Ok, so at the moment of writing this blog, at 10:15, the judgment is yet to be released, let alone made into law. Everyone (concerned with immigration law and those gnashing their teeth and forced separation from their newly married husband/ wife) will be waiting on their computer screen with bated breath!

So, I just wanted to share my excitement for this judgment to come. I for one am extremely curious about how it will unfold.


Will bring you more once judgment is released.

Fingers crossed. xx

Quite possibly the most incendiary title of the year, I admit. Above picture is a serendipitous collection of books that I have found at my parents' house not so long ago which, without even trying, represents books which have largely shaped my life.

As a Korean migrant from the 90s, I was that kid in school with thick rimmed glasses, carrying a dictionary under her arm to every class, trying to master this language which has almost become my first language. Then there is the Youth Bible,admittedly, am not a fan of this particular version but one way or another, I am heavily influenced by my Christian upbringing, and whether related or not, I am, undeniably, a Christian. Just to the left of the Bible is Saint-Exupery's magical The Little Prince which strikes a chord with my child-like senses and wonderment about life. I quite like that about myself. Let's just have a laugh at that for a moment. The little book to the left of The Little Prince called 'Sorrow Into Joy' is, I think some Christian book about dealing with bereavement. This, unfortunately, marks the time when my family lost my younger brother who left us one day in his sleep at what was thought to be an invincible age of 21 ...

Besides this heart-to-heart style of today's blog, what I really wanted to focus on is the big yellow book in the middle, rather feistily entitled '120 letters that get results' (ISBN-10: 034058520X / ISBN-13: 978-0340585207). This a wonderful (?) collection of examples of letters one could write to raise a complaint was originally picked up by my dad who was, I suppose, rather rights conscious by nature. Mostly the letters were in consumer rights context of course. But, you could say, I've really honed my skills from a young age, thanks to expose-all publications like this :) 

In my current line of work in law, from listening to my clients, it seems that some of you may have been on the receiving end of rudeness, mistreatment and bullying of a fantastical scale at the hands of the UK immigration's border force at the airports. The number of queries laced with "oh, and I want to lodge a complaint to the immigration officers at the airport" seems to me to be on the rise particularly from the end of last yer and the beginning of this year. Common complaints include bullying line of questioning, a constant scepticism of all answers offered by the migrant (one doctor from the far east was asked what he did for a living, when he explained that he was a gastroenterologist, the immigration officer simply scoffed and re-questioned 'you mean a herbal doctor?' - Incredible rudeness, and stupidity, I know), and a slightest of confusion resulting in a slip of the tongue is treated with as much scorn and contempt as if you had told them that you were on your way back from just having climbed to the top of Mt. Everest and back only in your flip flops. It's this hostile attitude, infinite and mostly groundless scepticism of the authenticity of any information provided by the migrant only fosters an environment in which the migrants could never win, and the cynicism of the UK Border Force is only coming true by their own making.

To borrow the words from the lesser known American singer called Jewel:

"I was thinking that it might do some good
If we robbed the cynics and took all their food
That way what they believe will have taken place
And we'll give it to anybody who has some faith
...

I have this theory that if we're told we're bad
Then that's the only idea we'll ever have
...

'Cause anyone can start a conflict
It's harder yet to disregard it
I'd rather see the world from another angle
We are everyday angels
Be careful with me 'cause I'd like to stay that way"

- I'm Sensitive, Jewel (1995) -

I'm far from suggesting that migrants are 'every angels' who never tell lies. At the very least, all should be afforded the basic dignity of being treated like a fellow human being, rather than an 'alien' because they happen to be from outside some man-made territory.

In reality, the fact or the result/s of a complaint may not have influence directly, if at all, on the outcome of your immigration checks at point of entry or any future applications for leave to remain, there shouldn't be anything to fear in lodging such applications either. If anything, being 'an asker' might get you something. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

So, herewith, I attach the current version of the UK Border Force's complaints leaflet. The fact that the leaflet gives guidance on both complaints AND compliments seems to imply that complaints are in the same category of seriousness as a compliment I hope you could all see the content properly from these pictures. Otherwise you could also get the same information (perhaps more up to date) from the UKVI's website linked here:

Seriously, DO NOT MAKE TRAVEL PLANS until you have your visa and PASSPORT IN YOUR HANDS!

As an immigration lawyer, it would the most frustrating to see the good work on a case get overshadowed by the clients failing to heed to this one simple piece of advice. With any court awarded compensation for the lost travel being very unlikely, if you don't want to see your India trip turn into a pack of 1st class stamps, there's no better time than now to heed to this advice.

The poor guy featured on Metro London today. The compensation is utterly paltry but however much you wish to travel at a particular time, making prior travel arrangements will not force anyone to act faster for your application/ postal/ visa process, and the remoteness of damage in order to recover the cost of the lost holiday is rather tenuous in most cases (meaning, unlikely to obtain any compensation for the lost travel arrangements) so if you want to avoid any costly *disappointment* (to put it mildly), Do Not Make Travel Plans Before Your Visa and/ or Passport Is In Your Hands! Pleeease!

Happy New Year everyone!

Just a quick update to let you know that 2016 has been... what it was, and we all look forward to a golden 2017 for all!

Just before the year ended, in Nov 2016, I was asked by the Korean Cultural Centre London to present a workshop for Korean artists in the UK on the what, why, how etc. of Tier 1 Exceptional Talent/ Promise, among others. This gave me an opportunity research the whole of the UK immigration rules from an artist's point of view.

 The result looked pretty promising. Basically, there are more than 1 way to pursue your career in the UK as an artist, musician, film staff etc. As well as holding the workshop, I have written a detailed but practical guidance on the various routes to the UK as an artist which shall be available for viewing soon.

Finally, thank you all for your interest in my blog and for the email enquiries in the last year. I had no idea that this would be of so much interest to so many of you and glad I could be of some help. Please feel free to send me any queries or any feedback on other contents you would like to see.

For example, if there is a sufficient number of people interested, I could look into holding a webinar or a live Youtube channel where you could ask me questions on these visas!

Cheers!

Eunyoung

The brand new, hot-off-the-press, 2016 stats for Tier 1 Exceptional Talent (Arts Council) are IN.

Without further ado:

Click on the picture above to open a larger PDF file in a separate window.

 

Bon chance and feel free to contact me if you need an assessment or assistance.

Alright, so the House of Commons' Briefing from December 2015 shows a fairly comprehensive and clear picture of the 'business trends' in the UK. A quick glance at the 'business births' (new businesses) and 'Business deaths' (ceased trading) since 2000 shows a steady incline in the number of businesses (i.e. 243,000 rising to 351,000 in 2014) and the rate of increase (12% rising to 14% in 2014), while the 'business deaths' rate is at an all time steady at 10-11%  since 2001.

What I really wanted to talk about is just how you can 'get in on this action' if you are not from the UK, but you want to come over and start your own business.

Many of you will know about the Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa route. Yes, the one which requires you to have either £200k of your own money to invest, or £50k or venture capitalist funding, or UKTI (UK Trade and Investment) endorsed 'Seed Funding Competition' or other UK government department which makes available from time to time some money for start ups...

There are many 'Seed Funding Competitions' around but which of these are actually 'endorsed' by the UKTI, right? Well, look no further! Here they are, fresh off the press (updated 19 April 2016) :