UK Visas and British Citizenship

“I'm so happy! Thank you ever so much, you don't know how much I appreciate your help!” Greta, Romanian national, applied for British Citizenship based on being self-employed in the UK for at least 6 years.   T his application was based on the client being self-employed in the UK since before Romania joined the EU. However, we could only count time spent in the UK under the European Regulations and only since 1 January 2007 when Bulgaria and Romania joined the European Union. We provided evidence of self-employment in the UK for the last 6 years.   The applicant also has a daughter who was born in the UK. The daughter was entitled to be registered as a British citizen, so we submitted both applications together, one for the mother and the other for the daughter. Both applicants did not have to apply for a formal ‘permanent residency stamp’ and instead we advised to apply straight for British Citizenship for both.   Applications were approved by the UKBA after ju

Visitors can come to the UK for purposes of tourism, visiting friends, business visits and similar. Visitors can stay for maximum 6 months in each 12 months . Not 6 months from each entry to the UK. Even if your visitor visa is for 5 or 10 years you can still stay for maximum 180 days in each of those years. How to count ‘6 months in 12 months’? A 12 months period starts from ‘now’, date in question or date of entry etc and you need to count backwards (not a calendar year). If you stayed in the UK for the whole 6 months then you have to stay away for the whole 6 months. If you come and go several times during a year then the total must be 180 days cumulatively in the last 12 months. Visitor rules are the same for all. Visitor visa rules aren’t. Visitor rules include: purpose of visits, no right to work, no right to use the NHS, no right to use the public funds (benefits), no right to switch to more serious visas inside the UK, ie no right to switch to a Spouse

Civil Partnership is a registered partnership between the 2 people of the same gender, such as 2 men or 2 women. Civil partnership can be registered at a Register Office and partners have a certificate, similar to a marriage certificate. For the purpose of visas civil partners have the same rights as spouses, ie civil partners have the same rights as a husband and wife do. If you are a man and a woman but not married then you would be Unmarried Partners, providing you have lived together for at least 2 years in a relationship like a marriage. In other words, you have been married in all but name for at least 2 years. Most importantly, you can prove it, such as providing the documents showing your cohabitation: utility bills, tenancy agreements, bank statements, official letters and so on. If you are 2 men or 2 women but have not registered a civil partnership then you would be Same-sex Partners, which is the same category as for unmarried partners and have the same condit

If you are looking for help with your UK visa application you'd generally find these 2 types of professionals.  1) Solicitors, ie lawyers in a traditional meaning on the profession. They have formal legal training and are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and also have a listing on the Law Society website.  2) Immigration advisers, like myself and others at our company, who are not solicitors in the traditional meaning of the profession but who are nonetheless fit to advise people on the Immigration Rules and who are regulated by The Office of Immigration Services Commissioner ( OISC).  What do we have in common?  We both can advise on the immigration law, we are both appropriately regulated (just by the different regulators) , both have to abide a Code of Practice, have professional insurance, both face penalties and being struck-off for acting against the regulations  etc. In fact, most OISC rules are written to be very similar of those of the

No appointments required!  Multi Travel Visas  can submit applications on next working day after receiving your documents, to the Passport Office in London, with authorisation from you as per the government requirements. For an extra charge we can submit on the same day if we receive your documents before 12pm, see below. No need to wait for an appointment, which can be weeks away and no need to travel to a passport office. We offer practical help when you need a new passport very quickly but cannot get an appointment soon enough. For example, 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 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). Plus we check the documents, help complete the form and advise on requirements. FEES: Official f

Naturalisation is a path to Citizenship. And Citizenship is one of the types of British nationality. We'll start from the one with the broadest meaning -Nationality. 1) British nationality. It consists of British Citizenship, which is the most common type. This is what people mean when they say "I want to apply for a British passport".  A British Citizen has all the rights to live in the UK, to have a British passport etc.  There are other types of British nationality, usually based on Britain's past as a British Empire. There are British Overseas Citizens, British Citizens (Overseas), British Subjects and British Protected Persons. These are NOT British citizens and do not have a right to live in the UK. Most are subject to the immigration control in the same way as Australian, American or Chinese nationals. Some can register to become British Citizens and get a 'proper' British passport.  2) British Citizenship. As above, it is the most com

It is a common question from the British citizens working abroad. They are now coming back to the UK, they met their partner while abroad and would like him/her to relocate to the UK in the future. 1) Unmarried Partner visa: this is when you have lived together, as a couple, for at least 2 years, in any country or in several countries. This is for people who have lived together for at least 2 years in a relationship like a married couple but without a marriage certificate. It does NOT cover a situation where you have been dating for a while or seeing each other as often as possible, it only applies when you have lived together for at least 2 years.    If you do not meet this requirement - and do not wish to get married yet - then you may consider other categories, such as a Student visa or Working Holiday, wit until you have these 2 years of living together and then apply as Unmarried Partners. Visa would be for 2.5 years + 3 months and allows to work. Then extension for a

 A very common situation: a British spouse lived with his/her non-British spouse in Australia/South Afruca/Brazil/Russia etc and they now both want to return to the UK together, so how to meet the Financial Requirement of £18,600? 1)       Through the British partner's work, Option 1. Only Sponsor’s work will be counted at this stage. So, a British partner needs to come to the UK and get a job in the UK paying minimum £18,600 per year before tax. Doing anything, does not matter, just salary matters. Then he/she has to work for 6 months for that employer, then take 6 months payslips (or weekly but covering 6 months), then find a 'lowest payslip' and multiply by 12 to get an annual figure (or by 52 if paid weekly). If you get the result of £18,600 or more then a non-UK partner can apply for a visa, even if you have only worked for 6 months for that company and actually earned a half of £18,600. In this scenario a UK spouse has to come to the UK first, then a non-UK

For our colleagues Immigration Advisers and Solicitors: Our online training course is accepted by The OISC and SRA, CPD ref number EJE/14IM. British Citizenship - a Dream for Many! 7 hours CPD credit. The course includes criminality changes from 13 December 2012 and rules for EEA nationals including Bulgarian / Romanian (A2) whose first applications can be submitted in 2013.   Download from our website, study in your own time on any computer, iPad or iPhone, complete the test and we will award your CPD hours and send you a certificate. Visit website now:    http://www.1st4immigration.com/training/british-citizenship-a-dream-for-many-cpd.php   The course is offered by our company, 1 st 4Immigration Ltd, which is a practising immigration company, registered by The OISC at a highly respectable Level 2, based at the Royal Mint in Central London. We’ve had 100% success rate in 2012! 1 st 4Immigration Ltd, OISC no F200800152, SRA ref EJE/14IM. 4 R

It is useful if you need to travel abroad and cannot be without your passport. But the main benefit in our opinion is, although more expensive, it allows the applicant to know result right on the day, including if there are any problems, rather than waiting for 3-4 months postal service and then possibly being told there is a problem or even that application has been refused. We at 1st 4Immigration are authorised by The UK Border Agency to submit clients' visa applications using this service in Croydon, south London. The slots (appointments) we use are separate from the ones offerred to the general public, our cases are submitted to a separate Team who deals with cases from representatives. We can submit the following visa applications every week but need to give the Home Office details of an individual client in advance. Same-day service is available for applications: - Indefinite Leave to Remain for those holding Tier 1 General, Tier 2 General, Work Permit, Ancestral vi