Guidance

What you can expect from your Adviser

Updated 20 August 2019

Every regulated organisation and the authorised advisers working there, have sets of rules and regulations that they must follow.

0.1 This means that OISC regulated advisers:

• Must always act in a fit and competent manner.

• Must not give you advice in areas that they are not permitted to do so.

• Must not take advantage of any client’s vulnerability.

• Must not mislead you.

• Must always act in your best interests, subject to legal and regulatory requirements.

• Must not demand any money for referring you to another organisation.

• Must hold any information you provide to them securely and confidentially.

• Must use a suitable translator or interpreter if required.

• Must have adequate Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII). For more information on how PII works, please check our [FAQs] (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oisc-faqs).

• Must have a fee scale that lists all their charges and that has been agreed with the Commissioner as being reasonable.

• Must provide you with written receipts for any fees paid.

• In the event of an agreed refund, must refund you promptly.

• Must have a registration number which must feature on their letterhead, website and emails.

• Must have a procedure for the handling of complaints that they will provide to you if requested.

If you engage an OISC organisation to provide you with immigration advice and services, you can also expect the following:

• You will be provided with a client care letter, which will contain details of your instructions, the advice given to you, any documents you need to provide, the agreed fee and details of the organisation’s complaints procedure.

• You will be kept updated, at least every three months, as to the progress of your case.

• You will receive written notification of the outcome of your case, three working days after your adviser has received it.

• If you tell your adviser about any substantive changes in your circumstances and they affect your case, your adviser will explain to you any new course of action and any associated costs or expenditure. If this is explained to you orally, a written record will be provided to you within three working days.

• If after being provided with the details of the outcome of your case, or any significant related event, you provide additional instructions to your adviser, these will be recorded in writing and you will be informed of any associated costs or expenditure, before additional work is carried out.

• Your adviser will inform you in writing of any extra costs associated with obtaining additional advice, opinions or professional services, and they will not continue with this work until you have agreed to it.

• Your adviser will seek your written consent, prior to outsourcing any aspect of your case.

• Should your adviser be temporarily unable to work, they will have arrangements in place to ensure that your case can be progressed in their absence.

• If you terminate your instructions, your adviser will arrange for all documents relating to your case and your file to be returned to you or to a third party as soon as is practicable.

• If your adviser wishes to withdraw from your case, they will give you three working days’ notice of this along with written reasons for their decision.

• At the end of your case, your adviser will provide you with a written statement that confirms the following:

  • confirmation that your case has been concluded along with a statement of the outcome of your case and its implications, including any dates or restrictions on your leave, if known;
  • a list of original documents returned to you; and
  • a final financial statement if appropriate.

• If you withdraw from your adviser before the completion of your case, your adviser will provide you with the following information in writing:

  • confirmation that you withdrew before the case was completed;
  • a list of original documents returned to you; and
  • a final financial statement if appropriate.

• If you request that your file be transferred to another organisation, all documents relating to your case and your file will be transferred as soon as possible and no later than three working days after you have made the request.

• If you provide original documents to your adviser in support of your case you will be provided with a copy of those documents and the originals will be returned to you as soon as possible.

• A copy of your records will be kept for six years and then will be securely destroyed.

• You will be provided with a written invoice when payment is required from you.

• At the end of your case, any remaining money that was paid in advance and not used by your adviser to pay for the conduct of your case will be returned to you promptly.

• If you terminate instructions or your organisation withdraws from your case, any money that you have paid in advance that has not been used to pay for the conduct of your case will be returned to you promptly.

• In the event of a refund being agreed, the money will be returned to you promptly.

• You will be provided with written receipts for any monies you pay to your adviser.