Legal
EXCLUSIVE: Law Firm Lewis Silkin On HNW Immigration

This publication recently spoke to UK law firm Lewis Silkin about its work in the HNW immigration field, a busy area with the recent changes to the country's investor visa regime.
Lewis Silkin is a UK-based law firm that recently voiced its views about high net worth immigration in to the UK and asked how competitive the country is as a jurisdiction of choice. The work in this area is an important one for this law firm and this publication recently questioned it about its work and trends in the immigration field. Answers were provided by Elin Harrysson; Olga Nechita and Andrew Osborne.
Background:
Lewis Silkin is a commercial law firm based in the City of
London, Oxford and Cardiff and covers the following areas:
employment, immigration and global mobility; media, brands and
technology; corporate and commercial; property, housing and
construction and litigation. The firm was formed in 1951 and now
has 61 partners and a total staff of around 320.
In terms of immigration, what are the main services you
provide and why?
Over the years, we have developed our practice as a response to
the needs and demands of our clients. We currently provide
assistance throughout the areas of immigration with a focus on
corporate immigration into the UK, immigration for high Net worth
individuals and global mobility.
Do you deal with only certain types of would-be
immigrant? Are there areas you don't deal in?
We deal with all corporate clients and private individuals but we
do not provide advice on asylum in the UK, as this type of
applications are usually publically funded and we are not
registered for this.
What would you say is the largest change in the type of
business that you do that has occurred recently?
The increased penalties for employing illegal workers and the
frequent publicity regarding compliance for businesses has made
for a steady increase of advice asked by corporate clients
over the past five years. In the past year the practice has
encountered a spike in global coordination work on behalf of
corporate clients as well as advising HNW individuals on
relocating to the UK and establishing businesses here.
Is there such a person as a typical client?
No. Our clients have various problems they need advice on and
this depends on a number of circumstances such as where the
client is from, what application they wish to make and whether
they can qualify to come to the UK.
Please set out some trends in terms of the type of work
you are doing and the sort of issues you are dealing
with.
In recent years, our immigration practice provides more and more
strategic advice particularly in relation to sponsor licence and
illegal working compliance duties in the UK and moving employees
globally. Additionally, the increased interest in the investor
route has also led to providing advice to an increased number of
wealthy individuals looking to establish themselves in the UK.
How will reforms/changes to the UK investor visa
programme work out, in your view? Do you think the system needs
further reform, and if so, why?
The UK remains a popular business, educational and social hub and
the increased investment threshold of £2 million ($3.2 million)
for the investor visa should not deter wealthy individuals from
coming to the UK. Any further changes to the categories of
investment should be implemented to benefit the UK economy and
continue to be attractive to foreign investors. There are a
number of competing investor programmes available worldwide, so
the investor route in the UK does need to continue to be reformed
to keep the UK as an attractive destination for high net worth
individuals.
What lessons can be learned from other countries' systems
of encouraging HNW immigrants (such as Canada, etc)?
The investor route in the UK must be reformed to avoid the fate
of other countries such as Canada where the investor route had to
be terminated. The changes to the categories of investment should
be introduced to allow both parties to benefit from the
investment. Currently, there is no incentive for our clients to
invest other than in the UK government bonds. Such investment
brings little to the UK economy in terms of funding for business
and little return for investors. Investor clients are
prepared to take higher risks and invest their funds in UK
business.
How does what you do relate, in your view, to the rest of
the UK wealth management industry?
We assist HNW individuals with their relocation to the UK. We
ensure that our clients invest their funds in correct instruments
in order to meet their conditions of stay in the UK as investors.
We strategically plan HNW individuals’ stay in the UK up to the
point of applying for British citizenship. We liaise with
specialist intermediaries from the wealth management industry to
ensure that our mutual clients conform to the investment and
residence rules to be able to retain their immigration status in
the UK. Often the requirements for the immigration purposes are
strict and any deviation from this may result in investor’s visa
being cancelled or an investor not being able to obtain permanent
residence or British citizenship.
There are now quite a few law firms operating in this
space. What would you say is your unique value
proposition?
Our specialist immigration lawyers draw on their extensive
experience to provide bespoke services to our clients. We take
pride in developing personal relationships with our clients and
not forcing our clients into a process driven environment. We
have qualified UK lawyers which advise clients in their native
language, and this in our experience, helps to establish long
term trust relationships. We belong to a global alliance which
gives us access to ‘best of breed’ law firms, with coverage in
more than 100 countries worldwide.