By booking a consultation with Citizen Lawyer Limited, you expressly accept and agree to be bound by and comply with the terms and conditions contained herein. Citizen Lawyer Limited may change its Consultation Terms and Conditions, at its sole discretion, from time to time, and you agree to be bound by and comply with such Consultation Terms and Conditions as they may be modified.

These terms and conditions of use apply solely to your consultation with Citizen Lawyer Limited and to your use of the content on our website. These Consultation Terms and Conditions do not alter in any way the terms or conditions of any other agreement that you may have with Citizen Lawyer Limited. If you are booking a consultation on behalf of any entity, you represent and warrant that you are authorized to accept these Consultation Terms and Conditions on such entity’s behalf, and that such entity agrees to indemnify you and the Citizen Lawyer Limited for violations of these and other Terms and Conditions that apply to our services.

Please note that the information provided on our website is for general information only and the conditions and criteria are subject to change. We do not gurantee the information or content here to be error free or reliable. It is not legal advice, and you should therefore contact us for advice on the most current regulations by booking a consultation first. We also do nor guarantee success in a visa, immigration or citizenship application or appeal. To reiterate, the content on our website may not be accurate or up-to-date, and it’s not legal advice, nor to be relied upon.

Privacy Policy

Citizen Lawyer Limited takes your privacy seriously and we will not lease, sell, or otherwise release to a third party any personal information you provide, without your permission. Citizen Lawyer Limited may disclose personal information if required to do so by law or if we believe such an action is necessary to protect and defend the rights, property and personal safety of Citizen Lawyer Limited and individuals associated with Citizen Lawyer Limited.

Pre consultation

In order to book a consultation appointment with Citizen Lawyer Limited, a non-refundable deposit (“payment”) is required. Unless and until the required payment is received and appointment confirmed by us, all consultation appointments are provisional only and therefore subject to change or cancellation. The deposit constitutes partial payment for the consultation and additional fees shall be due at the time of your appointment if the consultation exceeds the time limit prescribed on the form. In case of cancellation a charge 25% will be applicable to cover for the administrative, scheduling and payment processing costs. A cancellation must be made at least 2 working days before the scheduled appointment otherwise a 70% charge will be applicable. A full fee however will be charged/payable in case of a no show.

You must give us 2 working days’ notice when booking a consultation online. If a consultation slot is available for the present or next day on our scheduling system, please call us first to confirm if we can provide an urgent consultation. Otherwise choose a slot in a way that allows us two days to confirm your appointment. The online scheduling system does not always show the appointments that are booked over the phone by our clients. Therefore, all appointments booked online are subject to acceptance by us and might need to be rescheduled as per our availability. An appointment, once booked and accepted, can only be rescheduled once without additional charge if at least 3 working days’ notice is given by the client and is accepted by us. The initial consultation includes advice on your immigration matter and the applicable rules and regulations. It does not include review of an application or appeal you are working on as that requires a specialist lawyer to spend much more time than the time limit prescribed for initial consultation.

Most of the times however the consultation will have been delivered before payment is made by the client. In cases where the payment is made as a deposit before consultation is delivered, the fee will be maintained in our client account which will only be charged after consultation has been delivered. All payments made using debit or credit card, or PayPal will be subject to a payment processing fee of 1.9% + 20p for Domestic cards and 2.9% + 20p for International cards per transaction within the UK. This fee may vary and is included in the fee quoted above, which means we pay this charge ourselves from our fees, and receive a balance after the payment processing company deducts their processing charge. The fee therefore is not charged on top of our fees, it is paid from our fee mentioned above.

Additionally, you specifically agree to email us details of your query and fill out and return, no later than 24 working hours prior to your consultation, the filled out client questionnaire and the required identity/residence documents. Citizen Lawyer Limited reserves the right to cancel the consultation at any time if the client questionnaire or the identity/residence documents are not received. All appointments are final when made. However, if you wish to reschedule and give us at least 48 working hours’ notice, we will endeavor to do so if possible.

Consultation and Written Materials

Citizen Lawyer Limited may make available to you documents, articles, or other written information or content (collectively, “texts”) in the course of, or following, your consultation with Citizen Lawyer Limited. Citizen Lawyer Limited grants to you a limited license to display on your computer, print, download and use texts for non-commercial, personal purposes only. Reproduction of the texts or portions of these texts, including posting on a website, distribution to members of the public or distribution to any individuals not directly and explicitly implicated in the legal matter regarding which advice is sought, is prohibited without prior written permission from Citizen Lawyer Limited.

The information contained in any verbal or written Consultation is not exhaustive, nor is it a substitution for having legal representation in the visa, immigration, asylum or citizenship application process or a ‘how to’ guide. Instead, it offers an overview of immigration legal requirements which supplement the matters discussed during your consultation with Citizen Lawyer Limited. Additional requirements as the case progresses will apply, and the concerned authorities may impose new legal or administrative requirements at any time. The consultation excludes the drafting of any forms, support letters, and other application materials. Subject to mutual consent and entry into a written retainer agreement, you can obtain such additional services by retaining the firm to represent you in the application process.

You may seek a second opinion regarding your legal matter, and it may be advisable to do so. If any of the factual information outlined in the Consultation is incorrect, you must immediately notify Citizen Lawyer Limited as it may alter the legal advice given.

No Lawyer- Client Relationship

Unless and until a Retainer Agreement is signed, Citizen Lawyer Limited and/or the firm’s legal team does not represent you as your lawyer or adviser in any matter and no further action will be taken regarding your case.

The firm reserves the right to decline undertaking future legal representation in your matter. We recommend notifying us well in advance if you wish to retain the firm. Any quoted legal representation fee for further legal services is valid for one (1) month from the time the consultation is provided and is subject to revision at any time if we do not enter into a retainer agreement for said services within two month following our consultation.

Intellectual Property

Ownership and title to all materials you obtain from Citizen Lawyer Limited, including ownership rights to copyrights and trademarks, shall be the exclusive property of Citizen Lawyer Limited.

Indemnification

You agree that you will not use any of the written materials obtained from Citizen Lawyer Limited, or the oral legal advice obtained from Citizen Lawyer Limited, for any unlawful purpose, or for any purpose prohibited by these Consultation Terms and Conditions. You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Citizen Lawyer Limited, the firm’s staff, any partners and affiliates from any liability, loss, claim and expense (including lawyers’ reasonable fees) arising out of using our services and/or related to your violation of these Consultation Terms and Conditions.

Communications

All official communications shall be in writing. Any notices to Citizen Lawyer Limited shall be deemed delivered when delivered by commercial overnight delivery service, Certified or Registered Mail, Special or Recorded Delivery to our Birmingham offices address. Notices shall be deemed given on the date notice is received by Citizen Lawyer Limited (as evidenced in the case of Certified or Registered Mail by Return Receipt).

Governing Law and Forum

By booking a consultation with Citizen Lawyer Limited, you are agreeing to the governing law and forum clause. Any dispute between you and Citizen Lawyer Limited regarding the consultation, legal advice obtained during the consultation, or any materials obtained from Citizen Lawyer Limited in connection with the consultation, shall be resolved in the first instance by negotiations in good faith. If the matter is not resolved by negotiation within 14 days, then the matter will proceed to mediation as set forth below. Any and all disputes, claims or controversies arising out of or relating to the content or use of the website shall be submitted to an independent Mediator agreed with Citizen Lawyer Limited, for mediation in good faith by both parties. The party initiating the dispute shall be financially responsible for any and all fees and costs associated with the mediation process, unless otherwise agreed by the parties. If the matter is not resolved through mediation, then it shall be submitted to an independent arbitrator agreed with Citizen Lawyer Limited for final and binding arbitration. The party initiating the dispute shall be financially responsible for any and all fees and costs associated with the arbitration process, unless otherwise agreed by the parties. The arbitration shall take place in Birmingham, UK, in accordance with the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules for the time being in force. The substantive law used in the arbitration for disputes as to British immigration matters shall be the laws of the United Kingdom, without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of law. The substantive law used in the arbitration for disputes as to any other country’s immigration matters shall be the laws of England, without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of law. CEDR Solve shall be the default appointing authority should the parties fail to agree the identity of the arbitrator or mediator within 14 days from initiation of mediation or arbitral proceedings. The number of mediators or arbitrators shall be one (1). The language to be used in the arbitral proceedings shall be English. The agreement to arbitrate disputes refers only to disputes arising from or related to the consultation.

Non-Waiver

Failure by the Citizen Lawyer Limited to insist upon strict enforcement of any provision of this agreement shall not be construed as a waiver of any provision or right.

Severance

If any provision of these Terms and Conditions is prohibited by law or judged by an arbitrator or court to be unlawful, void or unenforceable, the provision or part of the provision shall, to the extent required, be severed from this agreement and rendered ineffective as far as possible without modifying the remaining provisions, and shall not in any way affect any other circumstances of or the validity or enforcement of these Terms and Conditions.

Levels and areas of advice

We’re authorised to provide immigration advice and representation services, at level (2) for all applications within and outside of the Immigration Rules namely:
• Applications for entry clearance, leave to enter and leave to remain
• Settlement, Permanent Residence, Indefinite Leave to Remain Applications
• Human Rights Applications
• Discretionary Leave Applications
• Asylum, Humanitarian Protection
• British Nationality and Citizenship applications
• Some aspects of EU and EEA immigration law
• Pre-action protocol
• Administrative Reviews
• Reconsideration requests
• Appeals at the First Tier Immigration Tribunals
• Bail Applications
• Sponsorship licenses for employers
• Representations to UKVI in support of cases
• Drafting client statements
• Lodging notices of appeal and statements of additional grounds

Signposting and referrals

We are committed to giving people specialist legal advice and representation services from an appropriate source within the time-frames agreed upon and, if necessary, by signposting or referral to another specialist organisation.

Signposting
If, after initial assessment, we are not able to provide the required service, we will direct you as soon as we can:
• Enquiries not connected to our area of practice will be signposted immediately to relevant organisations

We may recommend a suitable lawyer but, the decision whether to choose that lawyer will rest with the client.

Referrals
There may be instances where it may not be possible to continue with a case. In such situations we will:
• inform the client as soon as practicable
• direct them to another lawyer or organisation
• contact the new adviser and make an appointment for the client; and
• arrange for the transfer of the client’s file with the client’s agreement.
We may recommend a suitable lawyer but, the decision whether to choose that adviser will rest with the client.

Additional advice

It may be necessary to seek additional advice or opinions on some cases, this will be done only with consent and may incur additional charges for the client. All action taken are documented on the client file as normal.

Fees

The agreed fee received from client is kept in a separate client deposit account with our bank and is charged upon invoice to the client based on our agreement.

Confidentiality

It is our policy to retain utmost confidentiality unless the client gives permission for disclosure, except in circumstances where we’re required by law to comply. All information about clients, which is recorded in any way, is kept secure. All conversations on the phone are conducted privately.

Updates

We endeavour to keep you updated on the progress of the case and we will always try to keep you informed of any unexpected delays to the work. You may ask us at any time for an update using the contact details given to you.