Shradha Virji
Managing Associate
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Stands out for her ‘cool and calm attitude’.
(The Legal 500, 2019)
Shradha is a Managing Associate within the immigration team at Freeths. She is a specialist Immigration lawyer with over 10 years’ experience. She has extensive experience of advising both businesses and individuals on a wide range of contentious and non-contentious immigration matters.
Shradha advises employers from various sectors such as, DigiTech, Professional Services, Food and Hospitality, Manufacturing and Engineering, Retail and Energy. Her advice encompasses all aspects of the sponsorship regime including licensing as a sponsor with the Home Office, licence restructure, supporting recruitment from overseas, advising on compliance matters, conducting compliance audits and Immigration training.
She also supports overseas companies and individuals on establishing themselves in the UK under the Start-up and Innovator categories and under their predecessor routes, Entrepreneur and Representative of an Overseas Business visa categories. Shradha has successfully obtained Innovator and Start-Up visas for companies establishing business in MedTech, EdTech, FoodTech and E-Commerce. She is able to assist clients with obtaining accountancy advise, company incorporation and Intellectual Property protection.
Shradha has a proven track record of advising companies on complex immigration matters, such as successfully renewing a sponsor licence at short notice following a company’s transition from former representatives. This involved internal audits which raised compliance breaches, which were remedied, securing 34 work visas and 34 dependant visas within 2 months’ of instruction. This action mitigated the company’s losses of more than £5million and loss of reputation with the company’s major clients such as Vodafone, Nokia and Hutchinson 3G.
Shradha has experience of managing large national projects to obtain pre/settled status for employees of large manufacturing and construction businesses.
Shradha advises businesses on the transfer of staff and sponsor licences following corporate restructures and has recently advised the UK’s largest building merchant on this.
Shradha’s breadth of experience in individual immigration also includes advising on Partner, Child and Adult Dependent visas. She has assisted many clients on indefinite leave to remain and British Nationality following overseas adoptions and the breakdown of a relationship
Legal Services
Business Immigration
Shradha’s expertise includes providing guidance to multinational organisations on their immigration and global mobility requirements. She has particular expertise in compliance obligations and complex prevention of illegal working scenarios.
Shradha’s knowledge of individual migration is extensive and she has advised on many complex EU law and British citizenship applications. She has particular expertise in assisting third country nationals on Investment in to the UK, establishing a business in the Sole Representative category and family immigration matters, including partner and parent categories, long residence and visitor routes.
Recent Work
- Successfully securing ILR and FLR for Tier 2 (General) employees where the sponsor had breached their compliance duties.
- Acting for a national gas company in securing Tier 5 (Government Authorise Exchange) visas for graduates undertaking work experience.
- Reinstating an Executives Tier 2 (General) visa following a curtailment of his visa by the Home Office.
- Acting for an international charity in securing Tier 2 (Intra Company Transfer) visas for their staff based outside of the UK.
- Advising an EU citizen and his family on how to secure status in the UK and to naturalise as British citizens immediately on approval of their Permanent Residence applications.
- Advising an international celebrity on entry clearance as a fiancée of a British national.
- Advising a West End theatre production company on sponsoring a lead actress under a Tier 5 (Temporary Worker – Creative and sporting) visa.
- Successfully representing individuals in Judicial Review proceedings against the Secretary of State in a case concerning the unlawful delay of an application.
- Successfully registering a minor as a British citizen following an overseas adoption.
- Advising an individual with an extension to her visa as the spouse of a British national.
- Obtaining visas for a family who had overstayed in the UK for more than six years.
Construction & Engineering
Recent Work
- Advised the UK’s largest building merchant on the effects of a corporate restructure on its sponsor licence.
- Managed national projects to obtain pre/settled status for employees of large manufacturing and construction businesses.
- Successfully applied for a new sponsor licence and transfer of employees from one corporate entity to another following a TUPE transfer which had been incorrectly reported to the Home Office. This led to the Home Office imposing a narrow timeframe to secure the sponsor licence and conclude the transfer, failure to comply would have resulted in revocation of the company’s existing licence and curtailment of the work visas.
Sectors
Retail
Cases
- Providing advice for Aldi Stores in respect of Right to Work issues and HR policies ensuring compliance and reducing the risk of Home Office enforcement action and reputational damage.
- Successfully challenging 10 civil penalties for 2 Sisters Food Group Limited for illegal working and undertaking litigation to reduce the penalty incurred from £200,000 to £30,000, saving the client significant sums and reputational damage.
- Securing a sponsor licence for a multi-national gym franchise and successfully transferring senior employees to the UK to establish and expand the UK based franchise.
Clean Energy, Waste & Sustainability
Cases
- Obtaining a sponsor licence for a large scale multi-national solar and hybrid power projects company enabling highly skilled project managers, construction managers, engineers, and other specialist workers to work on UK under the Skilled Worker route.
Financial Services
Cases
- Providing ongoing Right to Work advice, securing sponsor licences and Skilled Worker visas for many architectural, accountancy and financial practices based in the City of London.
Food
Cases
- Advised several 5-star hotels on employee retention and status of EU staff pre and post Brexit.
- Successfully secured a sponsor licence for a food and beverage retailer enabling them to transfer existing staff from an overseas linked entity to the UK on Skilled Worker visas.
Latest
- Redefining Boundaries: Women leading the change for Inclusive Diversity, Socio-Economic growth, and Leadership
- What can a business visitor do in the UK?
- Fishing occupations to be added to the Shortage Occupation List
- The impact of international students on the UK economy
- Annual Employment Seminar – Milton Keynes
- Delivery drivers: crackdown on illegal working
- Why are right to work checks important?
- What happens if a sponsored worker’s start date is delayed?
- Passport delays due to 5-week strike action
- Upcoming Changes to the Shortage Occupation List: Construction Sector
- Latest Immigration Rule Changes: for business people and workers
- Why does your worker’s Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) expire in 2024?
- 20-hour cap lifted for Visa holders in Health and Social Care
- Labour shortages in the UK and the post-Brexit immigration system
- Increases to the minimum salary for Skilled Worker visa holders
- Government funding to boost recruitment in the adult social care sector
- Roehrig v Secretary of State for the Home Department
- The Home Office accepts recommendations made in the Chief Inspector’s report on the immigration system as it relates to the agricultural sector
- Recruiting talent in 2023: do’s, don’ts, and definitely the do nots
- Business Immigration Quarterly Update: September 2022
- Business Immigration Quarterly Update: January 2022
- Annual Employment and Immigration Update
- Freeths Immigration Surgery – Milton Keynes – 27 November 2019
- Freeths Immigration Surgery – Leicester – 11 December 2019
- Freeths Immigration Surgery – Nottingham – 5 December 2019
- Keep your immigration recruitment GDPR compliant
To contact Shradha or for more information…
Call: 0345 166 6264
Mobile: 0791 762 1292
Or email: Send an email
- Immigration Law Practitioners Association
Stands out for her ‘cool and calm attitude’.
(The Legal 500, 2019)
“Shradha Virji has helped my wife and I with complex spouse visa immigration matters for over five years. When I first met Shradha her kindness and reassurance assured me she was the best person for the job, and I was not disappointed. She has been a great asset in helping my wife secure her British citizenship. I highly recommend Shradha and her team at Freeths.”
(The Legal 500, 2019)
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