Case studies

A UK film company had been commissioned to produce a short clip of London's New Year's Eve celebrations for an international film distributor. Shortly before the date filming was due to commence, the film company sought to complete work permit applications for two essential, highly specialist cameramen working out of the US.

Our client, a media organisation, was employing a journalist under the now abolished overseas broadcaster scheme. Due to the nature of her work, it was highly inconvenient to our client for the employee to return to Australia purely to file a tier 1 (general) application.

We were contacted by a large publishing business which was unhappy with the advice it had received from two other immigration service providers about an employee whose lawful employment in the UK was based on his marriage to an EEA national.

We received instructions from a multi-national client who used a well known mass volume immigration service provider to secure standard work permissions for employees. However, on this occasion the client required a specific solution in relation to a relatively junior relative of one of the board members who had been promised work experience within the organisation. They had been advised that this was impossible due to the abolition of the TWES scheme.

Our client received civil penalty notices to the value of £45,000 through the post from the UK Border Agency (UKBA) for alleged employment of six illegal workers.

The Association of Bermuda International Companies consulted our immigration team over its attempts to persuade the Bermudian Government to drop a controversial policy imposing a maximum term for work permits.

We were instructed by the UK head office of a major company which sponsored several migrants to work in executive level roles. The sponsor had recently learned that its sponsor licence had been revoked on mandatory grounds due to non-compliance and that, accordingly, the leave to remain of key team members had been curtailed. Penningtons' immigration team, led by partner Pat Saini, acted immediately to liaise with senior contacts at the Home Office and made representations that the revocation should be temporarily reduced to a suspension and the existing sponsored migrants’ leave be reinstated while the matter was being considered.

We were approached by a large, international, foreign-based engineering company which was not happy with the advice it had received from two other immigration service providers in relation to whether its corporate group structure permitted intra-company transfers to its operations in the UK.

The policy holder was on board a flight to the US when he was taken seriously ill. On landing he was transferred to hospital where he was treated for a pulmonary embolism. A claim in excess of £70,000 was later submitted to the insurer for medical and repatriation expenses.

The claimant was on holiday in the USA when she slipped and fell on a carpeted staircase sustaining a personal injury. Solicitors were instructed to pursue a claim on her behalf. Unfortunately, they failed to take the necessary steps to interrupt the appropriate limitation period in Florida and the claim was therefore time barred.

The policy holder, a British national, was admitted to a US hospital with difficulty breathing. The claimant's illness was linked to a pre-existing condition. Following treatment, the US hospital raised charges in excess of $140,000 for the related medical fees.

We provided a comprehensive report for a Washington DC based law firm on the available heads of loss recoverable under French law. The firm, which was pursuing litigation in the District of Colombia against a French company, contacted us after reading one of our articles on that very topic.