FEES
We recognise that engaging a solicitor often comes at a stressful and difficult time in our clients’ lives. Therefore, we always strive to provide high quality legal advice and representation at competitive and affordable rates.
Telephone Advice
We are able to provide free general advice via telephone: 0207 377 5280. Please be advised that this free advice is subject to the availability of our solicitor and only for a time not exceeding 5 minutes. We reserve our right to terminate the free advice session at any time, if necessary. Please be advised that the free advice is given without any liability for any loss caused by inaccuracy.
If your case involves complex issues, third parties, issues concerning complex areas of the law, then you are advised to make an appointment via telephone: 0207 377 5280.
Consultations at our office
An initial consultation concerning your case can be arranged at a fixed fee. We pride ourselves in giving honest and practical advice to our clients. Should you choose to instruct us and we accept your case, then the consultation fee will be discounted from the total fee agreed.
If you instruct us to work on your case, the work will be conducted on a fixed fee basis, with fees agreed in advance and no hourly rates. We accept half the total agreed fee upon taking instructions and the remaining fee to be paid upon completion of your case.
If you do not wish to instruct us after your initial consultation, you will be free to take action yourself and incur no further legal costs.
Initial Consultation
At the initial consultation, we will offer the following service to you:
- Identify the legal issues of your case;
- Advise you on the strengths and weaknesses of your case;
- Advise you on possible solutions;
- Advice on any evidence to provide (if required).
Documents Checking Service
If you are considering submitting an application by yourself whether it is to the Home Office, First-tier Tribunal, Family courts, or any other official on your own without being represented by a legal representative, it is worth showing your applications to a legal representative who can advise you on the documents. Supporting documents form an integral role in applications, so it is important to provide the right documents. We provide a one-off assessment of the case documents. Please call our office today at 0207 377 5280 to find out more about this service.
Free Advice Evenings
As part of our commitment to servicing the community, we offer two evenings a week, where we provide free advice to clients (appointment and drop-in sessions available). We are happy to discuss potential cases on a no-obligation basis at a consultation meeting.
The days and times are:
Tuesdays: 4.30pm – 6pm
Thursdays: 4.30pm – 6pm
The prices below do not include the price of any additional work completed for clients outside of the scope of our initial instructions, should this be necessary.
Initial Consultation (for any case): £100 (no VAT applicable)
Hourly rate charge for Solicitor (for any case): £240
Starting fixed fees for Immigration matters (on a per person basis):
Types of Application/Claim (Excluding Appeals & Advocacy)
Level 1:
Travel Documents
Replacement Residence Permits (BRP, NTL)
Cost:
£750 (no VAT applicable)
Level 2:
Visit Visa
Family Reunion
EEA/EU residence and permanent residence
Student Visas
£1200 (no VAT applicable)
Level 3:
Spouse, partner, civil or unmarried partners of non-EU nationals
Parent Route applications
Naturalisation/Citizenship
Cost:
£2500(no VAT applicable)
Level 4:
Long residence in the UK
Cost:
£2500 (no VAT applicable)
Level 5:
Adult Dependent Relatives
Immigration Bail
Cost:
£2500(no VAT applicable)
Level 6:
All other applications including –(excluding court fees and Counsel’s fees)
Asylum Claims
Human rights applications
Deportation
Points Based System applications
Judicial Review (excluding court fees and Counsel’s fees)
Cost:
£2500(no VAT applicable)
Immigration Appeals
Completing and submitting an appeal form and grounds
Cost:
£750(no VAT applicable)
Completing and submitting an application for Administrative Review
Cost:
£750(no VAT applicable)
All Appeals – preparation of case (excluding advocacy)
Cost:
£2000(no VAT applicable)
The services and potential timescalesfor Immigration matters are as follows (the below is a non-exhaustive list):
- discussing your circumstances in detail and confirming whether this is the most appropriate application for you to make and what other options may be available to you;
- giving you advice about the requirements of the Immigration Rules and whether you meet the criteria;
- if you do not fulfil certain criteria, whether this can be overcome and how, which on average takes 6 hours;
- considering the supporting evidence you have provided, which may take between 4 to 5 hours;
- helping you obtain further evidence (such as medical records and bank statements) where necessary;
- preparing your application and submitting it on your behalf, which we anticipate will take approximately 5 hours; and
- giving you advice about the outcome of the application and any further steps you need to take.
Please note that the number of hours required for a particular matter depends upon the number of documents submitted or required, whether they need to be translated, whether any documents are missing and how long it will take to obtain the missing documents. In every case, whilst the Home Office processing times are the standard times as published, they are only an estimate, and so we can only provide you with an indication as to timescales. Sometimes the Home Office can take much longer than the published processing times.
Please note that Counsel can be instructed upon request for any of the above matters, if applicable. Counsel’s fees would then need to be negotiated on an individual basis.
Disbursements: All disbursements will need to be paid for separately in addition to the fees for our services. Examples of disbursements include home office/visa application fees, court application fees, postage, interpreting/translation services, medical reports fees, expert report fees, mileage/travel expenses etc. This is not an exhaustive list and is meant purely as a guide. Where disbursements arise directly from our office, no VAT will be applicable on those disbursements. However, disbursements concerning third parties, e.g. expert report fees, may attract VAT, the current rate of which is 20%.
Complaints Procedure
We aim to offer all our clients an effective and professional service. However, we recognise that circumstances may arise in which you are dissatisfied with the work we have done for you. If you are unhappy with any aspects of the service you receive from our organization, please inform us and we will take the appropriate action in accordance with our complaints procedure.
We will respond positively and quickly to your complaints and suggestions and it will not affect the service you’re receiving or wish to receive. We will also make changes to our practice when appropriate.
Suggestions and feedback about our service are always welcome.
How to make a Complaint
Please contact us at the first instance and we will try to sort out any issues as quickly as possible.
When we receive a complaint we aim to:
- Take the complaint seriously and look into it as quickly as possible.
- Treat the individual with respect and inform them of their rights.
- Investigate their complaint thoroughly and explain the reason behind our decision.
- Respond in writing within the specific time we advise you we will aim to respond within (no longer than 6 weeks maximum).
- If necessary, apologise when we have got it wrong.
- Take action to put things right.
The Legal Ombudsman and Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case.
Legal Ombudsman
Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman is an independent ombudsman scheme that resolves complaints about lawyers. It can be contacted at PO Box 6806 Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ or telephone 0300 555 0333 or via
enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
The Legal Ombudsman accepts complaints from individuals and small businesses, charities or associations. Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint. It will not normally consider complaints that are more than six years old, or where it has been three years since the complainant ought to have been aware of the problem.
Solicitors Regulation Authority
If you have concerns about our behaviour, such as dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic then you can raise your concerns with our regulators, the Solicitors Regulation Authority at http://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page