Private wealth

Immigration

Bespoke solutions for High Net Worth individuals.

In today’s world in which people and their business affairs are increasingly international, immigration plays a critical role. However, the legal framework governing global mobility is constantly changing and, with Brexit adding another layer of complexity, it is becoming an ever more challenging field for individuals and organisations to navigate.

Whether you are a wealthy individual looking to move with your family, an entrepreneur choosing to expand your business, or an established organisation transferring employees from overseas, you need expert legal advisers who can provide creative, strategic guidance to make this process as smooth as possible.

Our Immigration team offers a personal and tailored service to private clients and businesses. We invest time in gaining a full understanding of your unique circumstances and priorities, which allows us to determine the route which best fits your requirements. We can then guide you practically and pragmatically through the immigration process, also advising on any relevant tax planning implications.

For high net worth individuals and their families making the decision to relocate, solutions may involve the Innovator, Start-up or Investment visa routes, student or working visas, or an application on the basis of family relationships. If you have already lived in the UK for a time, our team can also advise on applications for permanent residence, indefinite leave to remain and citizenship.

We also provide innovative advice to businesses looking to recruit nationals from abroad or to transfer employees to the UK from an overseas office. This may include obtaining and managing a sponsorship licence for an employer, submitting applications for Tier 2 visas for sponsored employees under the points based system, arranging Tier 5 visas for temporary workers, or obtaining sole representative visas for companies sending their first employee to the UK to grow the business.

Please visit our price & service information page for more information regarding these services.

Tier 1 visa applications

Wealthier individuals can use the Tier 1 Investor visa route to come to the UK. By investing a minimum of £2m in UK trading companies, successful applicants can live, work and study in the UK. The rules governing these visas have been subject to recent revisions, so we advise applicants in navigating a course through the latest changes. We also combine this advice with careful estate planning, to minimise the exposure to UK taxes once the applicant is in the UK.

Other recent changes have ended the Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa category, replacing it with new Innovator or Start-up visas. These visas are nascent concepts, so it is important that careful advice is sought to ensure a successful application.

Tier 2 visa applications

Where a UK business holds a sponsor licence, it can employ overseas workers in the UK to carry out specific skilled roles. We advise employers on obtaining the relevant ‘certificate of sponsorship’ required for each visa holder and guide them and their future employees through the application process. Where necessary, this involves advising on compliance with the ‘resident labour market test’, whereby a role must first be offered to a worker from the UK or the EU, unless an exception applies. We also advise on ‘intra-company transfer’ visas, where employees of an overseas business come to work for a group company in the UK. These applications commonly involve contemporaneous applications from family members accompanying the main visa holder to the UK.

Sponsor licence applications

Where UK businesses want to employ nationals from outside the European Economic Area and Switzerland, they are likely to need a sponsor licence to be able to do so. To be successful in applying for the licence, an employer must be able to show that it is a genuine and legitimate organisation, that it poses no risk to immigration control, and that it has robust systems in place to be able to comply with its sponsorship duties. We regularly advise employers on these applications, ensuring that they have the correct supporting documentation in place, that they appoint the relevant key personnel required for the licence, and that they have the necessary monitoring and record-keeping systems in place to meet their sponsor requirements.