Email: Immigration and Asylum Law
Geoffrey Harding (pictured right) is the BLS Immigration Supervisor who is accredited by the Law Society’s Immigration and Asylum Accreditation Scheme (IAAS) as a Supervisor and Level 2 Caseworker and by OISC (Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner) at Level 3. As well as putting a case to the Home Office, Geoffrey represents his clients at Immigration Tribunal and Appeals Tribunals when necessary.
Immigration and Asylum clients also receive advice and work on their cases from Harshida Khetia (pictured below right) who is authorised by OISC to give Level 2 advice.
Rebekah Bageya is a trainee solicitor (part-time - pictured bottom right) at BLS, now in her second year and working in the Immigration and Asylum department where Rebekah will work through the IAAS accreditation process to be able to advise clients.
Outreach
Clients from the refugee and newly immigrant community groups benefit from having legal advice on immigration matters available to them at a place they know, where they feel safe, and where translators can be available when necessary. To achieve this, the BLS Immigration caseworkers provide regular monthly outreach sessions, as follows:
- Sangam Asian Women’s Group (2nd Monday in the month, morning)
- East Finchley Advice Service (3rd Wednesday of the month, afternoon)
- New Barnet CAB (4th Thursday of the month, morning)
- Farsophone Association (4th Friday in the month, afternoon)
BLS undertakes:
- General advice on status
- All asylum cases
- All appeals (inc. asylum, dispersal, marriage applications, appeals outside the rules, deportation, non-compliance with support provisions, refusal of ILTR)
- Applications outside the Immigration Rules
- Judicial Review
- Complex Marriage Applications
- Human Rights Act Applications, Appeals and Judicial Review
- Advice on applications for naturalisation or travel documents
- Extensions of ELTR
BLS does not undertake:
- Detention Cases (generally, unless already an existing client or a member of client’s family)
- Applications for Naturalisation
- Applications for Travel Documents/Passports
- Initial Applications for NASS support