Public and third sector services
GOV.UK provides extensive information on immigration and visas, covering what you need to do about visas, EU, EEA and Commonwealth citizens, visiting the UK, studying in the UK, working in the UK, family in the UK, living permanently in the UK, seeking protection or asylum, immigration appeals and status problems, and travelling to the UK.
Citizens Advice provides extensive and detailed information on immigration, providing the information you need to make the right choices, including problems with applications and documents, visas for family and friends, staying in the uk, asylum and refugees, trafficking, deportation and living in the UK illegally.
The Electronic Immigration Network (EIN), a registered charity, is the UK’s largest specialist provider of information on immigration and asylum case law and country information via the internet. Online since 1998, EIN provides an online resource for immigration practitioners and for others with an interest in immigration, including immigrants and asylum seekers, students, journalists, judges, academics and researchers.
UK Visas and Immigration is part of the Home Office and manages border control, enforcing immigration and customs regulations. They also consider applications for permission to enter or stay in the UK, citizenship and asylum. The site is an extensive source of information UK immigration control, citizenship and asylum and provides information for people overseas as well as for people already here.
The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) is an independent public body set up under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. It is responsible for ensuring that all immigration advisers fulfill the requirements of good practice. The site contains a facility to search for regulated organisations and advisers by area. Parts of the site are available in many different languages.
Right to Remain is a not for profit human rights organisation which works with communities, groups and organisations across the UK, providing information, resources, training and assistance to help people to establish their right to remain, and to challenge injustice in the immigration and asylum system. They produce accessible resources – such as the Right to Remain Toolkit and legal updates blog – and deliver community training, so that people can navigate the UK asylum and immigration system and take practical action in their legal case.
Find an immigration adviser
Contact Citizens Advice to speak to someone in person about an immigration problem. You can get free advice for simple problems and they can recommend advisers if your situation is more complex.
GOV.UK has a useful page to help Find an immigration adviser.
OISC regulates immigration advisers and offers an Adviser Finder search facility.
Use the Law Society’s Find a Solicitor page to find immigration solicitors in England and Wales.
Use the Law Society of Scotland’s Find a Solicitor page.
Use the Law Society of Northern Ireland’s Solicitor Directory.
Other useful resources
Free Movement is a web service run by Colin Yeo, barrister. His mission is to make good quality and clear information available to all those affected by immigration control: migrants themselves, their families, their lawyers and their judges. Immigration law has become very complex in the UK and changes very rapidly; we make it simple, or at least understandable. The site provides blog posts, training courses, a forum and provides fixed price legal advice to members of the public.
Richmond Chambers Immigration Barristers is an innovative partnership of specialist immigration barristers. Their Knowledge Centre (available in English, Russian, Chinese and Arabic) has a lot of free and useful information on immigration law issues facing both individuals and businesses. They publish several new articles every week, including how-to guides, FAQs, updates on changes in the rules and case-law updates. The articles cover all areas of immigration law and are accessible via a searchable database.
