Complaints about Immigration Advice

Who you can complain about

If you think your immigration adviser has given you poor advice or an inadequate service, you can complain to the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC). You can complain about any adviser solicitor, barrister, OISC regulated adviser or unregulated person operating within the UK and providing advice and services relating to immigration to the UK- even if you didn't find them through the OISC. The OISC can accept complaints from anyone whether or not they received the immigration advice or services themselves. We work to make sure that all advisers give good advice and we take all complaints seriously.

What you can complain about

You can complain about any problems, including:

• poor advice and/or service
• failure to take proper instructions
• making false claims of success
• charging unreasonable fees and/or charging for work not done
• encouraging you to make false or misleading statements
• missing deadlines or failing to appear in court

We can use an interpreter to take the details of the complaint if you would like us to.

Why should you complain?

It is an opportunity for you to let the OISC know what you think of the immigration adviser.

By complaining you may be able to prevent this adviser providing a similar poor service to others.

Your complaint may help us to raise the standard of advice provision by identifying those who need training to improve their advice and services.

What we will do with your complaint

We will look at your complaint and investigate your concerns. This process normally takes around six months during which time we may need to contact you for further information. At the conclusion of our investigation we will issue you and the adviser with a determination, outlining whether we believe the adviser is at fault or not and what action we will subsequently be taking.

If your complaint is about a solicitor or barrister, we will probably refer the complaint to the regulatory organisation with responsibility for those advisers.

Possible outcomes of your complaint

We may take action against the adviser to prevent others receiving poor advice and/or services.

What we can't help with:

• speeding up your immigration application
• a complaint that is already the subject of ongoing legal action
• a complaint against a person who holds an office under the Crown while they are acting in that capacity
• a complaint referring to a matter that occurred more than six months ago (this is within the OISC's discretion)
• refunds and compensation
• complaints against the United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) staff
• complaints against a person or organisation operating outside of the United Kingdom, or against a person person operating within the UK but providing advice regarding migration outside the UK

How to make a complaint

If you want to make a complaint against an immigration adviser please read the complaints scheme which explains the process in detail.

You can make a complaint by filling in the complaints form and sending it to:

The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner
Complaints Team 5th Floor,
Counting House
53 Tooley Street
London
SE1 2QN

We acknowledge and consider all complaints made to us.

The progress of your complaint can be followed online using our complaints tracker.