Spouse Visa Lawyer UK
There are a lot of Spouse Visa Lawyers to choose from in the UK. How do you know that you are choosing the best?
In this blog, our UK Immigration Lawyers provide a guide on what to look out for when selecting your Spouse Visa Solicitor.
UK Online and London-Based Family Visa Solicitors
For efficient Spouse Visa advice call London-based OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
Appointments are available for phone, Zoom or Skype consultations or at our offices in London.
Our lawyers speak Arabic, Armenian, Farsi, French/Mauritian Creole, Spanish, Tamil Tagalog/Ilonggo, Urdu/Punjabi.
How to choose a Spouse Visa Lawyer UK?
If you are googling ‘ Spouse Visa Lawyers in the UK’ you will be getting pages of websites of law firms all professing expertise and promising to secure a Family Visa for you or your loved one.
Here are some tips on making your choice:
- Your solicitors don’t need to be in your home country or the English town where your husband or wife lives
- The lawyers should specialise in immigration law and Family Visas
- A Spouse Visa Lawyer should explain what they are likely to charge before you commit to their instruction
- Don’t choose an Immigration Attorney who promises to get you a visa – no lawyer can do that
- Make sure you feel you can trust your Immigration Lawyers to do a good job for you
Let's go through those tips and explain our thinking behind them.
Your solicitors don’t need to be in your home country or the English town where your husband or wife lives.
You may think it will be easier to speak to an Immigration Lawyer in your home country but they may not have substantial experience of dealing with the Home Office in the UK or be able to give you the best guidance on the latest changes to the Spouse Visa requirements.
Your husband or wife may suggest that they get a solicitor in their home town to sort out the visa for you. Those lawyers may be excellent in sorting out a new Will or Lasting Power of Attorney but may not be the first (or even tenth) choice when it comes to making a Family Visa application.
Some visa applicants think convenience trumps expertise so it is better to appoint a Family Visa Lawyer in their home country or one based near their sponsoring partner but the ease of instructing the solicitor shouldn’t need to trump expertise. For example, at OTS Solicitors we have a global client base and most of our UK Immigration Lawyers spend their days talking to visa applicants across the world. Phone appointments are available or if you prefer an online consultation our solicitors will jump onto a Zoom or Skype consultation. If you are in England we can chat online or meet you at our offices in London.
The lawyers should specialise in immigration law and Family Visas
Wherever your lawyer is based they should hold themselves out as being experts in UK immigration law and in applying for Family Visas. To use an analogy, if you need surgery for a fractured hip you would go to a consultant orthopaedic surgeon and not an ophthalmologist, even if the eye surgeon was known to you or had great reviews.
Sometimes we see Family Visa applicants who have had their visa applications turned down and who need advice about a Spouse Visa appeal or an administrative review application. They may regret their choice of a previous solicitor and will say that the lawyer was chosen because they either didn’t do their due diligence and check out their expertise or they thought that as their Spouse Visa application was straightforward the choice of solicitor wasn’t that important.
Even if you think your visa application will be easy it is best to instruct a specialist to sort out the Home Office application for you. Reasons to instruct a specialist Immigration Solicitor include:
- They make visa applications every day instead of the application being something the non-specialist lawyer needs to check the immigration rules on or the documents required
- They know how to deal with problems. For example, if your evidence on meeting the accommodation requirement isn’t sufficient, an expert will tell you and explain what you need to do
- They can explain new immigration rules and guidance. The Home Office frequently changes its rules and guidance. If your attorney only makes Family Visa applications occasionally they may not be up to date with the latest rule and guidance changes and how they apply to your circumstances
At OTS Solicitors we are recognised for our immigration expertise through inclusion in Legal 500, a leading legal directory of lawyers.
Here is what the Legal 500 commentary says about our individual Immigration Lawyers:
’The team also has notable capabilities in family-related immigration issues. Key figures in the team include Teni Shahiean, an expert in human rights and family life cases, Oshin Shahiean, who advises on a broad range of personal immigration matters, and Maryem Ahmed, who has wide-ranging expertise in areas such as family reunion applications, adult dependent relative applications, spousal visas and EU and Brexit immigration matters’.
The Spouse Visa Lawyers should explain what they are likely to charge before you commit to their instruction
Lawyers should be transparent and upfront about their charges and the timescale to secure your visa. All solicitors in the UK are regulated by professional bodies and must comply with rules on the information they need to supply you with at the outset of your instructions and the rules on how they represent you.
If you are instructing a lawyer for the first time you may engage a lawyer without understanding what you are entitled to expect. If you are asked to sign engagement terms that are not clear then you should ask questions and check to make sure the lawyers are the right ones for you.
Don’t choose an Immigration Attorney who promises to get you a visa – no lawyer can do that
You may think you have a great case to get a Spouse Visa. Our Immigration Solicitors in London may agree but we will never give a 100% promise that your visa application will be granted. Whilst we have excellent success rates, ultimately whether you get your visa is down to the Home Office. They may hold information about you that isn’t known to you or us or something may happen during the application process that makes things trickier.
While UK Immigration Lawyers shouldn’t guarantee visa success you do want someone who will promise to do their utmost to get your Family Visa through as quickly as possible and to keep you informed at every stage of the application process.
Make sure you feel you can trust your Immigration Lawyers to do a good job for you
Trust is a funny thing. It isn’t about seeing your UK Immigration Solicitor’s legal qualifications; it is more about your gut feeling that they will do a good job for you.
At OTS Solicitors, people who have previously used our services to secure a Family Visa or Work Visa or to obtain Indefinite Leave to Remain or British citizenship recommend us to friends and family. We also get lots of new client inquiries through the strength of our online client reviews. We think you can tell the compelling ones that are heartfelt, such as:
‘The firm saw me as a human being who needed help and needed to prove that my case is credible, not just another case!'
‘Maryem Ahmed understood our situation very well and gave us guidance which would have helped us even if the application was not approved in the first instance. This was down to Maryem's excellent knowledge of the system and her legal expertise.’
Despite the many great reviews you read online, our Spouse Visa Lawyers don’t think anything beats picking up the phone or having an online consultation to know that the lawyer you are thinking of engaging is one that you can trust to get your Spouse Visa for you.
Speak to our Spouse Visa Lawyers in London now.
For advice on Family Visas call us for an appointment at our offices in London or for a phone, Zoom or Skype consultation.
For expert help contact our Spouse Visa Solicitors.
Our lawyers speak Arabic, Armenian, Farsi, French/Mauritian Creole, Spanish, Tamil Tagalog/Ilonggo, Urdu/Punjabi.
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