Immigration Law

Harlington Solicitors can advise clients who have  Indefinite Leave to Remain as well as European (EU) nationals. We also support those who wish to apply for British citizenship through:

1. Registration: typically undertaken for children and we have also undertaken cases for adults.
2. Naturalisation: Persons with Indefinite Leave to Remain can apply for naturalisation if they demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the English language and of life in the UK, and are of good character.
3. Adoption of children by British citizen parents.

Our team are familiar with all pertinent UK legislation including the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009.

EU Nationals and their families are afforded a number of rights in the UK including the right to visit, work (although restrictions apply to those of Bulgarian and Romanian nationality) for an employer or for yourself, and study.

Nationals from the A8 countries (Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) and their family members enjoy the same rights to free movement as are held by all other EU nationals, although some of these rights depend on them being at work, rather than just being present in the UK.

Romanian and Bulgarian nationals need to apply for the Worker Registration Scheme in order to benefit from rights to work in self-employment in the UK.

Turkish nationals benefit from European Community Association Agreements (ECAA) between the European Union and their country.

Since the implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998, UK law must comply with the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) and this area of Human rights law is constantly evolving as more cases test the boundaries of its application.

Harlington Solicitors has supported clients with complex asylum, human rights cases, appeals against permission to remain in the UK and extradition requests.

Harlington Solicitors can advise and assist clients who have claimed asylum on a private funded basis. We can further support you from the initial stages of claiming asylum to advising you prior to your substantive asylum interview.

Here we summarise the process for an asylum application process:

1. Screening interview with the immigration authorities. After your screening interview we will schedule a first meeting for you and explain the process.
2. At the Asylum interview your reasons for coming to the UK to seek asylum will be heard and examined in detail.  Our Immigration lawyers will be able to advise and assist you on gathering evidence in support of your application 
3. The Immigration authorities will try to may a decision regarding your application 1 month after you made the application for asylum. This can sometimes be delayed and your Immigration lawyers will be able to follow up the progress of your application.

At Harlington Solicitors we have experienced Immigration solicitors/lawyers, who will be able to present your interest to the Immigration tribunal and potentially have you released on bail (temporary admission) if you meet the requirements. Our Immigration solicitor can advise and assist those who are detained in the Immigration Removal Centres (IRC) or in prisons across the United Kingdom.

If your application for asylum is refused you have the right to appeal. This will give you the chance to provide new information that was not previously available. The deadline for submitting an appeal is very strict, and can be very soon after your application is refused. Our Immigration solicitors are experienced in acting quickly in these cases and can ensure you have the opportunity to appeal your immigration decision if you have grounds to do so.

Judicial review is a procedure by which a person who has been affected by a particular decision, action or failure to act of a public authority may make an application to the High Court, which may provide a remedy if it decides that the authority has acted unlawfully. Judicial review is concerned not with the merits of the decision, but whether the public body has acted lawfully.

A public authority may be acting unlawfully if it has made a decision or done something:

• Without the legal power to do so (unlawful on the grounds of illegality)
• So unreasonable that no reasonable decision-maker could have come to the same decision or done the same thing (unlawful on the grounds of reasonableness)
• Without observing the rules of natural justice (unlawful on the grounds of procedural impropriety or fairness)
• in breach of European Community Law or the Human Rights Act

If the court finds that the public authority has acted unlawfully, it, may:

• issue a mandatory order (i.e. an order requiring the public body to do something)
• issue a prohibiting order (i.e. an order preventing the public body from doing something)
• issue a quashing order (i.e. an order quashing the public body's decision)
• make a declaration
• award damages

Damages are rare and not automatically awarded as in county court or in employment tribunal cases, as the court may think that one of the other remedies is more appropriate. They are more likely to be awarded where there has been a breach of the Human Rights Act.

There is a 3-month deadline for making an application for judicial review, from the date of the act or omission that is being challenged, although there is an obligation on the person wishing to make an application to act promptly.

At Harlington Solicitors our experienced solicitors are here to help, if you are seeking advice on a public law problem.

Not every firm can offer legal aid services for immigration. Harlington Solicitors is a firm that has successfully accredited, as we have enough expertise in the law to be approved by the Legal Aid Agency.

Legal aid is available for the following types of cases:

• Asylum
• Immigration bail
• Some applications made by victims of domestic abuse
• Applications made by a victim of trafficking/slavery
• Proceedings before the First Tier Immigration Tribunal
• Applications for asylum support (if the application is for housing and financial support)
• Applications made by children under 18 who are looked after by a local authority or who are separated from their parents
• Human rights applications
• Judicial review

Please give us a call so we can discuss your eligibility further.