Immigration Fees Information

We charge an hourly rate for the following immigration applications;

Applications under the Immigration Rules including

• student, graduate, talent, and youth mobility visas
• visit visas (for tourism, or visiting friends / family)
• spouse and partners applications, including fiancé(e)s or proposed civil partners
• parents, children, and other relative visas
• skilled worker, business, and innovation, including under the Points-Based System;
  dependent relative and family reunion applications
• ancestry visas
• other categories, such as applications on the basis of private life and long residence
• ‍Applications for naturalisation or registration as a British Citizen under the British Nationality Act 1981
• ‍Applications on behalf of European Economic Area (EEA) nationals and their family members under the EU Settlement Scheme

The hourly rates we charge depend on the seniority and experience of your chosen lawyer and are in the following range:

A higher rate may need to be charged if you require urgent or out of hour’s work to be undertaken.

On average, these types of case take between 5-20 hours to complete. This means that on average costs are £875 – £3,500 if the work is done by a junior Solicitor, and up to £1,750 – £7,000 if the work is done solely by one of our most experienced partners. Some cases are suitable for a mix of senior and junior lawyers working as a team.  All figures exclude VAT which is charged at 20%. If you reside outside of the European Union no VAT is chargeable.

The exact number of hours it will take depends on the circumstances in your case. Such as:

• The factual and legal complexity of the case and whether the application is compliant with the relevant law.
• The amount of supporting evidence that we need to consider
• Which language(s) you speak
• Whether you are applying with other dependants
• The level of contact the case requires with yourself and the number of enquiries you have during the course of your case.
• If you are able to provide sufficient evidence at our first meeting and clearly meet the applicable Immigration Rules, the cost is likely to be at the lower end of this range

What services are included

The work will involve:

• 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, EEA Regulations or citizenship laws and whether you meet the criteria.
• if you do not fulfil certain criteria, whether this can be overcome and how, all of which on average takes 1-5 hours;
• considering the supporting evidence you have provided, which on average takes 1 – 5 hours. The amount 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;
• where necessary, helping you obtain further evidence (such as medical records and bank statements), including taking statements of any witnesses, which on average takes 1 – 5 hours ;
• preparing your application and submitting it on your behalf, which on average takes 1-5 hours;
• Attendance at a Home Office interview: it is very rare for there to be an interview but if the Home Office ask you to attend an interview, we will give you clear advice (and discuss the possibility of us attending with you) at the appropriate time, which on average takes 1-5 hours to give.
• giving you advice about the outcome of the application and any further steps you need to take, which on average takes 1-2 hours.

In some cases it may be appropriate to delegate tasks to a trainee solicitor or caseworker. We will seek your agreement before doing so. Work done by a trainee solicitor or caseworker will be charged in the range £100-£150 per hour depending on their experience.

Disbursements (not included in costs set out above):

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties.

We will handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

• Interpreters fees from £25-£50 per hour. Most kinds of application will normally require between 3 -10 hours of client contact with an interpreter, depending on the complexity of your case.
• Independent expert reports e.g. medical experts. These are not required in many cases: we will let you know as soon as possible if we consider an expert report is necessary.
• If there is an interview and we do attend with you, there will be additional disbursements in respect of our mileage/travel expenses.

The costs quoted here do not include:

• Any Home Office fees for making the application. You will pay this to the Home Office directly as part of the application process.
• Where the Home Office refuse your application, advice and assistance in relation to any appeal

How long will my application take?

We cannot guarantee how long the Home Office will take to process your application. Read the current processing times.

We will normally be able to submit this type of application within 1-3 weeks of you instructing us depending on the availability of the required documents, but we will let you know at the earliest opportunity if it is likely to take longer than this. If your case is urgent with a deadline for submission within 1 week we will discuss with you the practicalities of meeting the deadline and if we are able to do so agree an appropriate plan of action.

Please note the anticipated number of hours and fees are an estimate based on the facts above. All applications are likely to vary and of course, we can give you a more accurate estimate once we have more information about your specific case.

Advice and representation at the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) in relation to appeals against Home Office visa or immigration decisions (excluding asylum).

If you require advice and representation at an appeal we will charge the same hourly rates as above.

The time taken to prepare an appeal varies considerably depending on the issues of the appeal.

The time required is likely to be in the range of 20-40 hours preparation time.  It will be rare that we would be in a position to thoroughly prepare your appeal in less than 20 hours. This means that on average costs are between £3,500 and £7,000 where the work is undertaken by a junior Assistant Solicitor and between £6,000 and £12,000 where the work is undertaken by an experienced partner. These figures exclude VAT which is charged at 20%. If you reside outside of the European Union no VAT is chargeable.

For the appeal hearing itself it is our usual practice to instruct high quality barristers to represent you. We work closely with the barrister and in most appeals will arrange a meeting with you and the barrister prior to the hearing (known as a “conference”). We will discuss with you the options and offer you a range of experience and price. Costs for the barrister are likely to be in the range of £1,000-£5,000 plus VAT depending on the seniority of the barrister and the complexities of the case.

The experience and qualifications of those carrying out the work

Details of the experience and qualifications of all those who will carry out the work on your case are to be found in our immigration team profiles.

Getting Started

If you wish to instruct us in respect to an application please call us on 020 8808 7535 or email immigration@wilsonllp.co.uk

Clients usually start with a one hour consultation with either a partner or solicitor to take your initial instructions and give you our preliminary view on the merits of your case and options. We can also give you a more informed estimate for your particular case after an initial consultation. After the initial consultation you can decide whether you wish to instruct us further in the matter.

Consultations can be in person in either our Tottenham or Chancery Lane office, by Zoom, Skype, Teams or by phone.