Returning Residents Visa UK

Details

Written by Arshad Mahmood

A resident is someone who has been given permission to stay in the UK without any time limit. A returning resident is a resident who left the UK and wants to come back to live here again.

You may return to the UK as a resident if:

• you were settled in the UK when you last left; and
• you have been away for two years or less; and
• you are returning to live here permanently; and
• you were not given public funds to pay the costs of leaving the UK.

If you have been away for more than two years, you may still qualify to return to live in the UK if, for example, you have strong family ties here or have lived here most of your life.

If you have been away for more than two years, you must apply for permission to return (known as 'entry clearance'). You should apply at the British diplomatic post in the country where you live now.

If the stamp that originally gave you permission to settle here (known as 'indefinite leave to remain') is in an old passport, you should carry both your old passport and your new passport when you travel here, as evidence of your settled status. If you cannot produce your original stamp, you may not be allowed to enter the UK.

You do not need to have your stamp transferred to your new passport (provided you also carry your old passport), but you can do this if you wish. The transfer cannot be done at passport control when you enter the UK. If you can prove that you are entitled to return to settle here, the immigration officer will put an open date stamp in your new passport. You must then apply to the UKBA for Transfer of Conditions and a Biometric Residence Document.

Our Services For Entry Clearance Application As A Returning Resident

We can represent you in your entry clearance application and do all the work until decision by the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) on your application. Our work will include:

• the completion of the paper or online application form;
• advising you on the relevant requirements, relevant laws and procedures;
• advising you on the relevant documents to be submitted in support of your application;
• considering the contents of such documents and discussing the same with you;
• advising you on the weaknesses and strengths of your application; and
• preparing a cover letter wherein we will explain in detailed how all the relevant requirements of the entry clearance are being satisfied.

The completed application will be forwarded to the applicant outside the UK who will sign the same and forward the application along with all the supporting documents to the relevant British Embassy/High Commission/Consulate for a decision to be made by them.

Where necessary, we will also liaise with the Entry Clearance Officer for an expeditious decision on your application.

Why Sunrise Solicitors For Your Entry Clearance Application As A Returning Resident?

The immigration solicitors at Sunrise Solicitors are experts in dealing with applications for  UK visa as a returning resident. The quality of our service is self-evident from the reviews of our clients about the service provided by our immigration lawyers. You can contact us if you are seeking legal help from immigration lawyers in London in relation to your application for UK Visa  as a returning resident and our immigration solicitors will provide you fast, friendly, reliable and professional immigration service.

Our Fees For Entry Clearance Application As A Returning Resident

• We will charge you a fee from £1,000 (No VAT) for our professional immigration services in relation to your entry clearance application as a returning resident. The agreed fee will depend on the complexity of the matter and the casework involved in the matter.

• If you cannot afford to pay our fee in full at the time of instructing us in relation to your matter, you can pay half of the fee at the time of instructing us and rest of the fee can be paid by monthly installments.

• The agreed fee will cover all our work until decision by the Home Office on the application. However, it is pertinent to note that the agreed fee will not cover any disbursements to be incurred by the company on your behalf e.g. translation of documents, Home Office fee etc.

Application For Certificate Of Entitlement To The Right Of Abode

Details

Written by Arshad Mahmood

A certificate of entitlement is proof of your right to live and work in the UK without any immigration restrictions. An application for a certificate of entitlement can be made from inside the UK using the application form ROA. If you are applying from outside the UK, you can apply for a certificate of entitlement using application form VAF7 or online application if UKBA applications are only accepted online in your country of origin.

The UKBA will place your certificate of entitlement to right of abode in your current passport. When your passport expires, your certificate of entitlement will also expire. You must apply again for a new certificate of entitlement to right of abode.

Your can apply for a certificate of entitlement to the right of abode in any one of the following circumstances:

• If you were registered or naturalised as a British citizen on or after 1 January 1983
• If you were registered or naturalised in the UK as a citizen of the UK and Colonies before 1 January 1983
• If you were born in the UK before 1 January 1983
• If you are a Commonwealth (not British) citizen born before 1 January 1983 to a parent who was born in the UK
• If you are a female Commonwealth citizen who was married before 1 January 1983 to a man with right of abode in the UK
• If you were born in the UK or the Falkland Islands on or after 1 January 1983, or in another qualifying British overseas territory on or after 21 May 2002
• If you were born outside the UK and the Falkland Islands on or after 1 January 1983, or outside the UK and any qualifying British overseas territory on or after 21 May 2002, to a parent who was born in the UK or the Falkland Islands or, on or after 21 May 2002, any qualifying British overseas territory, or registered or naturalised in the UK before your birth
• If you were born outside the UK and the Falkland Islands on or after 1 January 1983, or outside the United Kingdom and any qualifying British overseas territory on or after 21 May 2002, to a parent who, at the time of your birth, was a British citizen in Crown service or a designated service
• If you were adopted in the UK, a qualifying British overseas territory, or otherwise under the terms of the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption
• If you were a citizen of the UK and Colonies and were ordinarily resident in the UK for a continuous period of 5 years before 1 January 1983, and were settled in the UK at the end of that period
• If you were a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies and had a parent who was born, adopted, registered or naturalised in the UK before your birth or adoption
• If you were a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies and had a grandparent who was born, adopted, registered or naturalised in the UK before your parent's birth or adoption

Why Sunrise Solicitors For An Application For Certificate Of Entitlement To The Right Of Abode?

The immigration solicitors at Sunrise Solicitors are experts in dealing with applications for a certificate of entitlement to the right of abode. The quality of our service is self-evident from the reviews of our clients about the service provided by our immigration lawyers. You can Contact Us if you are seeking legal help from immigration lawyers in London in relation to your application for certificate of entitlement to the right of abode and our immigration solicitors will provide you fast, friendly, reliable, honest and professional immigration service.

Our Fees For A Certificate Of Entitlement To The Right Of Abode

• We will charge you a fee from £1,000 + VAT for our professional immigration services in relation to your application for a certificate of entitlement to the right of abode. The agreed fee will depend on the complexity of the matter and the casework involved in the matter.

• If you cannot afford to pay our fee in full at the time of instructing us in relation to your matter, you can pay half of the fee at the time of instructing us and rest of the fee can be paid by monthly installments.

• The agreed fee will cover all our work until decision by the Home Office on the application. However, it is pertinent to note that the agreed fee will not cover any disbursements to be incurred by the company on your behalf e.g. translation of documents, Home Office fee etc.

Subject Access Request (SAR) To UKBA

Details

Written by Arshad Mahmood

Requests for access to records and for other information about those records are known as “subject access requests” and are made to the person or organisation (the “data controller”) who you think is processing (holding, disclosing or using) the information to which you want access. Personal data may take the form of computerised or, in some cases, paper records.

If you want to know whether information is held about you and if so what, you will need to write to the person or organisation you believe holds the information. This is known as a “subject access request”. You should ask for a copy of all the information held about you to which the Act applies.

Subject Access Request To The Home Office, UKBA

A subject access request can be made to the Home Office, UKBA to get a copy of all the documents, information, records, decisions, notes etc which the Home Office is holding about you in their data base. Anyone can make a Subject Access Request (SAR) for information that the UKBA hold about them. To make a Subject Access Request (SAR), you must provide:

• a cheque or postal order for £10, payable to 'The Home Office Accounting Officer'; and
• sufficient personal information to enable the UKBA to uniquely identify you - for example, a copy of your passport or driver's licence, original utility bills, and your Home Office reference number if you have one.

All requests must be made in writing and signed.

If you just want the UKBA to provide you with a specific document, you can just ask us for that; this will make it easier, and probably quicker for the UKBA to respond to your request.

You should send your Subject Access Request (SAR) to the following address of the Home Office, UKBA:

    DPU SAR
    UK Border Agency
    Lunar House
    40 Wellesley Road
    Croydon
    CR9 2BY

The UKBA recommend that you use their form to help you make a SAR, although you are entitled to submit a SAR without using the form if you prefer. You can download the subject access request (SAR) from the UKBA website. 

 A Subject Access Request must be made in writing and an appropriate fee should be paid to the Home Office for the Home Office to comply with your request.

According to Data Protection Act, the Home Office, UKBA must process your request within 40 days from the date of receipt of your request. If the Home Office, UKBA fail to comply with Subject Access Request (SAR) within 40 days, their omission to comply with such request is considered as unlawful and can be challenged by way of Judicial Review in High Court.

Why Sunrise Solicitors For Your Subject Access Request (SAR)?

The immigration solicitors at Sunrise Solicitors are experts in dealing with Subject Access Request (SAR). The quality of our service is self-evident from the reviews of our clients about the service provided by our immigration lawyers. You can contact us if you are seeking legal help from immigration lawyers in London in relation to your Subject Access Request (SAR) and our immigration solicitors will provide you fast, friendly, reliable and professional immigration service.

Upon receipt of the Subject Access Request (SAR) from the Home Office, UKBA, our immigration solicitors will go through the relevant documents/information received from the UKBA and discuss the contents of the SAR with you.

Our Fees For Subject Access Request (SAR)

• We will charge you a fee from £400 + VAT for our professional immigration services in relation to your Subject Access Request (SAR). The agreed fee will depend on the complexity of the matter and the casework involved in the matter.

• The agreed fee will cover all our work until decision by the Home Office on the application. However, it is pertinent to note that the agreed fee will not cover any disbursements to be incurred by the company on your behalf e.g. the Home Office fee etc.

Immigration Bail Application

Details

Written by Arshad Mahmood

If you have been detained by the Immigration authorities or know someone who has been detained then you need to seek specialist immigration legal advice. Freedom from arbitrary arrest and imprisonment is a fundamental human right, legally enforceable throughout the UK by virtue of the Human Rights Act 1998. An Immigration Bail is a request or an application either to the Chief Immigration Officer (CIO) or to the Immigration Judge for release of a person from immigration detention.

Temporary Admission/Bail Application to the CIO

If an immigrant is detained we give consideration as to how the person detained can be released. In the first place verbal communications with the immigration service may yield some results. Then representations are made to the Chief Immigration Officer (CIO) that the person detained be released on Temporary Admission (TA).

The Immigration Service reviews the detention on a regular basis so it is important that all relevant information is put before them: e.g. any change in the detainee's health, distress to family, or more favourable conditions should release be considered (e.g. a new address becoming available).

If the detainee is released they will usually be required to comply with conditions. The usual conditions are:

1. Residence at a specified address;
2. Reporting to Police Station or /Immigration Service;
3. Sureties. These conditions can be varied by an application to an Immigration Officer or Immigration Judge.

Bail Application To The Immigration Judge

In cases of new arrival, once seven days have passed from arrival in the United Kingdom, there is a possibility of applying for bail in all kinds of immigration case. Such an application may be made to a Chief Immigration Officer, or to an Immigration Judge at Asylum and Immigration Tribunal. Therefore if the Immigration Service refuses to grant the detainee temporary admission or bail, they have a right to apply for bail to an Immigration Judge at Asylum and Immigration Tribunal.

The Immigration Judge may release the detainee on bail subject to conditions similar to those an ImmigrationOfficer may impose. This will include reappearing before the Immigration Judge at a later hearing usually the full appeal hearing.

Remember at the bail hearing that the burden of proof in justifying detention lies, given the presumption in favour of bail, on the Secretary of State to the balance of probabilities. The adjudicator should give a reasoned decision, albeit that it is not in writing.

Sureties/Recognisance

Sureties are put forward as potential guarantors that a person will answer their bail.

The standard Bail Form has spaces for two sureties, though there is no requirement that there are a pair: you could offer more, or none. It will be necessary to supply the Immigration Judge and Immigration Service/Home Office with their details so that the individuals in question, and their addresses, can be the subject of investigation via the national police computer. Two days notice should be given to the Secretary of State for this purpose.

Those with criminal convictions or insecure immigration status, or whose addresses have in the past been associated with absconding, are unlikely to be accepted as sureties.

The sureties should always attend court – it will rarely be the case that non attendance will be accepted. The surety should have proof of ID, address, occupation, financial status, immigration status (ideally British citizenship/Indefinite leave to remain) and evidence of the address that is available to the detainee.Immigration Judges prefer a surety who is living with or near bail applicant to ensure that the sureties are able to exercise a measure of control over them. The surety should explain their relationship to the detainee, and what level of contact they have had with them in the past, and intend to maintain in the future.

If the bail applicant absconds or does not comply with conditions of bail, the sureties risk forfeiting all or part of their recognisance. Large sums are often required by Immigration Judges (or CIOs) £5000 is not uncommon. The Immigration Judge will need to be satisfied that the sureties are suitable and will ensure that the bail applicant will answer the bail by complying conditions of the bail.

When Is A Bail Application Most Likely To Succeed?

This is a difficult question to answer, but some general guidance is possible:

• Where a person’s removal from the UK is not imminent, it is difficult to justify ongoing immigration detention and a bail application may well succeed;
• Where removals to a certain country are not possible for practical or other reasons, detention would normally be unlawful and a bail application should succeed;
• Where a person is a survivor of torture, they should not be detained
• Unaccompanied minors should never be detained other than for a very short period in their own best interests
• Families should not generally be detained other than for short periods before removal

Why Sunrise Solicitors For Your Immigration Bail Application?

The immigration solicitors at Sunrise Solicitors are experts in dealing with immigration bail applications. The quality of our service is self-evident from the reviews of our clients about the service provided by our immigration lawyers. You can contact us if you are seeking legal help from immigration lawyers in London in relation to your immigration bail application and our immigration solicitors will provide you fast, friendly, reliable and professional immigration service.

Our Fees For Immigration Bail Application

• We will charge you a fee from £300.00 + VAT for Bail Application to the Chief Immigration Officer (CIO).

• We will charge you a fee from £1,000.00 + VAT for Bail Application to the Immigration Judge at Asylum and Immigration Tribunal.

• We will charge you a fee from £500.00 + VAT for any subsequent bail application, if your first bail application to the Immigration Judge has been unsuccessful.

• Please be advised that VAT will not be applicable where our client does not have a valid leave to remain in the UK at the time of his/her instructions to us in relation to his/her immigration matter.

• The agreed fee will cover all our work until decision by the Home Office on the application. However, it is pertinent to note that the agreed fee will not cover any disbursements to be incurred by the company on your behalf e.g. translation of documents, Home Office fee etc.