UK Visas and British Citizenship

“My first contact with the 1 st 4Immigration team was a couple of years ago when I was looking for some advice on how to get my British Citizenship. They have a special fee just for advice so I met with them and got all my questions answered instead of losing my time - and money. Because the law changed whilst I was waiting to apply I had to get my ILR first. 1 st 4Immigration did the whole process, making it so easy for me. Everything was so smooth that it felt a big relief not having to go through all the forms and documents by myself. They have experience so they have all the answers I was looking for when I wasn't sure about documents. They were just brilliant. I was worried that my passport wouldn't come back in time for a trip I had planned but as they had assured me, it did. I'm definitely using them again when the time comes for my British Citizenship. And special thanks to Neil who was always so positive and lovely to talk to. It's been a pleasure going thro

“Thank you so much for this amazing news. And thanks to your entire team for your help with this process. I am incredibly relieved to get this news and really can't thank you all enough for your assistance in preparing my application. I look forward to seeing the card (Biometric Residence Permit) when it arrives.” This came from Mr L, an American citizen, who asked us to help with his permanent residence application under the EEA law. Our client is married to a Lithuanian citizen who has been exercising EU Treaty rights in the UK for 5 years while they were both residing here. We submitted an application for a Permanent Residence Card as a family member of an EEA citizen and after some wait (as it is often the case with EEA applications) it has been approved this week! The Biometric Residence Permit is a 'visa card' which is valid for 10 years. The next step would be applying for British Citizenship, although it is voluntary. For an individual advice or to make your a

Join us for this very informative and practical 2-day course at our office in the City of London!   UK Immigration Rules, visas, switching, visas for spouses and partners, what a great idea! O r perhaps you would enjoy learning about British Citizenship or Points-Based System, EU/EEA applications and European law?   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:    24-25th June 2016 Our tutors are our very own OISC-accredited practicing immigration advisers who handle the real cases during the week. Unlike most traditional courses, ours is conducted using plain language and does not simply contain quotes from the Immigration Rules.

We previously posted some useful information for spouses and partners of UK citizens about English language tests. This post is for everyone who needs to meet the English language requirement when applying for a UK visa (including Points-Based System migrants). As you may know, besides taking an approved English language test, you can also use a degree which was taught in English. For example, a Bachelor degree from a UK university – nice and easy. You can use it when applying for a UK Spouse visa, UK Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa, Tier 2 visa and so on. In other words, having a UK degree means there is no need to take a test. Now, what to do if you hold an overseas degree, ie a degree from a university outside the UK but it was taught in English? Until approx mid-March 2016 we could use a Points-Based System calculator on the UKVI website and we could use it for both Tier 1 / 2 visas and Spouse/Partner/Fiancé visas. A Bachelor degree from South Africa, India or Nigeria as well a

The current requirement of B1 level at the permanent residency stage remains unchanged, at least for now.     The question is what to do if you used a disapproved English test when applying for your 1 st Spouse / Partner visa, then didn’t need to use anything for your extension, and are going to apply for Indefinite Leave, say, in 2017-2018?     Again, the devil is in detail, detail of the wording of the Immigration Rules. Currently, the wording implies that you’d need to have one of the currently approved tests (IELTS or one from Trinity College) and that test must have been taken no earlier than 2 years ago. For most it does mean taking another test or taking the same test again.        More can be found on the Rules here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-koll     For an individual advice or to make an application please contact us: info@1st4immigration.com or visit www.1st4immigration.com If you are an Immigr

If you are going to apply for your extension from October 2016 onwards you would need to demonstrate level A2   and not level A1.    The rules for a Spouse / Partner extension, in terms of English language, are going to change in October 2016. For now, the level is A1 (most basic one) for both initial visa and for extension. However, the government thought it would be a good idea to demand a higher, A2 level, when it comes to extensions. The current requirement of B1 level at the permanent residency stage remains unchanged.        So, A1 when you apply for the 1 st visa, then A2 for extension and B1 for permanent residency. A1 is the most basic one, B1 is higher of these three and C2 is the highest altogether (fortunately, not required for now!)   What to do if you used a disapproved test when you applied for the 1 st visa and are due for extension in October or later? It depends on the wording of the new rules and it is possible you’d need to take a test again, this ti

When it comes to the English language requirement for a spouse, partner or fiancé(e) of a UK citizen, it feels like it changes all the time –and it does! We also have to mention here that these rules do not apply to spouses of European (non-UK) citizens at all, only to spouses and partners of UK citizens applying for a settlement visa under the UK law.   Out of the old list of about 10 acceptable English tests only 2 continue to be “approved” from 15 November 2015. To make it more complicated, this short list of 2 tests was actually introduced from April 2015 but the old tests were still accepted until 15 November 2015. The only 2 remaining tests are IELTS and one by Trinity College. These are the only tests which are no acceptable if you are applying for a Spouse / Partner / Fiance(e) visa for the first time, in the UK or outside the UK, even if you had used a different test for a different visa before that (such as if you used a different test for a Tier 2 visa and are no

“I just wanted to thank you for the excellent work done by your team. Our application went through easily and we got our decision. I was really impressed with the way you handled us from the beginning till the end. Thanks once again, I’ll definitely be recommending you guys to friends and family.” This came from Temabor, a British citizen whose spouse is from Nigeria. We submitted a Spouse application using same-day service in Croydon and it all went well on the day! The result is a Spouse visa for 2.5 years. Same-day service may be more expensive but it has a benefit of getting a decision on the day, without having to spend weeks or even months worrying how your application is going and whether there are any problems. Furthermore, since the decision is made on the day, the original   passports are also returned on the day. Here we used income from employment to meet the Financial Requirement (£18,600). If you would like to read about the rules on employment, it is under Appe

“Hi,  my name is Ana Paula, I am from Brazil. Have been married to a British citizen for nearly 10 years but went to Brazil in 2011 because of my family.   We ended up staying there until 2013. In April 2013 my husband and I were planning to return to UK for good and suddenly the immigration law in the UK was changed. I was not allowed to continue to stay in the UK as my old spouse visa expired years before. I had to stay as a tourist for 6 months and I ended up leaving the country and   my lovely husband ! Was so sad and no idea what to do! I left my husband in the UK and was back alone to Brazil, so we were looking for a lawyer in UK who can help us to sort my case, so we found 1 st 4Immigration company in London! They started the process with my case and thank god 1 st 4Immigration company helped with my case. I now have my visa! They very good and professional lawyers. If anybody needs help to get a Spouse visa or other visa please contact them ! They are such a good company to

“Thank you all for all your help with this process. Good work!! That's one thing off the mind now!! I dealt with different team members of 1 ST 4Immigration during my ILR process (different from the team during the previous visa application), everyone was very helpful and quick with their responses. The answers were very clear, precise and were in line with the latest immigration rules and regulations. I did not have to worry too much about the process. I was guided and helped at each step of the application. If I need 1 St 4 immigration for any of the services in future that they provide, I will not hesitate. Thanks to the entire team to help me with my ILR.”    This came from Vish, an Indian citizen, who spent 5 years on Tier 2 and later Tier 1 (General) visas in the UK and it was time to apply for   Indefinite Leave. The “one thing” off the mind Vish is referring to is a very big thing of obtaining permanent residency – ILR. This is indeed a big box to tick! Vish was using