Gulbenkian Andonian Solicitors > London, England > Firm Profile

Gulbenkian Andonian Solicitors > Firm Profile

Based in central London, Gulbenkian Andonian Solicitors is one of the UK’s leading specialist immigration, human rights and nationality practices, acting for businesses on various matters including the full spectrum of the points-based system as well as individuals in personal immigration matters. Civil litigation, family, corporate and employment law are also specialisms.

The firm: Founded in 1985 in Kensington and now operating from offices in Holborn, the firm is a specialist immigration practice which has experienced great growth in its business immigration practice. It is recognised as one of the leading immigration practices in the UK across the last 38 years since its foundation.

Very few firms specialising in the field of Immigration, Asylum, Nationality and Human Rights can boast of;

• having 38 years of experience
• being founded by long-serving Immigration Judges
• submitting approximately 4,500 successful applications to date
• overseeing over 3,000 cases in litigation in this area of law
• being trusted by numerous media outlets for expert opinion
• receiving more than 40 judicial compliments in written judgments/determination in the last 3 years alone
• carrying out over 240 appeals in-house in the last 3 years alone
• having a proven track record at the Court of Appeal and above

The firm acts for company and commercial clients on business immigration matters and has UK football clubs playing in the Football League, leading care homes, medium to large pharmacies, tobacco companies and large restaurant franchises among its clientele. The firm also deals with investors, innovators, business persons and other individuals across the spectrum of the UK’s points-based system.

The immigration department is led by Dr Bernard Andonian (former Immigration Judge) and Dave Vasoodaven, two of the most experienced immigration practitioners in this country, specialising in all aspects of UK immigration law with a particular emphasis on immigration litigation. Dr Bernard Andonian  sat as a part-time judge of the First-Tier Tribunal (IAC) and calls on more than 35 years as an experienced solicitor in this field. Dave Vasoodaven is an experienced practitioner whose practical knowledge in the subject is broad, and he has extensive experience in immigration litigation where he has dedicated his legal career to assisting individuals as well as businesses of all sizes to meet their immigration objectives. In particular, Dave Vasoodaven’s business pedigree has ensured that the firm has attracted a diverse clientele striking a balance between business immigration and individual immigration.

The firm has always attracted high calibre individuals to join the legal team. In this regard we are proud to have both Christine and Shazaib joining us recently. Apart from legal knowledge they both are versatile with wealth of experience gained working in other fields.

The firm’s immigration litigation practice is extensive. Mr Fadi Farhat heads up the appeals and public law department where it has seen unprecedented success since he joined us in 2015 and his in-depth knowledge has been vital to the firm’s success. His well pleaded grounds of claim and in-house advocacy continue to receive judicial praise. Under Mr Farhat, the firm seeks to handle matters (in terms of drafting and pleading) in-house from beginning to end. Mr Farhat also handles the firm’s advocacy at tribunal level. For example, Judge NMK Lawrence on 29th August 2018 stated in a written determination;

“…Mr Farhat approached the appeal in the most professional manner, in a manner any ‘officer of the court’ should.”

“One does not see representatives of his calibre in this jurisdiction often. I am grateful to him”

Over the course of the last year, the firm has also seen to several injunctions preventing removal including out-of-hours applications to the duty judge. The firm also has a prominent public law practice in the High Court in relation to business immigration including high-profile challenges to the revocation of sponsor licences.

Types of work undertaken: The firm undertakes work across the whole spectrum of immigration, human rights, asylum and nationality law (where it has even handled applications sensitive to national security). The firm prides itself on the successes that it has achieved over the years and the ground-breaking cases that are attributed to its endeavours. The firm is renowned for a number of successful decisions of the High Court such as Shah and Islam (in the House of Lords) and Baumbast and Rolet (European Court of Justice) which broke new legal ground on issues of asylum and European law respectively. The firm’s immigration litigation practice is extensive and due to its success in the handling of human rights appeals, deportation appeals, removal and detention matters, the firm receives frequent instructions in these areas of law.

Press Releases

Open a branch of your business in the UK with the Sole Rep Visa

26th November 2019 Starting a branch of your business in the UK could be one of the best moves you make in terms of your exposure in a new but very developed market. This is because the United Kingdom is today the worlds 5th largest economy and has a population of 65 million people.

EU citizens moving to the UK after Brexit

13th November 2019 The best immigration solicitors London confirm that the British government plans on implementing a transitional period for EU/EEA citizens who would like to move to the UK after October 31st 2019 until December 31st 2020.

Dr Bernard Andonian Explains the 2019 changes to UK Immigration Rules

13th November 2019 In his latest article Dr Bernard Andonian, founder of our firm and one of the best immigration lawyers London explains the latest changes that have come in to effect in the UK’s immigration legal system from September 2019.

2019 Changes to the UK Tier 4 Student Visa

13th November 2019 Our team of top immigration solicitors London confirm that the Tier 4 Student Visa rules have changed once again where applicants who are keen to study in the UK will be allowed to stay in the country for 2 years (as opposed to 4 months) to look for a job after their studies. The new rules will take effect from 2020 and will only be relevant to applicants who come to the UK to study next year. Click here to read the full article surrounding this change on our website.

Child Custody and UK Family Law

13th November 2019 The best family solicitors London in London state that child custody law is the legal mechanism that decides which parent will be more responsible for a child or children after a divorce or separation.

Prenups, Married Life & UK family Law

13th November 2019 Talking about getting a prenup with your partner is always going to be a difficult topic to raise. This is because, you don't only love this person very much and want to spend the rest of your life with them but you are also looking out for both of your interests if things do not go as planned.

Prenups, Married Life & UK family Law

13th November 2019 Talking about getting a prenup with your partner is always going to be a difficult topic to raise. This is because, you don't only love this person very much and want to spend the rest of your life with them but you are also looking out for both of your interests if things do not go as planned.

Divorce, Married Life & UK Family Law

13th November 2019 As a team of one of the best family lawyers UK, we deal with a high amount of divorce cases and more so than often meet clients who ask us “what will I end up with after my divorce?”

We are in the Legal 500 Top Tier or 2020!

13th November 2019 Gulbenkian Andonian Solicitors has been awarded a Top Tier ranking in the Legal 500 for its legal work in the areas of UK law that include, Appeals, Human Rights and Overstay. This is the 4th consecutive year that the firm has managed to secure a Top Tier status in the rankings of the Legal 500 UK.

The UK’s Golden Ticket Visa

13th November 2019 Often referred to as the UK’s Golden Ticket Visa, the Tier 1 Investor Visa has seen a rise in applications in the 1st half of 2019 where 255 people alone have managed to obtain the visa which is the highest amount since 2014.

Employment Law – Gulbenkian Andonian Solicitors, London

18th April 2019

Employment

Gulbenkian Andonian Solicitors specialises in all aspects of commercial and employment law, including: HR support, workplace mediation and representation in Employment Tribunals. Our lawyers provide clear and practical advice that is tailored to our clients needs.

Gulbenkian Andonian Solicitors discuss Post Brexit scenarios – EU Nationals and Salient Immigration

26th March 2019

Immigration

From 1 January 2021 everyone except for British and Irish citizens will be subject to immigration control in the UK.  Gulbenkian Andonian solicitors has already published an article on this topic of post- Brexit immigration and has discussed the case of EU nationals and family members after Brexit, you can find that article here as one of many in our blog.

This article will highlight some other immigration changes that are taking place as a result of Brexit, as one of the main reasons that the UK voted to leave the EU some years ago, was to have control over its borders and to ensure that it was the UK Government and not Brussels would dictate the course of UK immigration.