Posts

Indefinite Leave is not ‘indefinite’!

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 dec

OISC Level 1 course, Saturday & Sunday 17th - 18st February 2018, City of London, from a practicing OISC-accredited immigration company.

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, accredited at the highest Level 3. 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.   TRAINING DATES:    17-18 February 2018 2018 (10am - 4pm). To book please visit this page:  http://www.1st4immigration.com/training/classroom-oisc-level-1-course.php Unlike most traditional courses, ours is conducted using plain language and does not simply contain quotes from the Immigration Rules. We inclu

Fast Schengen visa - often without biometrics

Multi Travel Visas, a prominent UK visa company in the City of London,  can assist you with Schengen visas to Europe through France or Germany that allow travel to all of the Schengen area. French visas take only 4 working days for most nationals and as an accredited agency, Multi Travel Visas can provide appointments much earlier than public appointments. You can apply as early as 3 months before date of travel. If your Schengen visa stamp shows "VIS" and was issued after March 2016, it means that biometric data has already been collected. In such case, within a 5 year period, we can simply apply on your behalf without you having to go in person to a visa centre or a consulate. We can submit French Business visa applications any day without appointments. Contact us now: email  info@multitravelvisas.co.uk , we reply on the same day! Website:  www.multitravelvisas.co.uk  with the visa requirements and clients' feedbacks. Phone 0871 472 1468 or 07795471483 or tex

What’s next after Tier 4 visa - why is it easier for employers to sponsor students for a Tier 2 visa?

Last time we covered the levels of salaries that sponsors (employers) have to pay those migrants they are about to sponsor under Tier 2 sponsored visa to work for them in the UK. In fact, Tier 4 migrants, ie students, make very attractive candidates for the employers to sponsor. Why? Here are a few benefits of being a Tier 4 visa holder switching to Tier 2. Benefit #1 : employers don’t have to advertise the job to settled workers before hiring a Tier 4 migrant. They still have to have a genuine vacancy, which you are qualified for, but there is no need to try and find a local worker first for 28 days. Particularly useful for generic non-specialist vacancies.  https://www.gov.uk/uk-visa-sponsorship-employers/job-suitability Benefit #2 :  employers can offer you a New Entrant level of salary. This level is lower and hence, makes them more willing to sponsor you.  They will have to increase your pay at the extension stage but after that, you may become an indispensable member of

Fast UK / British passport renewal! Submission within 2 working days. Renewal, replacement of lost passport, and a 2nd valid passport for frequent business travellers.

Multi Travel Visas, a prominent UK visa company in the City of London, can assist with renewing a UK passport using fast service at the Passport Office in London, with the authorisation from you as per the government requirements. We can usually submit passport applications within  2 working days. We can also help if for some reason you are unable to apply yourself. If 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). 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 if you need to renew not only yours but also/or your child's passport urgently.  Example: British expats living or working in the USA, the Middle East, Asia and Europe.   Passport renewal:  we can renew your adult passport on same-day service or 1 week service, with applications submitted as soon as

One of our most popular posts - Top reasons permanent residence applications are rejected or refused

This time we borrowed this headline from the UK Visas and Immigration:  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apply-for-a-document-certifying-permanent-residence-or-permanent-residence-card-form-eea-pr/top-reasons-pr-applications-are-rejected-by-ukvi We thought it would make a good post for European / EEA citizens and their family members.The page offers a list of reasons, although they are quite generic, such as no signature on the form or no correct fee paid. So, we thought we would expand on the subject and add most common non-admin reasons, ie most common eligibility-related reasons. In descending order: #5 Students being unaware of the health insurance requirement,  which was – unfairly and unusually – applied retrospectively. This rule was added in June 2011, yet it refers to those studying even before that. #4 Believing (wrongly) that this application is based on the last 5 years , ie 5 years immediately prior to the date of application. It would have been

What's next after Tier 4 Student Visa? Options.

If you currently have a UK Tier 4 Student visa, you must be wondering what to do after completing your course. We have a dedicated webpage on our website: http://www.1st4immigration.com/whats-next-after-tier-4.php Please note: below is only a simplified summary. For individual advice please book our Advice Session, which can be conducted over email or face-to-face at our office in the City of London. Option 1: Tier 2 (General) sponsored work visa. You need to be offered employment by a licensed Sponsor (employer) and a Certificate of Sponsorship. There is no need for the employer to advertise your job. Minimum skill level NQF6, minimum salary £20800 or as on the Code of Practice, whichever is higher. More on salaries on our post here: http://1st4immigration-visas.blogspot.ru/2018/01/whats-next-after-tier-4-student-visa.html The outcome is a visa for up to 3 years (can be longer but the rules will be stricter than above). You can only work for your sponsor. Same-day service –

10 Common Mistakes – Financial Requirement for UK Spouse visa - #2 Who has to meet it when both partners are relocating to the UK after living abroad?

This is one of the most common scenarios in our practice, which leads to one of the most common misunderstandings of the Immigration Rules. A typical situation: both husband and wife are residing outside the UK, let’s say in the USA or Australia or the Philippines (all very common in our work).  At some point, they decide to come back to the UK for good. The foreign partner has to apply for a UK Spouse visa, which means meeting the Financial Requirement and £18600 threshold. There is a lot of confusion on what kind of income can be used and who (which spouse) has to have that income. Getting it wrong leads to many visa refusals. If you are trying to use savings or non-employment income (pension, rent from property etc), such income/savings can be originating from anywhere in the world and can be in the name of either spouse or in their joint names. For example, a husband may have savings in the USA and the wife – in the UK. One may have the pension from the UK, the other from Au

Unsure about your UK visa options? Book advice session now!

Dear customers of 1st 4Immigration and Multi Travel Visas, Our advice session is often the 1 st  step in the UK immigration visa process and is useful to assess your eligibility or to advise on the visa requirements. It applies to all types of applications: initial visa, switching, extension, permanent residency and British Citizenship. We have  two options: email and face-to-face  at our office in the City of London. Convenient location - or convenience of email advice at home! We provide email consultation by the end of the next working day. Whether you are approaching the end of your current visa expiry or not, it is never too early to have a consultation. You don’t have to be eligible to apply for a visa now, however, by having professional advice now you can benefit from knowing early on what to expect in the future. Many applicants find they should have started preparation in advance, such as keeping or ordering the bank statements. Self-employed people often find they have to p

Business plan writing service for a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa - from a firm of experienced Immigration Entrepreneurs!

A  Business plan is a compulsory requirement for initial Entrepreneur visa applications.   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 an 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, i.e. 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 a plan o