About

I have been working in UK immigration since 2007 and have seen a lot since then. I have benefitted from some excellent experience learning from leaders in the field, specialising in both corporate and high net worth immigration.

I came to UK immigration law after completing my own Highly Skilled Migrant Program visa application and moving here from Sydney via Sweden. I understand the excitement and anxiety that the journey brings and enjoy helping to enable the opportunity that any international move entails.

These days I have built up a specialism in sponsor compliance, having defended many sponsor licence suspensions and illegal working penalties which are a chance to highlight our firm's strength and depth in both employment and immigration. Although it is somewhat litigious in nature, it is resolving the issue as practically and amicably as possible which I relish.

I assist with the full range of immigration applications from complex naturalisation, global talent, creative worker, licences and all forms of sponsored visas to family and moves of large numbers of workers for big business projects both onshore and offshore. This spans the gambit of industries but in particular biotech, tech, AI, energy, medical, advertising, music and entertainment.

Immigration law is frequently driven by the policies behind it and as such I try to stay in touch with the policy makers, feed into their research and guidance and influence this wherever possible and appropriate. This also helps me to advise companies on where to take their own immigration policies in the future.

Experience

Business immigration

  • Strategising the best options to first bring an overseas business to the UK, help founders obtain permission to work in the UK and bring the talent they need to help their business grow
  • Providing training for HR teams to ensure immigration compliance and set up appropriate systems to operate effectively and efficiently
  • Utilising mock audits to assess where a company is at and help them be Home Office audit ready
  • Ensuring smooth and easy running of ongoing business immigration needs from small sponsors to large. Making the process as painless and friendly as possible for employers and employees alike
  • Coordinating large projects with large numbers of workers coming into the UK within a limited period of time

Personal immigration

  • Assessing options for individuals from EUSS to citizenship to family routes
  • Ensuring that individuals are set up for the full journey so that they can both come to the UK and settle in the UK if so desired
  • Ensuring the best option for individual priorities is utilised

Complex immigration matters

  • Defending a number of complicated illegal working penalties on the basis of employment status, always successfully
  • Rolling up my sleeves to aid sponsors in trouble with sponsor licence suspensions, by helping them assess the compliance issues, address these and negotiate with senior members of the Home Office to ensure they retain their licence and prevent further issues
  • Advising on various complicated and discretionary applications that have happily been won including obtaining new visas after previous illegal status and illegal working, overturning citizenship application refusals and obtaining favourable treatment after serious errors that would normally lead to deportation and bans from re-entry

Testimonials

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"Naomi Hanrahan-Soar is knowledgeable and well positioned to deal with matters which engage both employment and immigration issues. Her commercial slant makes her particularly suited to focusing on how litigation fits in with the client's overall aims."
Legal 500
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