Solicitors say they can buy super priority service for us, can they?

[HelpingMyHusband]

Good evening all,

As the username suggests, I am here to help my Libyan husband obtain his final indefinite leave to remain on the SET ILR LR route.

Now we are looking into getting the super priority decision option on the GOV UKVI website but struggling to find the right time to get it. Tried logging in at 1am as suggested elsewhere on these boards but no luck. Only the standard service is available.

I have come across a solictors group called Name removed by Moderator online and spoken to their managing director Name removed by Moderator, who says for £250 + VAT (so £300) they can guarantee submission of my application on super priority decision.

We just have to pay them the full £3885 + £1000 + £300 = £4185

In other words give them the full Home Office fees alongside their payment so they can make the payment to GOV UKVI on our behalf.

Is this a red flag?

It feels to me and my husband that we are giving the solicitors a lot of money should something go wrong.

Is this normal practice among immigration solicitors to request the full application fees alongside their own cut at the same time?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

[HelpingMyHusband]

Good morning again all,

Seperate set of questions but still linked to my husband's ILR - LR (10 years) application.

My husband's immigration timeline is this:
Husband entered the UK on 11 February 2011 without documentation.
Application made for asylum around this time (due to tensions in Libya/Arab Spring).
Temporary admission reporting began around this time.
Asylum rejected circa. 2012
Husband absconded temporary reporting measures
Met me (British citizen from birth) circa. January 2013
Further Submissions sent 2.10.13
Married 24.2.14
Husband received his first grant of DLR (2.5 years) for family life on 13.6.14.
He submitted an in-time application for a FLR(M) visa on 12.12.16.
First British Daughter born 11.11.17
Instead of FLR(M), another DLR (2.5 years) for family life was granted on 26.3.19.
Submitted an in-time application for FLR on 22.9.21
Second British daughter born on 20.7.22
Received FLR(private family life) on 30.11.22
Completed 10 years on combined visa categories on 13.6.24

My husband has never left the UK during this entire time as he has no passport. After we applied for it, the Home Office gave him a Certificate of Travel in 2015 but it was a one off/could not be renewed and ultimately useless as we could not use it to travel to Libya to get him a passport without breaking terms of his DL visa.

Passed English B2 test (Trinity College London) : 9.7.23 (valid for 2 years, correct?)
Passed Life in UK test: 4.12.24

My queries/concerns with his now current ILR application are as follows:

1. Under "Immigration History - what date did you enter the UK" we have put the date of 13.6.14 when he got his first grant of DL visa while in the UK.

Technically he arrived to thhe UK in February 2011 however his asylum was refused and he temproarily absconded from reporting so from what I understand as this was the date (13.6.14) when his 10 year continuous legal period started with the visas, we should put 13.6.14. Is this correct?

2. Does the fact that my husband does not have a passport/national Libyan documents (disregarding a Libyan drivong license with certified translation) mean that that this is goibg to be a complex decision for the HO and it is pointless to try for the Super Priority service/going for the standard royte would be betfer?

If we applied (via solicitor) for Super priority and UKVI later tell us it will be a complex case and take longer will they refund us the £1000 fee?

3. Under "Employment" we have put that my husband is a Private Hire Driver (Uber), but we are struggling with what to put down for annual earnings (as it is not a fixed salary, income is based on hours of work/gig economy) and my husband only started this new job on 6th Jan 2024, so he has yet to earn his full annual income. How accurate do we have to be with an estimate?

With regards to business address and company director, we just google searched the Uber headquarters in London, which came up with
Uber London Limited
Aldgate Tower - First Floor
2 Leman Street
London
E1 8fa

Telephone number
08081697335

There were 4x company direcgors so we just picked one... names removed by moderator

Is this all going to be ok with UKVI?

4. Although there was no question asking for it in the application, do we need to include in this application somewhere the fact that my husband is including 3C leave? He only received 3x FLR visas over the qualifying 10 years as it took so long between certain applications to receive an answer!

5. Finally, under "Travel History UK" it asks if my husband ever was refused asylum. We answered yes but we have lost the date/letter when he was officially refused asylum in 2012.

February 2011 was when my husband entered the UK, not when the asylum was refused, however it is the only date we can be confident about. Will this be ok to use as a date?

We have added thsi as explanation in the application:
"Give more details of what happened:
I was denied asylum in the UK in 2012 after I first arrived in February 2011. I was required to remain in the UK under temporary admission. I later made a fresh submissions claim in October 2013 on the basis of my private family life (engagement and later marriage to my British wife on 24th February 2014). This led to my discretionary leave being granted on 13th June 2014 which then began my 10 year route to ILR."

That's all my questions.

Thank you for taking the time to read all and thank you very very much whoever is brave to give me some answers!

[alterhase58]

Do not post names of solicitor firms or their staff!
The board does not recommend/endorse third party legal services.

https://www.gov.uk/faster-decision-visa-settlement
Solicitor fees are your choice, I doubt they can guarantee super priority services.
If solicitor submits on your behalf they have to make payment at time of submission.

[HelpingMyHusband]

I just wanted to add on Question 2, I do have my British passport, our 2x kids British passports, our joint mortgage paperwork and full utility bills including husband's mobile phone records for past 2 years to prove UK residency.

Will this be enough to make the case not so complex for UKVI to resolve/will it be possible still to get a decision on Super Prioriy service regardless of lack of passport/national ID docs?

Many thanks.

[HelpingMyHusband]

Do not post names of solicitor firms or their staff!
The board does not recommend/endorse third party legal services.

https://www.gov.uk/faster-decision-visa-settlement
Solicitor fees are your choice, I doubt they can guarantee super priority services.
If solicitor submits on your behalf they have to make payment at time of submission.

Apologies, it has been nearly 5 years since I last used these boards and I was unaware of this rule.

In any case I thought it might be ok to mention a firm or name which is freely available through a web search. I apologise again if I did something wrong.

I suppose in principle I just wanted some experienced person on these boards to give their opinion if it is normal practice for an immigration solicitor to offer this type of service (and to request full UKVI application fees on top of their fees and to pay for the application on our behalf).

My husband and I are tempted to use this service but we just want to make sure our money is safe.

The firm in question does appear to be regulated by the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority) and the ILPA (Immigration Law Practitioners Association)

[alterhase58]

The £300 (incl VAT) is purely a solicitors fee - there's not a specific UKVI immigration fee schedule for solicitors.

[CR001]

Anyone who says they can guarantee something to do with immigration should generally be avoided.

There is no guarantee. You have as much chance of getting super priority as the solicitor, rhey don't get any advantage or preference. Availability of super priority also depends on ukvi capacity.

Of course a solicitor will want to do the whole application and you pay the solicitors, this is normal business practice and until you get a decision, you will be at the solicitors mercy to keep you informed, many don't especially when things go wrong.

Using a solicitor is not some magic work around. Many applicants have been very badly let down by solicitors and it is the applicant that suffers the consequences.

Also not that even if you get super priority, it is not a guaranteed service either, even more so for complex cases.

We just have to pay them the full £3885 + £1000 + £300 = £4185

Ilr is £2885 plus £1000 if you can get super priority. Seems the solicitor is charging you £1300.

[HelpingMyHusband]

Anyone who says they can guarantee something to do with immigration should generally be avoided.

There is no guarantee. You have as much chance of getting super priority as the solicitor, rhey don't get any advantage or preference. Availability of super priority also depends on ukvi capacity.

Of course a solicitor will want to do the whole application and you pay the solicitors, this is normal business practice and until you get a decision, you will be at the solicitors mercy to keep you informed, many don't especially when things go wrong.

Using a solicitor is not some magic work around. Many applicants have been very badly let down by solicitors and it is the applicant that suffers the consequences.

Also not that even if you get super priority, it is not a guaranteed service either, even more so for complex cases.

We just have to pay them the full £3885 + £1000 + £300 = £4185

Ilr is £2885 plus £1000 if you can get super priority. Seems the solicitor is charging you £1300.

Thanks for your advice.

Just to clarify, my mistake, the fees by the solicitor were £2885 for ILR application + £1000 for super priority service + £300 fee for them checking the application wording before sending it off to UKVI on our behalf on super priority service.

So £4185 for us to pay solicitor in total.

They said they offer a guarantee that if they don't/can't get the super priority they would refund us the full £3885 amont of UKVI fees. But they said they have 100% track record of securing super priority options for their clients.

It sounds to me that you are saying it is usual practice for immigration solicitors to ask for full amount including application and super priority service fees and there is nothing unusual with solicitors paying UKVI on our behalf?

[zimba]

Solicitors are mostly useless, and I do not understand why many tend to rush to them in return for often extremely terrible and incorrect advice. They offer very little value beyond the advice available online, and their fees are pretty high. Anyway, you will have to pay them the full amount, as they will apply and pay on your behalf.

Also see: ** READ BEFORE YOU ASK ** There’s a limit on how many people can apply for a faster decision

[zimba]

1. The date he initially entered the UK. This date is not relevant for decision-making
2. No. UKVI may decide an application is complex for all sorts of reasons. You cannot predict it in advance. Also under long residence, a person has to apply on their own and qualify on their own. Their relationship, spouse, children, etc do not matter at all. The doc list may ask for evidence of these in error but you do not need to provide any.
3. The employment status is not relevant under the long residence route. Do not worry much
4. No. The UKVI knows the rules. You do not need to add anything
5. Provide whatever details you have or to the best of your knowledge

[HelpingMyHusband]

Thanks for your response Zumba.

I just want to query your answer given for question 1.

On the ILR - LR application form, when completing the section on "Immigration History" and the question "When did you first enter the UK?" above the box for the date required this guidance is given:
(Required)
This is the date you entered the UK when the period of stay you are basing this application on started.

This is where the confusion lies, because although my husband entered the UK on the 11th February 2011, the 10 years of continuous legal remain that he is basing the application on started on 13th June 2014.

If the Home Office are looking to validate my husband's leave to remain period from the 11th February 2011 I fear they will disqualify him, as during this time (before 13th June 2014) he was refused asylum and temporarily absconded from reporting, etc.

However, he was already in the UK when his 10 year leave to remain began on 14th June 2014, so this really isn't an easy question for me to work out how to answer.

Perhaps I am getting confused by the semantics, but the way the question is worded doesn't really help and I don't wish to lose £2885 due to answering/understanding a question wrong.

Thank you for puzzling this one out for me.

[zimba]

You have to understand that how you feel about the answers on the form is irrelevant. The immigration system is a rule-based system. The long residence rules do NOT care about the historical 10 years at all as the 10 years are counted from the date of the ILR decision and backwards as per the rules. Again, the answer on the form has NO relevance for such a calculation. Note that you are not the first person to ask this question as we have answered this hundreds of times before.

Read: Lawful and continuous residence changes to Long Residence route from 11 April 2024

[HelpingMyHusband]

You have to understand that how you feel about the answers on the form is irrelevant. The immigration system is a rule-based system. The long residence rules do NOT care about the historical 10 years at all as the 10 years are counted from the date of the ILR decision and backwards as per the rules. Again, the answer on the form has NO relevance for such a calculation. Note that you are not the first person to ask this question as we have answered this hundreds of times before.

Read: Lawful and continuous residence changes to Long Residence route from 11 April 2024

Aha ! Right so that clears a lot up for me. I hadn't appreciated the fact that the decision maker counts the 10 years of legal continous remain backwards from the date of the (future) ILR decision.

Thanks Zumba.

Respectfully, if I knew all the answers as you and the other moderators do I would not have made this account and I would not be on this website. Thank you for providing me with other links. I will read through them.

My feelings of anxiety are prompted only by the huge financial risks involved in getting anything unwittingly answered wrongly on the application form, due to not fully understanding the question being asked (especially when the supporting messages on the application form as I put in bold above are not particularly clear). I have heard the horror stories from other applicants of UKVI denying applications due to this, forcing the applicant to pay thousands of pounds again in additional submissions.

So to recap:

I will put 11th February 2011 as the entry date of my husband in the UK.

And although technically the date of his 10 year continous leave to remain could only have started on 13th June 2014, if we work backwards, he has already stayed in the UK on legal leave to remain for longer than 10 years (since we are well past 13th June 2024), so this time requirement has already been clearly met.

Again thank you for your time.

[Joe_vat]

While solicitors can assist with the super priority service, they cannot guarantee its availability. It's common for them to charge for their services separately, but asking for the full application fees upfront can be a red flag. Be cautious and consider seeking a second opinion or checking reviews to ensure the solicitor is reputable.

[Casa]

This is the paragraph which would concern me most:

"They said they offer a guarantee that if they don't/can't get the super priority they would refund us the full £3885 amont of UKVI fees. But they said they have 100% track record of securing super priority options for their clients!"

[Lj03]

Good evening,

It's common for reputable solicitors to charge their service fee separately and let applicants handle Home Office payments directly. Guaranteeing a super priority slot is questionable since no legal representatives have privileged access to appointments. Be cautious and verify the firm's accreditation and reviews before proceeding. Paying such a large sum upfront can be risky.