[Philip] is a household name” in this area.
Chambers High Net Worth 2022
Barth is knowledgeable, precise and efficient [and] He is very attentive.
Chambers High Net Worth 2022
Philip Barth impresses me greatly with their knowledge of immigration and involvement in the space.
Chambers High Net Worth 2022
At Michelmores, we understand the complexities and challenges of UK business immigration. Whether you are looking to establish a new business, relocate key employees, or explore investment opportunities in the UK, we offer personalised services tailored to meet your unique needs. With our extensive knowledge of UK immigration laws and regulations, we are committed to helping you seamlessly achieve your business goals.
We specialise in providing comprehensive solutions for entrepreneurs, investors, business owners and HR professionals seeking to expand their UK business ventures. Our team of experienced immigration lawyers is dedicated to guiding you through every step of the process, ensuring a successful result.
What sets us apart from other business immigration services is our commitment to excellence, our deep understanding of the UK market and our clients’, and our personalised approach:
- Expertise and Experience: In a fast-changing landscape where complex immigration rules are under constant scrutiny and change, businesses and individuals need timely and specialist immigration guidance to protect and grow their businesses. Our seasoned immigration experts have 50+ years of experience in UK business immigration. We have successfully assisted organisations and individual clients from a variety of industries, including those in the tech, construction and the health care sectors, navigate UK immigration laws to achieve their business goals.
- Personalised Service: We believe in a client-centric approach, offering bespoke solutions tailored to your specific business needs and circumstances. Whether you are a foreign business establishing operations in the UK or an HR professional looking for advice on visas and right to work checks, our dedicated lawyers offer tailored and in-depth support when it’s needed most.
- Comprehensive Support: Our services go beyond visa applications. We also provide compliance guidance to help you navigate the UK’s regulatory environment, Level 1 User and Legal Advisor services, contract and employment advice and ongoing immigration strategy and support to ensure your business thrives.
- Proactive Updates: Immigration laws and regulations are constantly evolving. We stay ahead of these changes to provide you with the most up-to-date and accurate advice. We provide regular legal updates and articles to our clients and run webinars and learning events, so you are always ahead of the curve.
- Strategic Business Insights: Our team not only understands immigration law but also has a strong grasp of the UK business landscape. We provide strategic insights to help your venture succeed, from market entry strategies to networking opportunities with local partners.
- High Success Rate: Our meticulous approach and dedication to excellence have resulted in a high success rate for our clients.
Key Services – Sponsor licence and compliance:
Securing and maintaining a sponsor licence is essential for businesses seeking to hire and sponsor foreign nationals. At Michelmores, we provide expert guidance on obtaining and retaining sponsor licences, ensuring your business meets all Home Office requirements.
Our key services include:
- Sponsoring and hiring foreign nationals: We guide businesses through the process of hiring overseas talent. We ensure our clients understand their immigration visa options and can satisfy their obligations. We support them and the member of staff at every stage of the process, both thus curating a smooth hiring experience for the business and the member of staff.
- Sponsor Licence applications:
- Skilled Worker Sponsor Licence: We help you secure the licence required to hire international employees for skilled roles in your UK business.
- Global Business Mobility Sponsor Licence: For companies transferring existing employees from overseas offices to the UK, we assist in obtaining the licence that enables smooth and efficient staff mobility and business growth.
- UK Expansion Worker Sponsor Licence: If you are an overseas business setting up in the UK for the first time, we guide you through the licensing process to send key staff to kick-start your UK operations.
- Scale up Sponsor Licence: Rapidly growing UK businesses can bring in highly skilled foreign talent with this licence, and we streamline the application process to help you scale quickly and efficiently.
- Certificate of Sponsorship applications: Once you have a sponsor licence, you must assign a Certificate of Sponsorship to each foreign worker you plan to hire. We handle the analysis and paperwork to ensure your sponsored employees can apply for their visas with confidence and as swiftly as possible.
- Compliance:
- Sponsor Licence revocation: If your licence is at risk of being taken away by the Home Office, we help identify all the issues, fix them, and present a strong case to retain your licence.
- Home Office Audits: We support you through official inspections, making sure all your HR records and practices meet UK immigration standards.
- Mock Audits: We run practice checks to spot and fix any compliance problems before the Home Office inspects, helping you stay compliance visit ready and avoid penalties.
- Prevention of illegal working – Right to work Checks (link in with employment team for compliance with UK employment obligations): We help set up systems to verify that all your staff, including foreign employees, are legally allowed to work in the UK.
- HR Training and solutions: We train your HR team so they fully understand the rules, maintain proper records, and efficiently handle immigration-related tasks.
- TUPE, company restructuring, administration, and insolvency: When your business goes through changes like mergers, restructuring, or insolvency, we ensure that sponsored workers remain compliant and authorised to work in the UK, minimising disruption during the transition.
- Ad-hoc advice: For any unexpected issues or one-off questions about UK immigration, we are here to provide timely, tailored guidance to keep your business on the right track.
Key Services – Visas:
While sponsored visas are often the most appropriate route for hiring overseas workers, they are not the only option. At Michelmores, we take a holistic approach to immigration, carefully evaluating all potential pathways to ensure we identify the best and most cost-effective solution for your business. Our expert team provides comprehensive advice to help you meet your operational needs in a clear and practical manner.
Our key services include:
- Visiting the UK for business: We help you understand and meet the requirements for short-term business visits, ensuring your overseas staff can attend meetings, conferences, or training sessions in the UK without unnecessary hurdles.
- Skilled Worker visa applications: We guide professionals through the application process, ensuring they meet the criteria to work long-term in skilled roles for UK employers.
- Global Business Mobility visa applications:
- UK Expansion Worker: If you are setting up a new UK branch of your overseas company, we help secure the visa for key staff who will lead that expansion.
- Graduate Trainee: For international graduates gaining UK experience as part of a structured training program, we handle the eligibility checks and visa paperwork.
- Senior or specialist worker: We assist in bringing your company’s experienced professionals to the UK for specialist projects or leadership roles.
- Service supplier: If you are a contracted supplier to a UK business, we ensure you have the correct visa to carry out your project in the UK.
- Secondment: For overseas employers with a high-value (£50m+) contract with a UK organisation, we help you navigate the visa requirements so that a suitable member of your overseas team can be swiftly seconded to the UK organisation.
- Scale up visa applications: For fast-growing UK companies looking to hire top global talent, we manage the visa process so you can bring in high-skilled workers to drive your growth.
- Creative worker visa applications: For those in the arts, entertainment, or creative industries, we make the visa process straightforward so you can focus on performing and contributing to the UK’s cultural scene.
- Seasonal worker visa applications: If you need to bring in overseas workers for seasonal roles, such as in agriculture or hospitality, we will guide you through securing the correct visas.
- Government Authorised Exchange visa (including Internship visa) applications: We help you join approved programs that offer work experience in the UK, ensuring a smooth application and compliance with all requirements. We also help UK businesses obtain suitable visas for their interns from overseas.
- Religious workers visa applications: For clergy and religious workers coming to serve in UK faith communities.
- Global Talent visa applications: If you are a recognised leader or an up-and-coming star in fields like arts, science, research, academia or technology, we help you secure a visa that acknowledges your exceptional talent.
- Innovator Founder visa applications: For entrepreneurs with bold, scalable business ideas, we guide you through the Innovator Founder visa process, helping you launch and grow your business in the UK.
- Youth Mobility Scheme visa applications: We simplify the visa application process allowing young people from participating countries to live, work, or study in the UK.
- Graduate visa applications: Recent Student visa graduates can stay and work in the UK after their studies. We ensure the application process runs smoothly so you can start your post-study career with ease.
- High Potential Individual visa applications: For recent international graduates of top global universities, we assist in obtaining a visa that lets you live and work in the UK without a job offer, allowing you to make the most of your skillset and potential.
- UK Ancestry visa applications: If you have a grandparent born in the UK, we help confirm your eligibility and secure this visa, enabling you to live and work in the UK based on your ancestry.
- Settlement / Indefinite Leave to Remain applications: After you have spent two, three, five, or ten years in the UK with lawful residence, we advise on the requirements for permanent residency, ultimately freeing you from immigration restrictions.
- British citizenship applications: We guide you through the process of becoming a British citizen, ensuring a smooth and hassle-free path to a British passport.
- Administrative Review: If you have received a refusal decision, we review the outcome and ascertain the merits to challenge the Home Office or otherwise find an alternative strategy to meet your immigration goals.
- Judicial Review: We can take your case to the courts to challenge decisions made by the Home Office.
- Appeals: If your visa or immigration request is turned down, we can represent you in the appeals process, building a strong case to overturn the initial decision.
Highlights:
- Securing a Sponsor Licence and 4 associated Skilled Worker visas for an Artificial Intelligence start up tech business, ensuring the company could attract and retain the very best tech specialists from around the globe.
- Supporting a North American finance firm to move skilled staff from their US operation in to their London office, thus facilitating their rapid growth in the UK market. This included securing 3 separate visas and providing Level 1 User support
- Advising and assisting a high-end events and marketing business secure and retain specialist talent to support with the completion a contract for luxury retail and alcohol brands. We supported the business in establishing the necessary policies and practices to render them eligible to become a sponsor. We then successfully applied for their sponsor licence, a skilled worker visa, a skilled worker visa extension and provided them with general ad hoc immigration support to ensure their continued compliance with their sponsor obligations.
- Securing multiple entry visit visas for overseas company directors to allow them to attend Board meetings and social events in the UK on a regular basis and at short notice.
- Providing immigration support to a large national financial advisory firm as part of their numerous acquisitions each year. This involves reviewing extensive materials from sellers to determine immigration risks and issues, and supporting our client to minimise these risks to ensure the viability of the acquisitions and minimal damage to their reputation.
- Auditing a large part of an international media agency to identify issues with their onboarding processes, including their right to work checks. Working with the company to mitigate the risk, identify changes to practices and policies to avoid similar issues in the future and providing training to members of staff involved in the onboarding process.
- Guiding a national well-known retailer with a Compliance Visit following identification of breaches of their sponsor duties.
