Our Business Immigration team emphasizes the efficient and flexible handling of immigration matters, whilst working cooperatively with our clients' human resources and corporate legal staff. We advise on the wide range of immigration issues relevant to businesses, including:

• the operation of the five-tiered Points Based System (PBS);
• employers' duties and responsibilities under the PBS's sponsorship management system;
• sponsorship licences for employers under the PBS;
• Tier 1 visas for highly skilled migrants;
• Tier 2 visas for workers who will be sponsored by their employer or who are being transferred to the UK from a group company;
• preventing illegal working and potential liabilities for employers and their directors for illegally employing a migrant worker
• sole representative visas for overseas organisations sending their first employee to the UK to set up business here;
• extensions to work permits and Highly Skilled Migrant Programme visas obtained before the PBS came into force;
• further leave to remain and indefinite leave to remain in the UK;
• working holiday maker visas.

Our capabilities extend beyond obtaining the relevant visas for our clients. As a full service law firm we are in a strong position to also advise on the bigger picture, including:

• drafting offer letters and contracts of employment which are conditional upon the migrant worker's right to work in the UK;
• minimising an employer's exposure when terminating a migrant worker's UK employment;
• compliance with employment laws;
• advising on the tax issues arising from relocating employees including employer tax issues and the taxation of secondment packages;
• advising on the applicability and tax treatment of overseas stock option plans to ex-pats in the UK;
• drafting secondment agreements for temporary transfers of staff from group companies to the UK;
• company secretarial services for UK subsidiary companies;
• drafting or adapting for UK and EU use commercial agreements such as licences, channel or partnering agreements.

Our team has had remarkable success in handling complex and unusual cases as well as routine matters for clients ranging from multinational corporations to high net worth individuals and inward investors. We have an impressive success rate including extremely complex cases where we have to act urgently to meet clients' last minute logistical demands and avoid any adverse impact on their business plans.

Lloyd Davey
t +44 (0)118 925 2108
lloyd.davey@osborneclarke.com