ILR- Advantages of using a lawyer for ILR application.

[anuje]

Hi,
I was just wondering what are the advantages, pros/cons, if one uses an immigration lawyer for making an ILR application. Is the ILR application process in person a complicated one??? I will appreciate for any ideas or comment.
kind regards

[Sky_High]

If you apply in person, you will save 1000 cash and after ILR, afford a trip to France.

[whirly]

If you apply in person, you will save 1000 cash and after ILR, afford a trip to France.

This sounds misleading to me. Do you mean 'you will save 1000 cash' that you would have paid to the lawyer, in addition to the application fee? Because applying in person is still not cheap...£950 in person vs £750 via post.

anuje: on what basis are you applying for ILR? work? spouse? other? There are plenty of people who have shared their info on the boards. Search around... Chances are, you won't need a lawyer.

[misha06]

I guess it depends if your situation is straight forward or not.

When my OH applied for her ILR earlier this year, the application for was no more difficult than for her FLR, we sat down together filled the form in and gathered up the necessary documentation.

If anything sorting out all the necessary docs was the worst part, in terms of thinking how best to present them. In the end we just had seperate stapled piles of bills etc with labels stuck on summerising what the we were offering. We applied by post (saved a few quid)

The whole thing was sorted in a couple of hours on a wet sunday afternoon.

28 days later back came the passport with visa and a big heap of unstapled docs in a right mess

I would suggest if your application is straightforward and you have all the required documnentation, just put aside a bit of time and sort it yourself.

[William Blake]

In my experience there is no advantage to having a lawyer. They are largely useless. You are better off researching the info yourself and using a forum like this. Apart from their charges they chat a lot of nonsense and are often less informed that say people on this forum. Also the ones I have dealt with have produced documents with lots of errors in spelling and grammar which could only adversely affects your case and I dont understand how they could see that as acceptable.

However I have found the legal professionals on this forum to be actually well informed, like Jei2 for example (she is also very beautiful.)

[parvus1202]

The only best ILR application without soilicitors are 5 yr WP holder and British spouses. Others like long residence, asylum, illegal for many years, student to WP, etc, I think solicitor advice will help but not life or death necessary.

[goldfish]

If it is straightforward, I would not use a lawyer.

The only person who *really* has an interest in getting your application right is you! There are posts on this forum from people whose solicitors have submitted apps late, lost documents, etc. I realise that would definitely be a small minority but I would say avoid additional complexity (and cost) unless you have a reason.

Also, you might want to consider whether a lawyer or an immigration advisors is your best option. The immigration advisors have to be registered (OISC?) and often have a fixed fee for each type of application. Lawyers do not have to be registered and usually work on an hourly basis so it is difficult to estimate costs.

I did my HSMP and extension myself because I was determined that I would check every detail, and that my documents would only be in the hands of me, the courier, and the HO. If I had a complex application, I would use an immigration adviser. If I was rejected and wanted to appeal, then I would use a lawyer.

Good luck!

[William Blake]

If it is straightforward, I would not use a lawyer.

The only person who *really* has an interest in getting your application right is you! There are posts on this forum from people whose solicitors have submitted apps late, lost documents, etc. I realise that would definitely be a small minority but I would say avoid additional complexity (and cost) unless you have a reason.

I wonder just how widespread the problem is. I have spoken to a lot of solciitors. I even spoke to one who had been a solicitor for 11 years and could not answer a question which junior members on this forum readily knew the answer to. I wish there was tighter regualtion in that industry. I think they get away with costing for old rope. Like this idea of charging for advice. A lot of money per hour when what they tell you, you could just as easily research yourself. The issue for me is what value do they add to your case. I don't think its right to just pay someone because thats their rate when they actually are not producing anything worhtwhile. No employer would do that. I think we should not either. I have started terminating the conversation once I see that they don't grasp the basics. Seriously I think many of them are making money for doing nothing and getting away with it.

[anuje]

thanks everybody for your useful suggestions. i also feel with lot of useful information in this forum one can apply directly rather then through lawyer.

[misha06]

thanks everybody for your useful suggestions. i also feel with lot of useful information in this forum one can apply directly rather then through lawyer.

If you want an opinion on what docs to send and suchlike send me a pm.