UK Visas and British Citizenship

As it happens every year, the Home Office is about to increase the immigration fees. Yet this year there is an unexpected twist - the new and higher fees will start from mid-March, not from  6 April, as it happened in the years before, as the new tax year starts. This was announced on 26th February 2016 and the new fees will come in force on 18th March 2016, thus giving the migrants just 3 weeks to react! If you are eligible for a visa or British Citizenship - apply before April to save the money! The current ILR fee is £1,500 postal or £1,900 same-day service. From 18th March it will be £1,875 and £2,375 respectively (and the difference is being increased to £500) and that is per person, ie per each dependant! Spouse/Partner visa now costs £956 entry clearance (outside the UK) or £649/£1,049 in-country postal/same-day. From 18th March it will be £1,195 entry clearance and £811 for in-country switching/extension postal but same-day service in this category w...

“We originally approached 1st 4Immigration 2.5 years ago for the spouse visa outside the UK, and when the time came to extend the spouse visa we knew the best people to help us would be 1st 4Immigration. The team did a great job yet again, nothing has changed with the quality of service and the level of knowledge provided. We were confident throughout the whole application process simply because Joanne and Neil had everything covered. Special thanks to Joanne for getting our documents in order. Special thanks to Neil who was with us in Croydon at the time of the application, we had some interesting conversations! I will be using 1st 4Immigration again when we need to apply for ILR." This came from Yosef, a British citizen whose wife is originally from Syria. In this case our client already had a partner visa for 2.5 years (30 months) and it was time to extend it for further 2.5 years. We made an application on same-day service in Croydon and all went well on the day. ...

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 experience allowed 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 including...

As it happens every year, the Home Office increases the immigration fees from 6 April, as the new tax year starts. If you are eligible for a visa or British Citizenship - apply before April to save the money! The current ILR fee is £1,500 postal or £1,900 same-day service. From 6 th April it will be £1,875 and £2,375 respectively (and the difference is being increased to £500) and that is per person, ie per each dependant! Spouse/Partner visa now costs £956 entry clearance (outside the UK) or £649/£1,049 in-country postal/same-day. From April it will be £1,195 entry clearance and in-country switching/extension postal but same-day service in this category will be the whopping £1,695, that’s higher than the current postal ILR fee! And let’s not forget the NHS surcharge...   Naturalisation fee goes up by £231 to £1,236.     The new fees usually come in force on 6 April, however, there is a long Easter Holiday just a week before that on 25 – 28 March, meaning t...

“(Day of appointment in Croydon) Had to be one of the most stressful   days of my life, but as you know, a positive outcome and I couldn’t be happier. I wanted to thank you all very much for all your efforts. You’ve been very patient with me compiling the documents and were extremely friendly and professional on the day in Croydon and made the situation as good as it could possibly be (I was overwhelmed with nerves!). Thank you so much for everybody who played a part in getting me my residency, and much to my delight, I’ll never need to contact and Immigration Advisor again!” This came from Laura, an Australian citizen, who had a 5 year Ancestral visa and it was time to apply for Laura’s Indefinite Leave. Never say 'never', Laura, there is still British Citizenship application in the future!  The next step will be to apply for British Citizenship, which can usually be done after 12 months.    However, there are also other requirements, such a...

“Having 1st 4Immigration deal with my spouse visa was the best thing I ever did. I had originally started the visa process by myself, but was quickly overwhelmed with all the paperwork I might need to submit, and the order I had to do things in. From the moment I contacted 1st 4Immigration, I knew my money for their services had been well spent. They guided me step by step through the process, telling me any documents they needed from me and in the order they needed them in, making the process easily understandable. My agent always answered any questions I had promptly, and was both friendly and professional. She was exceedingly patient, even if I asked the same questions many times. It was clear that 1st 4Immigration knew exactly what they were doing, having dealt with all types of visa applications before, and they helped move the process along as quickly as possible. They completed any confusing online forms for me, from the application, to my biometrics appointment, to the retu...

Apply now to beat the rush! The Easter Bank Holiday weekend is fast approaching, therefore Now is the best time to beat the rush for applying for your Schengen visa to Europe . Our sister company Multi Travel Visas is an accredited agency and can help you to apply through France, Portugal or Germany which allows travel to all of the Schengen area. Multi Travel Visas can provide appointments sooner than available to the public. We can submit French business visa applications any day without appointment . At the moment agency appointments are available as soon as on the next working day. We can also assist with renewing a UK passport using premium 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 the 3rd working day after receiving your documents; there is no need to wait for an appointment. Our office is located in the City of London, near Monument station, ...