Under SRA Transparency Rules, we are required to publish price and service information regarding our Immigration and Employment Tribunals services.
Fees for our legal services
We have set out below our average fee estimates covering some of the most common types of immigration applications.
The costs for the various applications can vary depending on your circumstances, including where you currently live, your previous immigration history, whether you have access to the correct documentation in a timely manner and the amount of supporting evidence we have to review and time to prepare the application.
Additional factors you need to consider are the Home Office processing times, whether you will be interviewed and in the event of your application being deferred for consideration by a more senior Caseworker at the Home Office.
The immigration rules in the UK are complex and subject to frequent changes.
Value Added Tax (VAT)
VAT is a tax added to most products and services sold by VAT-registered businesses. In the UK, the VAT rate is 20%. The fees listed do not include VAT at 20% which you will incur in most cases.
What our services include
When you instruct DavidsonMorris in connection with any of the visa types as listed below, our services include:
*the time this will take depends on the number of documents, whether they need to be translated, whether anything is missing and how long it will take to obtain any missing documents.
Please note that we also offer advice or assistance in relation to appeals. Our appeal services are not included in the fees above but we can discuss fee estimates for this with you separately.
All of the above types of visa applications must be supported by the relevant documentation and presented to the Home Office in accordance with their guidelines. We will ensure that you receive clear instructions on the type and format of the documentation and whether any of the documents need to be attested or translated.
If you need assistance to obtain certain documents, such as a letter from your bank or medical records, we will contact the provider and arrange to obtain the documentation.
Fixed Fee Arrangements
In many cases for the visa applications listed below, once we have reviewed your circumstances and satisfied that you are eligible to apply, we charge for our service on a fixed fee arrangement. This means that even if the work on your application takes longer than initially anticipated there will be no additional charges unless there is a significant change to your circumstances or instructions.
Our hourly rates
These fees are calculated by reference to our hourly rates which vary depending on the experience of the lawyer carrying out the work.
Our hourly rate ranges from:
When we commence working with you, you will be advised of the fee estimate at the outset.
Immigration service | Fee (excl VAT @20%)* |
| Naturalisation / Registration as a British citizen | £1,500 |
| Applications on behalf EEA nationals and their family members | £1,500 |
| Spouse, partners fiancé(e)s or proposed civil partners | £2,065 |
| Sole Representatives | £7,500 |
| High Potential Individual | £1,500 – £2,000 |
| Visitor visas | £1,500 – £,2700 |
| Global Talent route | £3,500 – £5,000 |
| Graduate Entrepreneurs | £5,500 |
| Tier 1 Investors | £17,500 – £55,000 |
| Tier 1 Entrepreneurs | £12,500 – £35,000 |
| Ancestry visas | £1,500 |
| Long residence | £2,065 |
| Discretionary leave | £3,500+ |
* Please note that these are standard fees for standard services. Complex applications may be subject to a different fee structure. Please contact us for details or to discuss your specific requirements.
Disbursements are costs that are payable to third parties, such as visa fees.
As with our fees, the below disbursements exclude VAT. We have marked where VAT at 20% may be chargeable but we will confirm whether VAT is payable when you instruct us.
Home Office costs
Any Home Office and official fees for submitting the application. These vary depending on the type of application you are making.
Please see the following link for further information: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visa-regulations-revised-table
Expert witnesses costs
Fees of independent expert witnesses where required. The cost of the expert witness may also incur VAT at 20%.
Costs for interpreters / translations
In the event that you will need the services of an interpreter or your documents need to be translated, we will confirm the costs of the service. Interpreter fees which vary depending on what language you speak and the amount of time spent by the interpreter. The cost of the interpreter may also incur VAT at 20%.
Translated documents
The Home Office will only accept documents that have been translated by a specialist company, which means you will incur costs for translating documents and you may also incur VAT at 20%.
Counsel fees
Counsel’s fees which may be incurred for ad hoc advice on complex issues, or representation either before the Home Office or Tribunal hearings. The average hourly rate for Counsel is £250-£450 per hour depending on the level of experience, knowledge and skill. In most cases Counsels fees also incur VAT at 20%.
Travel & accommodation costs
We are regularly requested to meet our clients in person when they are applying from outside the UK. In addition to our fees, we charge for flight and accommodation expenses.
Once your application has been submitted to the Home Office, our work is to liaise with the Home Officials on your behalf until a decision has been made and your documents returned. Unfortunately for certain types of applications such as Long Residency and Discretionary Leave, the processing times can take 6 – 9 months.
As a firm, we have been delivering immigration legal advice for over 18 years.
Our Managing Director, Anne Morris, has almost 30 years of experience as an immigration lawyer, and is supported by a team of advisers with different levels of experience.
We have ten members of the team who may work on your matter. Regardless of who works on your matter, they will be supervised by Anne Morris, our MD.
Find out more about our people here.
Fees for our employment tribunal service
Our fees for defending claims brought against your business for unfair and wrongful dismissal are based on three bands, which we will be happy to discuss with you.
We will advise you of the funding options available to you, for example, using any commercial legal expenses insurance your business is covered by.
Every case is different; there are different issues in each case. A case can be heard over one day but depending on the issues in the case and the number of witnesses; a case can be heard over a week or longer in more complex cases. Shorter simple cases will naturally be less expensive than longer more complex cases.
Simple case defined as: One day hearing with two witnesses attending:
Medium complex case defined as: Two Day hearing and more than two witnesses:
High complex case defined as: Three or more days hearing and more than two witnesses:
The information on costs is an estimate of our charges and they are not fixed fees. We assess each case on its own facts and will give a concise estimate for work to be carried out on your behalf.
Costs information provided here is for guidance purposes only and is not indicative of costs in all similar claims before an Employment Tribunal which depends on the facts of the case, nor does it create any binding costs estimate on the firm.
Costs will vary depending on the details of each case, and once we assess your case, we provide you with more concise estimates for work. You may have legal expenses insurance cover for the costs of an Employment Tribunal claim.
If your claim were to be settled at any time during the proceedings, this would affect the overall cost to you.
Value Added Tax (VAT)
VAT is a tax added to most products and services sold by VAT-registered businesses. In the UK, the VAT rate is 20%. The fees listed do not include VAT at 20% which you will incur in most cases.
What is included in our fee
The work that is included in our fee:
What is not included in our fee
The work that is not included in our fee:
Employment service |
Price (excl VAT @20%) |
| Settlement agreements | From £500 |
| Case review | From £350 |
| Hourly rates |
|
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees.
As with our fees, disbursements exclude VAT. We have marked where VAT at 20% may be chargeable but we will confirm whether VAT is payable, and at what rate, when you instruct us.
Counsel fees
Counsel’s (Barrister’s) fees estimated in the table above (depending on the experience of the advocate) for attending a Tribunal Hearing (including preparation).
Expert witnesses costs
Fees of independent expert witnesses where required. The cost of the expert witness may also incur VAT at 20%.
Interpreter / Document translation costs
In the event that you will need the services of an interpreter or your documents need to be translated, we will confirm the costs of the service. Interpreter fees which vary depending on what language you speak and the amount of time spent by the interpreter. The cost of the interpreter may also incur VAT at 20%.
Translated document costs
The Court will only accept documents that have been translated by a specialist company, which means you will incur costs for translating documents and you may also incur VAT at 20%.
The time that it takes from initial instructions to the final resolution of a case will depend primarily on the stage at which the case is resolved.
A one-day Employment Tribunal claim could take 6-12 months from the issue of the claim to a final hearing and is entirely subject to when an Employment Tribunal can hear the case. In the South East and London regions, cases can take at least six months to be listed for hearing.
Other Employment Tribunal regions may vary.
Exclusions & factors which may make an employment tribunal case more complex
Our employment tribunal services are delivered by specialist employment law solicitors.
The team is led by a senior employment law partner who has been working in this area for more than 31 years, supported by 5 solicitors with between 3 and 17 years of experience in the area.
Junior solicitors and members of staff are supported at all times and supervised appropriately to ensure a high quality of advice, regardless of who is working on the case.
In addition, the paralegals provide support to the solicitors and work on day to day aspects of cases. Although they are not legally qualified, they have between 3 and 5 years of experience, have received extensive training and work under the direct supervision of a solicitor with at least 19 years post qualification experience.
DavidsonMorris Ltd t/a DavidsonMorris Solicitors is a company Registered in England & Wales No. 6183275
Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority No. 542691
Registered Office: Level 30, The Leadenhall Building, 122 Leadenhall Street, London, EC3V 4AB
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