Terms and Conditions

This is a legal notice regarding the use of the UK Visa and Immigration website.

By using this website you agree to be legally bound by UK Visa and Immigrations’ Terms and Conditions set out below. If you do not wish to comply with our terms and conditions, you are not permitted to use this website.

Contents

Site access and Licence
Copyright
Online Assessments
Disputes
Disclaimer and Liability
Terms of Business

Site access and Licence

UK Visa and Immigration grants you a limited license to access and make personal use of this site. We instruct you not to download or modify it, or any part of it.

This site or any portion of this site may not be reproduced, copied, sold or otherwise exploited for any commercial purpose without written permission.

This license does not include any resale or commercial use of this site or its contents such as descriptions, any copying of this site or its contents; any downloading or copying of information for the benefit of another merchant; or any use of data mining, robots, or similar data gathering and extraction tools.

You may not frame or utilise framing techniques to enclose any trademark, logo, or other proprietary information (including images, text, page layout, or form) of UK Visa and Immigration.

Copyright

The website of UK Visa and Immigration is a source of information. While UK Visa and Immigration attempts to ensure the data and other material provided in our website is correct and complete, UK Visa and Immigration does not accept responsibility for any errors or omissions and shall not be liable for any claims or losses arising indirectly or directly from use of the information provided in this site.

All content included on this site, is the property of UK Visa and Immigration, and is protected by international copyright and trademark laws.

The compilation of all content and software used on this site is the exclusive property of UK Visa and Immigration and protected by international copyright laws.

Online Assessments

A ‘positive’ result from UK Visa and Immigrations’ Online Assessment does not guarantee visa success.

If you wish to obtain a realistic assessment of your eligibility for Immigration you must speak with one of our highly skilled Immigration experts at UK Visa and Immigration.

Disputes

You agree that if you are not satisfied with the service provided to you by UK Visa and Immigration or if you have a disagreement or complaint with UK Visa and Immigration, a member or members of its staff, you shall not discuss your dispute, grievance or disappointment in any published form, including but not limited to posting on websites.

Disclaimer and Liability

All proprietary rights in information received by UK Visa and Immigration shall remain the property of UK Visa and Immigration. All forms of communication between public viewers and UK Visa and Immigration may be recorded to enable UK Visa and Immigration to carry out its regulatory responsibilities.

The use of this service is entirely at the client’s own risk. Our services are provided without warranty.

You acknowledge that you have exercised your own skill and knowledge in determining whether the service provided under this specific agreement meet your specific requirements and you have not relied on any statements or representations made by UK Visa and Immigration or its employees.

Neither UK Visa and Immigration nor any of its employees, affiliates, agents, content providers or related companies shall be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages or costs (including legal) arising out of use of the service or inability to gain access to or use the service in full or part.

The client hereby acknowledges that the provisions of this section shall apply to the service.

Every effort has been made to ensure that this agreement complies with the current law. If changes in legislation occur, UK Visa and Immigration will make every effort to correct the information we provide, however we will not be held responsible for delays, cancellations or non issuance of a visa as a result of legislation changes.

By accessing this website you are confirming that you have understood the terms and conditions.

Terms of Business

1. Place and hours of business

UK Visa and immigration is the trading name of UK Visa Specialists Limited, a company registered in England and Wales, Registration number 07221022. We are a regulated business by Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner. Our trading address is UK Visa and Immigration, 137-139 Hagley Road, Fourth Floor, Newlands House, Birmingham, B16 8UA. Our office hours are generally between 9.30am and 5.30pm Monday to Friday, although we may make appointments outside of these hours when essential to the interest of our clients. However, this is subject to the discretion of your Caseworker.

2. People responsible for your work

The Caseworker responsible for your work be listed on the Client Care Letter we will send to you, together with names of any other members of our team who may assist. We try hard not to change the persons acting for you but should this become necessary we will notify you of the change in writing, explaining why the change was necessary.

3. Charges, Expenses and Payments

We require you to settle the required fees with cleared funds before we commence, and undoubtedly, before we complete, your application. We reserve the right not to do any work on your matter without the payment of your full agreed fee.

Please also note that once you have agreed and paid our fees and had your initial consultation regarding your matter, under no circumstances can these fees be refunded. We work strictly on a fixed fee basis which will have been agreed with you before we commence any work on your matter. Your agreement will be sought on these matters as part of our initial Client Care Letter that will be sent to you.

3.1 Disbursements

From time to time, we may need to incur out of pocket expenses on your behalf, such as for photocopying of large volumes of documents, interpreters fees, and translation of documents, agent fees, travel and accommodation expenses, document preparation expenses, and international telephone charges.

We may also from time to time if necessary have to obtain additional advice or opinions on your matter.

We state herein that any fees likely to be incurred for the obtaining of additional advice will be notified to you in writing in advance and your consent will be sought. Your consent to paying these additional fees will be placed on your file and a copy of the same will be sent to you for your records.

All UK postage is included in our quoted legal fees; however, any out of country postage and out of country courier costs are not included, and any such costs will have to be borne by the client.

3.2 Public funding

We do not have a franchise for undertaking work on your behalf via the Legal Services Commission (“LSC”). We are unable to assess your eligibility for public funding via the LSC. If you believe that you may be eligible for public funding in respect of the matter upon which you have consulted us then we recommend that you contact the LSC or Community Legal Advice for guidance. Alternatively, we shall be happy to refer you to a firm which does have an LSC franchise. If you instruct us to act on your behalf, you will be responsible for the payment of our fees as detailed within our correspondence. If you subsequently become eligible for public funding in respect of the matter upon which you have consulted us and we have undertaken work on your behalf then we shall be happy for you to transfer your file of papers to another firm which does have an LSC franchise subject to the payment of any outstanding fees and expenses due to us to the date of such file transfer.

3.3 Unforeseen work

We shall inform you if any unforeseen work becomes necessary, for example, due to unexpected difficulties or if your requirements or the circumstances change significantly during the course of your case. We will advise you in writing of the estimated cost of the extra work before such work is carried out. We will aim to agree an amended charge with you. If we cannot reach agreement, we will do no further work until the matter of costs is settled or you find alternative immigration assistance, which we may assist you to find.

4. Payments on Account for Disbursements

It is normal practice to ask clients to make payments on account from time to time. These payments help to meet this firm’s expected charges for disbursements and to help avoid delaying progress in the matter. We will then pay expenses for disbursements as they become due. We may request further payments on account of expenses for disbursements as the matter progresses. These amounts will be shown as paid on the Disbursement final bill. Please note that disbursements may be payable to third parties. Please also note that in the event that the matter does not proceed to conclusion you will still need to pay for the disbursements that have arisen. Your consent for the payment of disbursements will be sought before such fees are incurred.

5. Service Levels and Your Responsibilities

Our responsibilities to you:

Our cost for the work undertaken is based on the assumptions that it is carried out within defined levels of service being made to you. We will update you on a regular basis as the matter proceeds, this may be via letter, email, SMS, or phone conversation as and when it is appropriate to do so. We will review your matter regularly and advise you of any changes in the law or of any circumstances or risks of which we are aware or consider being reasonably foreseeable or relevant to your situation. We will contact you as and when it becomes necessary.

We require you to provide us with:

• Clear, timely and accurate instructions
• All documentation required to complete the transaction in a timely manner

6. Referrals

As a regulated adviser we cannot accept any referral fee from any person for recommending or referring a client.

As a regulated adviser we cannot offer or accept an inducement for taking on a client.

However, in the event that we are acting both for you and a third party and where a conflict of interests arises, we may have to stop acting for both of you.

7. General

• We are committed to promoting equality and diversity in all of its dealings with clients, third parties and employees. Please contact us if you would like a copy of our equality and diversity policy.
• Our offices are open between 9.30am and 5.30pm, Monday to Friday though we will make appointments outside of these hours when essential to the interest of our clients. We have been, where possible made accessible for people with mobility difficulties or disabilities. However, should you require an appointment, please contact us so that we can ensure adequate provision is made.

8. Data Protection

We use the information you provide primarily for the provision of legal services to you and for related purposes including:

• Updating and enhancing client records
• Analysis to help us manage our practice
• Statutory returns
• Legal and regulatory compliance

Our use of that information is subject to your instructions, the Data Protection Act 1998 and our duty of confidentiality. Please note that our work for you may require us to give information to third parties such as expert witnesses and other professional advisers. You have a right of access under data protection legislation to the personal data that we hold about you and you may contact us at [email protected] to request the data we hold about you. We may make a small nominal charge for this access.

Additionally, all data that you submit to us via this website will be held in compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

We may from time to time send you information which we think might be of interest to you. If you do not wish to receive that information please notify our office in writing.

9. Privacy Policy

We do not store financial information nor do we share any financial information with third parties.

10. Your right to cancel your contract with us

After you have made payment, by signing and returning our client care letter you waive your right to cancel the contract before the expiry of seven days. In other circumstances, the contract cannot be cancelled after the expiry of seven days from payment date.

You have already verbally agreed that should you decide to terminate the contract before you formally instruct us, we reserve the right to charge you £300 for our administration costs. This is to cover the cost of providing advice to you on the telephone, opening your file and processing any refund that may be due to you. Terminating this contract by you at any other time will result in the whole of the fees to be payable by you.

11. Vetting of Files and Confidentiality

The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) may conduct audit or quality checks on our practice. The OISC are required to maintain confidentiality in relation to your files.

12. Money Laundering

12.1 Proof of Identity

• The law now requires professionals, as well as banks, building societies and others, to obtain satisfactory evidence of the identity of their Clients. This is because those who deal with money and property on behalf of their Clients can be used by criminals wishing to launder money.
• If you ask us to hold any money on account for you in our client account, and in order to comply with the law on money laundering, we will need to obtain evidence of your identity. Where you are asked for this, we would be grateful if you would provide us with documents to verify your identity and address, for example a certified copy of your passport, driving licence or birth certificate along with certified copies of receipted utility bills no more than 3 months old. Please note that we do not accept photocopies of identification unless the same has been certified by a Solicitor and we do not accept scanned copies sent by email. Please also note that we will not carry out any work for you unless you have supplied your identification and we have approved the same.

12.2 Confidentiality

• As professionals we are under an obligation to keep the affairs of clients confidential. This obligation however, is subject to a statutory exception. Recent legislation on money laundering and terrorist financing has placed professionals under a legal duty in certain circumstances to disclose information to the Serious Organised Crime Agency. Where a professional knows or suspects that a transaction on behalf of a client involves money laundering, the professional may be required to make a money laundering disclosure. If, while we are acting for you, it becomes necessary to make a money laundering disclosure, we may not be able to inform you that a disclosure has been made or of the reasons for it. Where the law permits us to do, we will tell you about any potential money laundering problem and explain what action we may need to take.

12.3 Cash

• We reserve the right to charge for any additional checks we deem necessary regarding the source of your funds. In the event of high value transactions, bank statements or confirmation of savings must be produced to confirm source of funds. It is your responsibility to supply us with the information we have requested.

13. Complaints Procedure

13.1 Our complaints policy

We are committed to providing a high-quality service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.

13.2 Our complaints procedure

Should there be any aspect of our service with which you are unhappy including our bill, please raise your concern in the first place with the caseworker responsible for your matter. If you wish, you can contact the person responsible for dealing with your complaint, Mr. Ash Shadat, Head of Immigration, who will endeavour to address and resolve your complaint in writing to you within the time frames noted below of you making or us receiving the complaint at our offices.

13.3 What will happen next?

We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within five working days of us receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure.

• We will investigate your complaint. These will normally involve passing your complaint to Mr. Ash Shadat who will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.
• Mr Shadat will then invite you to a meeting or contact you over the telephone to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. He will do this within 10 working days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
• Mr Shadat will, within 3 working days of the meeting/telephone conversation with you, write to you to confirm what took place and any solution that was agreed with you.
• If you do not want a meeting or do not want to discuss the same over the telephone or if neither of these are possible, Mr Shadat will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including his suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 working days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
• At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner, and their complaints form may be found at www.oisc.gov.uk
• Alternatively you may address your complaint directly to the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner, without making a formal complaint to our organisation, to OISC, Complaints Team, 5th Floor, Counting House, 53 Tooley Street, London, SE1-2QN. The telephone contact for such a complaint is as follows:- 08450000046

14. Termination

We may reserve the right at any time to terminate instructions if we feel that you have made false representations or provided any false documents. We must give you reasonable notice that we will stop acting for you. If we decide that we should stop acting for you, we will notify you in writing within 3 working days of termination. We will also, upon termination, notify any other involved party or deciding body that we have withdrawn from your matter.

You have verbally agreed that should you decide to terminate the contract before you formally instruct us, we reserve the right to charge you £300 for our administration costs. This is to cover the cost of providing advice to you on the telephone, opening your file and processing any refund that may be due to you. Terminating this contract by you at any other time will result in the whole of the fees to be payable by you.

15. Storage of papers and documents

After completing the work, we are entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is money owing to us for our charges and expenses. In addition, we will keep your file of papers for you in storage for six years. After that, storage is on the clear understanding that we have the right to destroy it after such period, as we consider reasonable or to make a charge for storage if we ask you to collect your papers and you fail to do so. No charge will be made to you for such storage unless prior notice in writing is given to you of a charge to be made from a future date, which may be specified in that notice.

You also authorise us, if we wish, to store the file in electronic form, such that the original papers can thereafter be destroyed save for any original deeds and/or documents that you may have provided which will be returned to you at the conclusion of the matter in respect of which we are instructed.

If we retrieve papers or documents from storage in relation to continuing or new instructions to act in connection with your affairs, we will not normally charge for such retrieval. However, we will make a charge based on time spent for producing stored papers or documents to you or another professional at your request at £30.00+VAT. We may also charge for reading, correspondence or other work necessary to comply with your instructions. There may also be a further charge if we feel that there is a large amount of photocopying required or postage charges to be incurred.

16. Change in Immigration Law

Please note that we shall not be held liable for advice if the law on immigration regarding your matter changes subsequently. We will endeavour to advise you of any law changes as soon as we are made aware of the same, however, a change in the law brought into force once your application has been completed will not render us liable for any refusal which you may receive as a result.

17. Limitation of liability

Our liability to you is limited in every case to the amount of the fees paid to us for performing our service. We will not be liable for any consequential, special, indirect or exemplary damages, costs or losses or any damages, costs or losses attributable to lost profits or opportunities.

As soon as we have concluded our initial consultation and completed your application we will not be held responsible for any delays caused by you in providing us with the necessary documents to support your application.

As soon as we have concluded our initial consultation and completed your application, we will not be held liable if a refusal arises from the Home Office or other adjudicating body. Our matter will be completed upon lodging the application to the adjudicating body.

18. Professional Indemnity Insurance

UK Visa Specialists Ltd has full professional indemnity insurance provided by HISCOX INSURERS, and our policy number is 12198554. This insurance has worldwide coverage, excluding USA and Canada.

19. Acceptance

Your continuing instructions will amount to your acceptance of these terms of business, but please sign and date the enclosed copy of this letter and return it to us immediately. Then we can be confident that you understand the basis on which we act for you.

We hope that by sending this letter to you, we have addressed your immediate queries about the day-to-day handling of your work and our terms of business. However, if you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us. This is an important document, which we would urge you to keep in a safe place for future reference. Please sign both copies, returning one to our offices.

20. Governing Law

These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of England & Wales and you hereby submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales accordingly.

We aim to continuously review the service we offer to our clients. We would therefore appreciate any comments and suggestions on how we could improve our service to you. Thank you.

April 2011 – UK Visa and Immigration