Immigration Solicitor

Spencer West Partnership Ltd is a legal consultancy company providing services to Spencer West LLP, a global law firm. Our Birmingham-based immigration practice provides comprehensive UK immigration services to businesses and individuals. Our work covers business immigration, sponsor licensing and compliance, personal and family immigration, settlement, nationality, asylum and human rights matters. We are committed to delivering accurate, practical and client-focused advice in a professional and supportive working environment.

We are seeking an experienced, commercially aware and client-focused immigration solicitor to join our Birmingham practice. The successful candidate will report directly to Stephen Kong, Partner and senior immigration solicitor, while independently managing an allocated caseload. The role requires sound professional judgement, a strong sense of case ownership and file responsibility, and the ability to progress matters proactively from initial instruction through to completion. The position offers exposure to a broad range of business and personal immigration matters. It is intended for an experienced immigration solicitor who can work with appropriate autonomy, take responsibility for their files and seek guidance or escalate issues when necessary.

Key Responsibilities

• Advising businesses and individuals on UK immigration, nationality and related human rights matters.
• Managing an allocated caseload from initial instruction through to submission, decision and any necessary post-decision work.
• Taking ownership of each allocated matter and accepting responsibility for its accuracy, progress, deadlines and overall file management.
• Conducting initial consultations, identifying relevant immigration options and providing clear, practical and commercially focused advice.
• Assessing eligibility, legal risks, evidential requirements, costs and likely timescales.
• Preparing and submitting immigration and nationality applications.
• Drafting detailed legal representations, advice letters, statements, client correspondence and other legal documents.
• Reviewing application forms and supporting evidence for accuracy, completeness and consistency.
• Conducting legal and factual research using legislation, the Immigration Rules, Home Office guidance, policy materials and relevant case law.
• Advising employers on sponsor licence applications, sponsor duties, compliance, right-to-work requirements and sponsored-worker matters.
• Handling personal and family immigration, settlement, nationality, asylum, human rights and further-submissions cases as appropriate.
• Identifying weaknesses, discrepancies or evidential gaps and taking timely steps to resolve them.
• Maintaining complete and accurate electronic files, including appropriate document naming, filing and version control.
• Ensuring that clients’ original physical documents are safely received, recorded, organised, stored and returned.
• Maintaining clear case plans and task lists and proactively following up outstanding information or evidence.
• Monitoring immigration status, visa-expiry dates, appointments, procedural requirements and all other relevant deadlines.
• Keeping clients properly informed about progress, risks, costs and the next steps in their matters.
• Liaising professionally with the Home Office, counsel, experts and other relevant third parties.
• Supervising and directing paralegals in the progression and management of immigration matters.
• Reviewing work prepared by paralegals and providing clear instructions, corrections and feedback.
• Contributing to business development, client relationships and the growth of the immigration practice.
• Using approved artificial-intelligence tools responsibly to assist with research, document review, case preparation and drafting.
• Independently verifying every AI-assisted output against the case evidence and authoritative legal sources, applying a zero-tolerance approach to hallucinations, invented facts, inaccurate citations and unverified legal propositions.
• Complying with all applicable professional, regulatory, confidentiality and data-protection obligations.

Essential Qualifications, Skills and Attributes

• Qualification as a solicitor of England and Wales with a current practising certificate.
• Relevant experience managing UK immigration matters in private practice or another regulated legal environment.
• Sound knowledge of UK immigration law, the Immigration Rules and relevant Home Office procedures.
• A strong sense of case ownership and file responsibility.
• Willingness to accept full day-to-day responsibility for the accuracy, organisation, progression and timely completion of allocated files.
• Ability to work autonomously, exercise sound professional judgement and recognise when a matter should be escalated.
• Ability to analyse a client’s circumstances, identify viable options and provide clear and practical advice.
• Strong legal drafting skills and an excellent command of written English.
• Careful attention to detail, particularly when reviewing immigration histories, application forms and supporting evidence.
• Strong organisational and time-management skills, including the ability to manage competing priorities and strict deadlines.
• Professional and empathetic communication with clients from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
• Commercial awareness and an understanding of the importance of costs, proportionality and efficient case progression.
• Ability to supervise and direct paralegals and review their work effectively.
• Competence in Microsoft Office and confidence using electronic case-management and document-management systems.
• Either existing confidence in using AI-assisted tools or a genuine willingness to learn how to use them responsibly in legal practice.
• An understanding that AI output must never be accepted at face value and must always be independently verified.
• A dependable, ethical and client-focused approach.
• Sensitivity when advising vulnerable clients or handling confidential and distressing information.

Desirable Experience

• Experience across both business and personal immigration.
• Experience with sponsor licence applications, Skilled Worker matters, sponsor compliance and right-to-work issues.
• Experience with partner, parent, child, private-life, settlement and nationality applications.
• Experience preparing complex human rights, asylum or further-submissions cases.
• Experience drafting detailed representations and reviewing substantial supporting-document bundles.
• Experience responding to Home Office requests for further information, refusals or compliance concerns.
• Experience supervising and directing paralegals or other junior legal staff.
• Familiarity with legal case-management systems and AI-assisted research, review and drafting tools.
• An established interest in business development, professional networking or client education.
• Additional language skills, particularly Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Malay or Indonesian, would be advantageous but are not essential.

What We Offer

• A varied caseload covering business and personal UK immigration work.
• A direct reporting line to the Partner and senior immigration solicitor leading the practice.
• The autonomy to manage files and exercise professional judgement within an established legal practice.
• Opportunities to develop further expertise in complex immigration, nationality and human rights matters.
• Practical support in the responsible and accurate use of AI-assisted tools in legal practice.
• Opportunities to supervise and direct paralegals.
• A collaborative and supportive working environment.
• The opportunity to contribute to the development and growth of the immigration practice.