How to Choose an Immigration Solicitor in the UK

Choosing who to instruct on an immigration matter is a decision about regulation, relevant experience and clarity on costs. This page sets out criteria you can apply to any firm, including ours. It does not rank firms and it does not compare us to other practices.

Check regulation first

Immigration advice in the UK may be given by solicitors regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, by barristers, or by advisers regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority. You can verify a solicitor and a firm on the SRA register, and an adviser on the regulator's register. Regulation determines who is accountable and what protections apply if something goes wrong.

Experience in your specific route

Immigration work is route-specific. Ask which routes the firm handles regularly, who would have day-to-day conduct of your matter, and what their experience is of the route and of any appeal or review stage that might follow.

Clarity on costs

Ask for costs in writing before work begins: what is included, what is excluded, how disbursements and Home Office fees are handled, and what happens if the scope changes. Be cautious of any adviser who links their fee to a promised outcome.

How the firm communicates

Ask who your point of contact is, how progress will be reported, and how documents and deadlines are managed.

Complaints and protection

A regulated firm must have a complaints procedure and must tell you about your right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman. Ask about it at the outset.

What to be cautious about

Treat promises of approval, quoted success rates, or claims that an application will be decided within a fixed period with caution. No solicitor controls Home Office decision-making or timescales.

About Andrew Williams Solicitors

We are a regulated UK immigration law firm. Our work is solicitor-led and evidence-led, and we set out costs in writing before we start. We do not make claims about outcomes.