work. The trick is you will have to work for yourself in your own UK-based business and usually need funds of £200,000. This page contains a simplified summary only, for an advice on your individual circumstances please to book our ADVICE SESSION , either over email (especially if you are outside the UK) or at our office in the City of London, near Monument Underground station. If you already have this visa you may be interested in our COMPLIANCE SERVICE while holding an Entrepreneur visa. You are also welcome to read TESTIMONIALS page. APPLYING OUTSIDE THE UK (ENTRY CLEARANCE): You need to have an equivalent of minimum GBP 200 000 in funds. The funds can be shared with one other person and/or can be from the third parties (sponsors), in which case very specific documents will be needed (and even specific details on those documents). If the funds aren’t in the UK then your bank woul...

We are having clients coming to us following a refusal of their Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) application when switching from Post-Study Work visa inside the UK. Such an application requires the applicant to be in business already, such as having a limited company which is active. The problem is that many applicants are working as contractors, basically as employees in all but name (just self-employed on paper, even with a limited company). Also, in many cases the applicant’s limited company has a contract with a recruitment agency, which in turn places the ‘worker’ (the self-employed contractors) to the companies like Ford or to banks or IT companies. The reason why such applications are being refused – and refused correctly -   is the change in the Entrepreneur visa rules on 11 July 2014. Working as a contractor, ie merely filling what is really an employment vacancy presented as self-employment, is no longer allowed under the Entrepreneur visa category. It is a category for gen...