Bates Wells stands as ‘one of the top immigration firms in the country’ through the depth of its expertise, and is able to handle the full range of complex immigration matters for personal, business, and HNW clients. The firm’s corporate practice, headed by the ‘helpful, efficient, and incredibly friendly’ Chetal Patel, who also heads the wider immigration practice, is noted for its immigration strategy and diverse client base that includes SMEs, large corporates, and charities. Senior associates Aisha Choudhry and Smruti Jeyanandhan are key contacts for business immigration matters. The human rights, appeals, and overstays work is focused primarily on Article 8 and families mandates, and includes a range of complicated appeals. Tim Barnden heads up this area, and has a reputation for handling matters relating to LGBTQ+ individuals, while associate Matthew James focusses on EEA nationals and their families. Solicitor Alice Bennington acts across the full range of the firm’s offering.
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Rising stars
Aisha is a Senior Associate in the Immigration Department and specialises in corporate immigration. Aisha advises clients on sponsor licence applications, mergers or acquisitions and sponsor licence compliance, as well as assisting with Representative of Overseas Business applications. Aisha works with clients from a variety of sectors such as wealth management, tech, media, charity and faith based.
Matthew is an Associate in the Immigration Department. His work bridges personal and business immigration, advising on applications based on gamily relationships alongside Global Talent, investor, entrepreneur and innovator applications. Matthew has built up a particular expertise in advising employers and individuals on the implications of Brexit and the EU Settlement Scheme. Matthew has also spoken at a number of events for the Creative Industries Federation and the Immigration Industry Association and provided training for ILPA. He has provided commentary for LexisNexis and the wider media.
Leading individuals
Tim is a Partner in the Immigration Department advising clients across the full range of personal, and family-based immigration, and human rights and refugee based claims. More than 25 years qualified, he started his practice in the Legal Aid sector, moving on to work for 10 years within a highly regarded niche immigration firm: Wesley Gryk LLP, before joining Bates Wells. Tim led the Immigration Team as Head of Department for 5 years from 2018 to 2023. In addition to leading on the department's personal and human rights immigration practice, Tim is Bates Wells' LGBT+ Ambassador. He is equally at ease working with high-net-worth individuals and their families, organisations and businesses, couples and family groups, and vulnerable applicants.
Chetal is Head of Immigration at Bates Wells. She is recognised as a leader in UK business related immigration matters and provides pragmatic solutions to complex matters. Chetal's clients operate in a number of sectors including charity, creative, finance, media and IT. The nature of Chetal's work has also meant that she has plenty of experience advising a broad range of clients from high-net-worth individuals and start-up companies to multinational companies. Chetal regularly advises on sponsor related matters, including compliance issues and global talent applications, entry to the UK as visitors and options for investors and entrepreneurs. Chetal is regularly involved in policy work and actively lobbies on behalf of organisations. Chetal regularly delivers training sessions on business immigration related topics to fellow practitioners and organisations and frequently speaks at international events. Chetal also contributes commentary and know-how to journalists.
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Chetal Patel, Tim Barnden