Worldwide Immigration
Terms & conditions
Our aim
We aim to offer our clients quality
legal advice with a personal service at a
fair cost. As a start, we hope it is helpful
to you to set out in this statement the basis
on which we will provide our professional
services.
Our commitment to
you
We will:
REPRESENT your interests and keep your business
confidential.
EXPLAIN to you the legal work which may be
required and the prospects of a successful
outcome.
KEEP YOU regularly informed of progress or,
if there is none, when you are next likely
to hear from us.
TRY to avoid using technical legal language
when writing to you – tell us when we
fail in this aim!
DEAL with your queries promptly, for example,
we will always try to return your telephone
calls on the same day.
Fees
For most immigration services we
operate a fixed fee arrangement. We will provide
you with an estimate of our likely fee and
agree that fee with you in advance of any
work commencing.
For complex or unusual matters, we may calculate
our charges by reference to the time actually
spent by the solicitors in respect of any
work which they do on your behalf. This will
include meetings with you and perhaps others,
reading and working on papers, correspondence,
preparation of any detailed costs calculations,
and time spent travelling away from the office
when this is necessary.
In certain circumstances we may require you
to pay the fee, or part of the fee, in advance
of work commencing.
Solicitors have to pay out various other expenses
on behalf of clients ranging from visa application
fees to courier costs and experts’ fees
and so on. We refer to such payments generally
as “disbursements”. You must reimburse
us for disbursements incurred in respect of
your matter. We have no obligation to make
such payments unless you have provided us
with the funds for that purpose.
If, for any reason, your matter does not proceed
to completion, we will be entitled to charge
you for work done and expenses incurred.
All fees and disbursements (where appropriate)
are subject to VAT.
Our hours of business
Our normal office hours are between
9.00 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. on weekdays. Messages
can be left on our voicemail outside those
hours and we will attempt to return all calls
on the same day.
People responsible for your work
We will always notify you
of the name and position of the individual
who will handle your application. We will
try to avoid changing the people who handle
your work but if this cannot be avoided, we
will tell you promptly of any change and why
it may be necessary.
The partners have final
responsibility for any work done by the firm.
Payment arrangements
Payment is due to us within
28 days of our sending you a bill. Interest
will be charged on a daily basis at 4 per
cent base rate from time to time from the
date of the bill in cases where payment is
not made within 28 days of delivery by us
of the bill.
Termination
You may terminate your instructions
to us in writing at any time but we will be
entitled to keep all your papers and documents
while there is money owing to us for our charges
and expenses. If at any stage you do not wish
us to continue doing work and/or incurring
charges and expenses on your behalf, you must
tell us this clearly in writing.
If we decide to stop acting
for you, for example, if you do not pay an
interim bill or comply with the request for
a payment on account, we will tell you the
reason and give you notice in writing.
Limited companies
When accepting instructions to act
on behalf of a limited company, we may require
a director to provide a copy of his passport
and the company’s most recent audited
accounts in order that we can satisfy current
money laundering legislation.
Individuals
When accepting instructions
on behalf of an individual, we may require
a copy of the individual’s passport
and a recent utility bill in his or her name
in order that we can satisfy current money
laundering legislation.
Communication between
you and us
Our aim is to offer all our clients
an efficient and effective service at all
times. We are proud of the service we provide
and our clients and our staff are of first
importance to us. We hope that you will be
pleased with the work we do for you. However,
should there be any aspect of our service
with which you are unhappy, please raise your
concern in the first place with the individual
handling your file. If you still have queries
or concerns, please contact us.
We will aim to communicate
with you by such a method as you may request.
We may need to virus-check disks or e-mail.
Unless you withdraw consent, we will communicate
with others when appropriate by e-mail or
fax but we cannot be responsible for the security
of correspondence and documents sent by e-mail
or fax.
The Data Protection Act
requires us to advise you that your particulars
are held on our database. We may, from time
to time, use these details to send you information
which we think might be of interest to you.
We will not supply your details to anyone
else other than in connection with your immigration
affairs or such other matter as you may instruct
us.
Terms and conditions of business
Unless otherwise agreed,
these Terms and Conditions of Business shall
apply to any future instructions given by
you to this firm.
Although your continuing
instructions in this matter will amount to
an acceptance of these Terms and Conditions
of Business, it may not be possible for us
to start work on your behalf until one copy
of them has been returned to us for us to
keep on our file.
This agreement will be construed
in all respects in accordance with the laws
of India & USA and the parties agree to
submit to the jurisdiction of the English
courts.
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