Immigration Fees

Our Fees

We believe in ensuring quality in our services and aim to ensure that the funding of your case is cost-efficient and entirely transparent.  We thrive in providing you with dedication to your case but we understand that the costs of your case will be important to you and to those involved in your case. It is important that you are fully aware of how much you will need to pay.  

We will always agree costs in advance of any particular case once we have had an opportunity to assess the issues and the level of work and assistance required.  We will take time to agree the costs with you by understanding you, your case and the work involved.  However, in order to provide a good estimate of the sort of level of fee you will pay (whether that be an agreed fee or a range of the   costs involved in a typical case) if you were to instruct us, we have set out on our website a breakdown of our standard charges for this type of work.  There may be other costs that you would need to pay over and above our fees and we aim to provide information of those in addition.  Our aim is to enable you to have a good understanding of what it may cost you overall.  

Regrettably, we are not a Legal Aid provider and cannot provide services under Legal Aid.

Set out below is service and cost information for our private work. 

Fee Arrangements

We offer only fixed fee options for the application process. This means that, provided that there are no unforeseen complications or significant changes to your instructions, we will charge a fixed fee for your case, even if the work on your application takes longer than anticipated.  We charge a fixed fee for the whole case or, if the case will be dealt with in stages, a fixed fee for each stage.

Value Added Tax (VAT)

If you are liable to pay VAT, 20% will be added to our fees and some expenses or disbursements. This applies if your usual place of residence is the UK, including if you had leave to remain in the UK but overstayed. If you are not a resident in the UK, or you entered the country without permission or as an asylum seeker and do not yet have leave to remain, you are not normally liable to pay VAT. 

We provide assistance with immigration matters by way of fixed fees. All fixed fees attract VAT of 20%**.

* denotes that the fees below do not include any costs incurred for Counsel or Experts.
** If the client is abroad, VAT is not applicable.

Disbursements
Generally speaking, you should anticipate to pay Home Office fees (available here). If there are any other disbursements, we will inform you at the earliest opportunity.

Citizenship and Nationality – Naturalisation and Registration

At the outset of any case, we offer a free telephone consultation, where we will answer your initial questions and provide a summary assessment of the work needed to complete your case.

It is likely that we cannot determine your eligibility to apply to become British during that free consultation and so the next step would be to give more detailed initial advice on eligibility.  If you decide to instruct us, we will request a payment on account of the legal costs for stage one.

Stage One – Initial Advice on Eligibility

We offer a fixed fee for our initial advice on eligibility to apply to become British.

The fixed fee is £250.00 (£300 if VAT of 20% equalling £50 is applicable).

Expenses and disbursements not included in the fee quoted

• Interpreter’s fees – usually £25 plus VAT @ 20% (£5) (total fee £30) per hour depending on the language required and availability

Services included in the fee

• Face to face meeting with you (appointments by phone or video call are also available)
• Taking your instructions and considering relevant documents
• Advising on eligibility and the prospects of success
• If you do not fulfil certain criteria, advising whether this can be overcome and how
• confirming whether this is the most appropriate application for you to make and taking into consideration what other options may be available to you
• Providing a written advice note following the meeting to summarise the advice given

Key stages and typical timeframes

This initial advice is provided on the same day during the appointment.  We aim to provide a written note to summarise the advice given within 7 working days of the appointment. 

Services Not Included in the fees quoted

This concludes step one and no further work is included in the fee for this stage.

If you wish to proceed further to the application stage (and there is no commitment or obligation to continue to use our services), the fees are set out below.

Stage Two – Application

Basis of our fees

We charge an agreed fixed fee of between £600 plus VAT of 20% (£120, total fee £720) to £1,500 plus VAT of 20% (£300, total fee £1,800). 

The fee depends on the level of advisor and the complexity of the case.

The costs are based on the time being spent on your case.  If you can provide sufficient evidence during stage one and can clearly meet the applicable Immigration Rules, the cost is likely to be at the lower end of this range.

If you decide to instruct us, we will request a payment on account of the legal costs for stage two before commencing work.

Expenses and Disbursements not included in the fee quoted:

Expenses and disbursements not included in the fees quoted above include:

• Interpreters fees at £25 plus VAT @ 20% (£5) (total fee £30) per hour. This kind of application will normally require between 2-3 hours with an interpreter, depending on the complexity of your case.
• Translation of documents at £25 plus VAT @ 20% (£5) (total fee £30) per hour. It is not possible to predict the cost of these as this varies according to the particular circumstances.
• Independent expert reports e.g. medical experts. These are not required in many cases: we would let you know as soon as possible if we deem an expert report as necessary.  It is not possible to predict the cost of these as this varies according to the particular circumstances.
• If there is an interview off site and we are required to attend, there will be additional disbursements in respect of our mileage/travel expenses based upon a rate of £0.45 per mile or second class public transport (plus VAT @ 20%)
• Government fees for naturalisation are currently £1,330 (no VAT)

Services included in the fee:

• Attendance with you, taking instructions, discussing your case and circumstances in detail
• considering your documents and analysing other available evidence to support your application
• where necessary, helping you obtain further evidence (such as medical records and bank statements), including taking statements of any witnesses
• preparing and submitting your application, including representations to the Home Office
• where you have an attendance at a Home Office interview, we will give you clear advice about that interview and what to expect
• providing you with advice about the outcome of the application and any further steps you can take
• providing you with regular updates on progress

Key stages

The key stages of the application process are:

• an initial detailed attendance with you to take full instructions.  This usually takes around 1 to 2 hours
• considering the evidence and analysing documents. This usually takes around 2 to 3 hours
• preparing your application and booking a UKVCAS appointment.  This usually takes anywhere between 3 to 4 hours and involves us preparing your representations and bundle of documents to submit as part of your application
• a further attendance with you to take witness statements which is crucial to the case as this is considered your evidence and going through your application with you. This usually takes anywhere between 2 to 4 hours

The number of hours depends on the number of documents, whether they need to be translated, whether anything is missing and how long it will take to obtain the missing documents.

Typical Timeframes

On average, this type of work takes between 8  to 13 hours for us to complete but this time will be split across a number of weeks. 

We will normally be able to submit most applications within 4 to 8 weeks of you instructing us, but the exact number of time it will take depends on the circumstances of your case.  Influencing factors to consider could include:

• the amount of supporting evidence that we need to consider
• which language(s) you speak
• whether you are applying with other dependants
• whether all documentation is ready
• the availability of you and any other relevant individuals

We cannot guarantee how long the Home Office will take to process your application.  

The Home Office state that this type of application can take up to 6 months to be decided.  However in our experience some cases take far less time and some longer, depending on the circumstances of the applicant.

Services not included in the fee quoted

• Where you have an attendance at a Home Office interview, we will not attend that interview as part of the fee.  It is not necessary for you to be represented at the interview but you may wish to ask us to attend. Should the Home Office ask you to attend an interview, we will discuss the possibility of us attending with you at the appropriate time. This will be chargeable separately at a fixed rate of £1,500 (plus VAT of 20% equalling £300, total £1,800).
• If the Home Office refuse your application, the cost of challenging a decision if the application is refused is not included in the fee quoted above. 
• We will provide some initial advice and assistance in relation to any options as to reconsideration and/or Judicial review but we will not be able to undertake the work in relation to that process.   Should you wish to instruct us on this we can provide you with the relevant cost and service information if it arises.

Challenging a Negative Decision

There is no right of appeal but may be possible to request a review of the decision or consider an application for Judicial Review.

Basis of our fees

This work would be charged at hourly rates of between £150 (plus VAT @ 20% (£  )(total £  ) to £300 (plus VAT @ 20% (£  )(total £  ).

The exact number of hours it will take will depend on the circumstances in your case. Relevant factors could include:

• The level of advisor needed.  Ordinarily, we would need to use the services of a more senior solicitor
• the complexity of the case
• the amount of supporting evidence that we would need to consider
• whether there are multiple applicants such as where there is more than one member of a family group

The number of hours it will take to deal with your case can vary greatly.  We will only be able to provide an estimate of hours once we have the details of your case. 

Services included in the fee quoted

• advising on the options available
• if this involves a reconsideration, preparing and submitting a request for a review
• if it involves judicial review, issuing a letter of claim under the Pre Action Protocol, and, where advised, preparing an application for permission for Judicial Review
• acting as legal representative in the case
• drafting relevant documents for the court and/or liaising with counsel on the same
• attending all hearings
• advising on progress
• advising on the outcome

Expenses and Disbursements not included in the fee quoted

Expenses anddisbursements could include:

• fees payable to a barrister or other advocate (counsel) – it is not possible to confirm the amount of counsel fees, but it will likely to be in the region of £1,000 plus VAT of 20%, total £1,200 to £2,000 plus VAT of 20%, total £2,400.
• Home Office fees, likely to be £372 for a Nationality Review. VAT is not applicable. A full list of Home Office fees can be found here.
• Court Fees for a Judicial Review, which is £154 for the initial application and £770 for the final hearing. VAT is not applicable.
• Interpreters fees at £25 plus VAT @ 20% (£5) (total fee £30) per hour.
• Translation of documents at £25 plus VAT @ 20% (£5) (total fee £30) per hour. It is not possible to predict the cost of these as this varies according to the particular circumstances.
• Independent expert reports e.g. medical experts. It is not possible to predict the cost of these as this varies according to the particular circumstances.
• If we need to travel to court, there will be additional disbursements in respect of our mileage/travel expenses based upon a rate of £0.45 per mile or second class public transport (plus VAT of 20%)

Key stages

The key stages of the application process will depend on the particular circumstances of the case but may include:

• initial detailed attendance with you to take full instructions
• legal review and analysis
• drafting and submission of representations
• further attendance with you and others to take witness statements
• handling of your case to reach an outcome

The time taken at each key stage and the typical timeframes for each are difficult to estimate without knowing the circumstances or complexity of the particular case.

Typical Timeframes

The timeframe for handling this type of case can vary greatly and so it is extremely difficult to provide an estimate without knowing what the case involves.  We would always aim to provide an estimate on specific cases and will always ensure this is confirmed in advance of starting work.

Whilst we cannot estimate the overall timeframes without knowing what the case involves, we would say that, in our experience, we would expect cases to take [set out any known estimates if known].

We cannot provide a timescale of when hearings will take place, as this depends on the court listings.

Services not included in the fee quoted

The fee will not include any advice or assistance on any follow up appeal or other action should the challenge be unsuccessful.  We can discuss any options and fees for those next steps if and when appropriate.    

Who provides our immigration services?

All immigration work is conducted by members of our Immigration Team, shown below:

Solicitor

Kafeel Shafique

Kafeel has worked in immigration, asylum and human rights since the age of 18, starting off as a volunteer. During that time, Kafeel has gained a wealth of experience dealing with all types of immigration and asylum work. He has dealt with submitting various Immigration applications such as: Spousal applications, further leave to remain, Naturalisation, EU Settlement Scheme applications, Right of Abode, Ancestry visas, Tier 1 visas, Tier 2 visas, Indefinite Leave to Remain, EEA applications, Entry Clearance applications, Tier 4 applications, obtaining travel documents, Asylum applications, Judicial Review and Oral renewals, FTT appeals and permission appeals to Upper Tribunal and Court of Appeal, Out of Hours injunction in order to stay removal directions, revocation of deportation orders, bail applications and ECHR applications. He takes instructions for commercial immigration cases for the Start Up visas, Intra-Company Transfer visas, Sponsorship Licenses, Sole Representative of Overseas Business visas and Skilled Worker visas. Kafeel has an international client base, undertaking work for clients in the UK, Asia, Middle East and Africa. He has also taken instructions from high profile premier league footballers, professional cricketers both domestic and international and professional boxers. Kafeel plays amateur men’s cricket and has an interest in football and boxing.

email:kshafique@clklegal.co.uk

The work is supervised by John King, who is a Director.