UK Visas and British Citizenship

"Epic, great news, thanks Sebastian. You, guys, have done a great job, I will definitely use your service again in the future and not hesitate to recommend you on. Many thanks.” These lovely words came from Mikey, who applied for a German Schengen visa through us in London. It is possible to obtain a German Schengen visa within 4 working days from the date of appointment for most nationals, such as South African, Thai, Filipino, Russian, Indian, Chinese and most others. We can also assist with a French and Portuguese Schengen visas. The good thing about applying through German Embassy is there are no biometrics (fingerprints) and there is no need for the applicants to attend a visa centre in London. We do it for you! Plus spouses of UK/EU citizens still do not need to submit tickets and hotel/accommodation booking (unlike when applying to French or Portuguese Embassies). Contact us at Multi Travel Visas: German Schengen visa: http://www.multitravelvisas.co.uk/schen

‘Born British’ means you are a British citizen at birth and can just apply for a UK passport (passport book). Registration means applying to the Home Office immigration department to be accepted as a British citizen, having met the specified requirements by law (ie it can’t be done by everyone), paying a fee (currently main fee £749), submitting the required supporting documents, waiting for a decision and then, if it’s successful, being given an official certificate (Certificate of Registration). Only after this can you apply to the Passport Office for a UK passport (passport book).   We also have a post about children and grandchildren born abroad to British expats: http://1st4immigration-visas.blogspot.pt/2015/10/children-born-outside-uk-to-british.html Another post is on ‘other way around’ situations, when a child is born in the UK to foreign parents: http://1st4immigration-visas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/why-are-some-parents-being-told-your.html Furthermore, o

If you are one of the lucky Brits who are living or working in, say, New Zealand or America, what happens if you have a child born while you are there? You may think “Of course they are British because I am British!” Most Brits don’t think too much about it and just apply for their child’s passport to HM Passport Office (via the process for those residing outside the UK). Here we make your life a bit more complicated and explain what nationality law thinks about it. A child born abroad to a British parent is only British (as ‘born and British at birth’) if one of the parents is ‘British otherwise than by descent’. Examples of 'British otherwise than by descent': born in the UK to a British parent(s), born in the UK before 1983 to parents of any nationality (after this the law stopped automatic acquisition of nationality based on the place of birth, unlike, say, in America). You are also ‘British otherwise than by descent’ if you have naturalised, such as you came from India

“Hi Joanne, my husband received his settlement visa this morning, thank you so much for your assistance and please thank Lucy as well. We are both so happy. ” This came from Natasha, a British citizen who asked us for help to secure a Spouse visa for her husband in Morocco. In this case we used Natasha’s employment in the UK to meet the Financial Requirement, as her salary was meeting the £18,600 threshold required for this type of visa. The next step will be to renew a visa after 2.5 years and then to apply for permanent residency after 5 years. Both steps can be done using same-day service, such as the one we use in Croydon. If you find it difficult to qualify for a Spouse / Partner visa because of the Financial Requirement, you may find this article useful (plus a few similar ones on our blog): http://1st4immigration-visas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/solution-for-margaret-on-how-to-secure.html    and this one of who is exempt from the £18,600 threshold: http://1st4immigration

UK Immigration Rules, visas, switching, visas for spouses and partners, what a great idea for a weekend! Or perhaps you would enjoy learning about British Citizenship or Points-Based System or maybe even EU/EEA applications and European law?  This is 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 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). Weekend 30 - 31 January 2016 (in ti

We had a post under this name in the beginning of 2014 and it proved very popular, so we decided to update it as it is now autumn 2015. Myth 1: “Indefinite Leave is ‘indefinite’”. Reality: it is not! You can lose your Indefinite Leave to Remain if you leave the UK for more than 2 years and don’t come back (unless you have very compassionate circumstances why you couldn’t return). This applies to non-EU nationals and also to the EU/EEA nationals who had achieved status of a permanent resident whether applied for that document or not (it is not compulsory to apply). The only way not to lose your status is to become a British Citizen, then you can leave the UK for as long as you need.    Myth 2: “Everyone needs ILR before applying for British Citizenship”. Reality: even though we often tell this to the clients who are trying to ‘skip’ it and – mistakenly – going straight for naturalisation, the fact is there are exception from this rule. European nationals (including Bulgarian an

We are asked this question almost every day! The purpose of a Spouse/Partner visa is for the foreign partner to reside in the UK with their British/settled spouse/partner. So, are there limits on how many days you (or your British spouse) can spend outside the UK while on this visa? Some think it is 90 days, others – 180 days per year. Both are wrong. The former is the old limit for work visas and the latter is the current limit for the visas under the Points-Based System. Neither applies to spouses and partners. The answer is: there is no specified limit on absences. In other words, there is no minimum number of days, such as “180 per year”. The only rule is that the UK remains your main home and each case has to be assessed on its merit.   How does it work in practice? In our immigration practice we have to assess each case individually. For example, a case where a British spouse was sent, by their UK employer, to work in Hong Kong for 6 months, while remaining an employee for a U

Points - Based System training course: Tiers, Points, Dependants, qualifying for ILR. Visas for entrepreneurs, investors, workers, what can be more exciting? Points-Based System categories can be great fun – if you know how to play by the rules (how to use the Immigration Rules). 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-

"I want to thank Joanne Wilson for the OISC Level 1 training she provided me with, it exceeded my expectations and could not have been any better considering I had a limited amount of knowledge in this subject area, the way in which she presented the course with real life case studies made the training easy to understand, Joanne's training was very thorough and professional she was very approachable and answered all of my questions, not only did she provide me with training she also provided me with timely and helpful advice. For anyone considering the OISC Level 1 training in the future I would definitely recommend 1st 4immigration. Thank you" T his came from Tanya, who attended our OISC Level 1 training course in September 2015.   As a practicing OISC-accredited immigration firm, we at 1 st 4Immigration work on various applications on a daily basis and with great deal of success.   OISC Level 1 course is our most popular course, both online and at a classroom

“ Hi Lucy, I just wanted to say a ...... BIG THANK YOU.....to you for helping me succeed in switching my current visa in to a spouse visa. I can't believe how quick the whole process was. Also want to say thank you to Harpreet who accompanied me to Home Office, he made me feel at ease. I will definitely use 1st 4Immigration in the future and I will recommend them to others. Thank you.” This came from Nalaaluke, a Namibian national whose husband was British. In this case our client already had a partner visa for 2.5 years (30 months) but it was in the 10 year route. We submitted a ‘normal’ FLR(M) application to switch to the 5 year route. Although it means meeting the strict Financial Requirement and English language requirement, it allows to qualify for Indefinite Leave to remain 9ILR, permanent residency), after 5 years instead of 10 years. 5 years have to be on the ‘normal’ spouse visas only. Can’t be combined with the 2.5 visa from the 10 year route, even though both visas a