Employment & Business Immigration

Our business immigration team provides tailored advice across all areas of UK Immigration to both organisations and individuals. We advise businesses on matters ranging from Skilled Worker sponsor licence applications, sponsor licence management, sponsor obligations, compliance training and audit services. We also work with entrepreneurs, investors and high net worth individuals to help navigate their immigration requirements.

Our team, lead by Sundeep Rathod, have an excellent reputation and are well placed to help guide our clients through the minefield of UK Immigration.

Prior to SMB, Sundeep worked for a tier 1 ranked Business Immigration firm. Sundeep has also worked on secondment at a top tier investment bank based in Canary Wharf, sitting with the Global Mobility team and advising on all aspects of UK Immigration.

Business Immigration
We have extensive experience of handling UK immigration applications across new the Points Based System which launched on 1 January 2021. We also have the expertise in advising businesses who wish to set up a subsidiary/branch in the UK, or those who are already established in the UK and need a Sponsor Licence in place so they can recruit both EU and non-EU nationals to work in their UK office.

Company Sponsorship and Compliance
Given the vast intricacies of Skilled Worker/Intra-Company Transfers sponsorship and the onerous obligations placed on Sponsors, our business immigration team can offer HR and Global Mobility teams with an end-to-end service; including but not limited to:

• Sponsor Licence applications;
• Challenging Sponsor Licence downgrading/suspension/revocation;
• Sponsor Licence management;
• Challenging Civil Penalties;
• Advice and guidance on Compliance, including tailored in-house training;
• Brexit related services for employers

For information regarding our pricing, click here.

We provide our clients with advice on all of their employment business needs, from preparing and reviewing employment contracts, handbooks and policies, and equity and option packages, to providing them with strategic advice on new hires, amending employment terms, and anything else which impacts their employees and their businesses.

We work with employers and employees to help them negotiate employment packages, key restrictions, and policies and benefits. We work with both individuals, small organisations, owner managers, and HR directors of public bodies and international organisations, and provide them with practical and commercial advice to address their employment issues.

We provide specialist advice to address team moves, protection of data and confidentiality, and enforcement of restrictions on exits and when disputes arise. We work closely with our clients to help protect their key business assets and to assist those exiting in ensuring they can continue to work within their legal rights.

We have a significant experience in acting for both employers and employees in employment claims, both internal disputes and external matters involving the courts. We often deal with high profile and sensitive cases, from grievances to discrimination claims, and work closely with our clients to focus on how to best achieve their commercial aims.

Where disputes move to the public forum and the courts, we provide a comprehensive service for employers and employees covering all aspects of the preparation, case management and conclusion of employment claims in the Employment Tribunals, County Courts and High Courts, with specialist experience in undertaking Appeal cases and Judicial Reviews.

We are also actively involved in working with and acting as mediators in employment related disputes.

We are known for our exceptional in-house and established experience in advising individuals, companies, public bodies and charities on key issues relating to diversity, discrimination and managing complex and highly sensitive cases.

Our team often works with senior managers, business owners and HR directors to integrate equality and diversity into their working practices, to make it a key strength and integral part of their business which is easy to implement and manage.

We also have specialist experience in guiding employees and employers on diversity, discrimination and equal pay disputes.

We provide specialist advice and strategic guidance for companies, charities and public bodies on the employment issues which impact their employees and businesses as a result of corporate restructuring and transfers. We work with both small organisations and large overseas corporations operating in the UK and provide them with practical guidance on addressing these issues.

We work closely with our corporate teams and regularly advise on TUPE transfers, employment rights, protection against claims and, where relevant, obligation in an insolvency situation.

This often leads to our providing guidance on group terminations, outsourcing and in-sourcing arrangements and the commercial consequences these will have on our clients’ businesses.

We work closely with senior executives (and their employers) on negotiating their employment packages, which often involve a degree of equity or share options in the businesses in which they are to be engaged at a senior level. We regularly advise clients who are taking on senior roles and are joining organisations which are backed by large funders, particularly private equity houses.

We provide guidance on restrictions from existing employers, and strategic advice on the best way to exit, including negotiating settlement agreements.

While we regularly work with many clients in the Tech, Retail, Media and Fashion sectors, our extensive experience covers all industries.

We are experts in advising charities, social investment organisations and in particular public bodies.

We have substantial in-house experience, and members of our team have worked for (or are seconded into) the following organisations: British Transport Police, Oxfam, Disasters Emergency Committee, Doctors of the World, Cancer Research UK, Crown Prosecution Service, West Yorkshire Police, the RNID, and the London Borough of Hackney, among others.

We are specialists in addressing their employment and general regulatory requirements and in advising on issues ranging from data protection, privacy and disclosure to discrimination, diversity and implementing change.