Registered advisers

Registered immigration advisers may be

Learn more: Differences between registered and unregistered advisers

- What sort of situations in asylum and immigration might I end up needing or benefiting from legal representation? 

- I would say that there's certain cases, immigration type of cases, where you really want a legal representation, such as a solicitor. 

So something like an asylum case, I'd say, pretty much any asylum case is going to be complex, a deportation or removal case, where someone's at risk of being removed to their country of origin, or in a human rights case, these are all complex cases where you pretty definitely want a solicitor. 

Even in some of the kind of more straightforward cases, immigration cases, it can help just to navigate this quite complex system of rules that we have in place in the UK.

What to expect from your legal adviser

Your legal adviser should

  • listen to you,
  • be honest with you,
  • explain your options clearly,
  • involve you in decision making,
  • make sure you know your rights,
  • get things done on time,
  • give you copies of your documents,
  • tell you in writing what they will charge you, and
  • give you a receipt for anything you pay.

Is your legal adviser registered?

Before you engage a legal adviser, check that they are registered by searching online. To search for an adviser who is regulated by an approved regulator of legal services, follow these links:

Complaining about your legal adviser

If things go wrong, it's important to know that complaining about your legal adviser will not negatively affect your immigration application with the UK Government (Home Office).

You can choose to complain to the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman can help if your legal adviser

  • gives you bad advice,
  • doesn't reply to your emails, letters or calls,
  • loses your documents,
  • overcharges you, or
  • doesn't explain things in a way you can understand.

You can report your legal adviser to their regulator. If your legal adviser encourages you to lie in your immigration application or is dishonest in other ways, you should report them:

You can download a summary of the key information on this page: Immigration solicitors and legal advisers (PDF 71K)

 

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