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Immigration lawyers in the UK and US say they are the busiest they have been in years, as the countries clamp down on new arrivals and President Donald Trump’s administration steps up deportations.
Lawyers on both sides of the Atlantic told the Financial Times that their practices were overwhelmed with enquiries from individuals and companies about the immigration status of families and employees, leading to a significant rise in firms’ revenues.
BAL, one of the top immigration law firms in America, said revenues for its advisory services since the start of this year were more than twice their level in the same period in 2024.
US immigration boutique Green and Spiegel has had more queries from Americans about moving to Canada in 2025 than the previous five years combined, according to the firm’s managing partner Jonathan Grode.
“The effect on the practice of immigration law has been dramatic in terms of dealing with short-term and acute issues,” said Grode. “This effort was a massive campaign promise of the administration and I do not predict it slowing down until the next presidential election.”
Lawyers rushed to advise companies on issuing emergency guidance last month after Washington announced sweeping changes including a new $100,000 application fee for the H-1B foreign worker visa on which many businesses rely. Amazon and Microsoft alone have had 15,000 such visas approved in the most recent fiscal year, according to the US Department of Homeland Security.
US authorities last month arrested 475 workers, mostly South Korean nationals, at a Hyundai electric car battery factory in Georgia over alleged visa rule violations.
“The focus used to be on compliance . . . but being compliant is no longer enough,” said Lynden Melmed, a partner at BAL in Washington. Now, he said, companies “need to know where things are headed and how they can align their talent strategies with the direction of immigration policy”.
In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer is hardening his immigration policy in an attempt to manage the threat from Nigel Farage’s rightwing populist Reform UK party.
Labour’s proposals include doubling the time it takes to qualify for permanent residence and forcing migrants to prove they are net contributors to society and have never claimed benefits in order to gain the status.
Starmer has also announced plans to issue digital ID cards to make it harder for irregular migrants and asylum seekers to work illegally.
The proposals come against a backdrop of court cases from asylum seekers in London attempting to avoid deportation to France under Starmer’s “one in, one out” deal with its neighbour.
UK law firm Lewis Silkin’s revenues in its immigration practice have risen 20 per cent over the past two years as governments increasingly focused on the issue.
“System change creates short-term peaks in the demand for immigration advice, as users of the system seek to get ahead of them,” said Andrew Osborne, head of immigration at Lewis Silkin. “We are giving this kind of advice more often, because of the rapid churn in policies.”
Immigration law is largely the preserve of boutique firms that specialise in the area. The practice is broadly split between those that advise corporations and individuals looking to secure visas for business purposes and legal aid lawyers who support asylum seekers.
US law firm Fragomen is one of the largest providers of immigration advice to businesses. Bo Cooper, one of the firm’s partners in Washington, said that since the H-1B announcement its staff had been working round the clock.
“Company decision makers at the highest levels have sought urgent advice on what the proclamation and other new changes all mean for their talent strategies, how to prepare for increased government scrutiny, how to see options for national interest exemptions, [and] figuring out what the courts might do with it,” said Cooper.
He added: “For the lawyers advising them, weekends are weekdays and nights are workdays.”
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