Immigration Senior/Principal Associate

Shoosmiths; Glasgow; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Shoosmiths is seeking an experienced immigration lawyer to join the Employment & Immigration team in the UK. The role covers corporate immigration for employer clients and personal immigration matters, including Global Talent visas and ILR.

You will own client relationships, handle complex matters, and help grow the practice with junior colleagues. We welcome candidates for fixed-term contracts or permanent roles, with a focus on practical, commercially minded guidance.

Qualifications

• Has strong experience advising employers on UK corporate immigration matters.
• Experience with personal immigration matters including ILR and Global Talent.
• Detailed knowledge of sponsor licence regime, sponsored work routes and employer compliance.

Responsibilities

• Advise employers on a broad range of UK corporate immigration matters.
• Advise on personal immigration matters including Global Talent, Schengen visas and ILR.
• Advise on sponsor licence applications and ongoing sponsor licence management and compliance.
• Advise employers on sponsorship of workers and visa applications; manage sponsor duties.
• Provide practical guidance on right-to-work requirements and immigration compliance.
• Conduct immigration compliance audits and help clients address risks.
• Deliver immigration training to HR, recruitment, legal and management teams.
• Support recruitment and international movement discussions and policy development.
• Collaborate with employment lawyers and other teams on overlapping issues.
• Manage matters from instruction to completion with clear, commercial advice.
• Develop client relationships and identify growth opportunities.

Skills

UK corporate immigration

Global Talent

Sponsor licences

Right-to-work

Autonomy

Client relationships

Business development

Team supervision

Collaboration across teams

Job description

The role

We are looking for an experienced immigration lawyer to join our Employment & Immigration team, advising employer clients on UK corporate immigration as well as personal immigration.

You will work closely with a broad range of organisations, providing practical and commercially focused advice on their immigration requirements and helping them navigate an increasingly complex regulatory environment.

The role will involve advising clients on matters including sponsor licences, sponsored workers, visa applications, right-to-work requirements and ongoing sponsor compliance obligations. Our existing immigration practice also supports clients through immigration audits, training and the development of appropriate policies and procedures and on a wide range of personal immigration applications including indefinite leave, dependant visas and Global Talent visas.

As a senior member of the team, you will be expected to take ownership of client relationships and complex matters, contribute to the growth of the practice and support the development of more junior colleagues.

We are happy to receive applications from candidates seeking either a fixed term contract or a permanent role.

Main Responsibilities

• Advising employers on a broad range of UK corporate immigration matters.
• Advising on personal immigration matters including Global Talent, Schengen visas and ILR.
• Advising on sponsor licence applications and ongoing sponsor licence management and compliance.
• Advising employers on the sponsorship of workers, including Certificates of Sponsorship and relevant work visa applications. These are established areas of work within the existing practice.
• Providing practical advice on right-to-work requirements and immigration compliance.
• Conducting immigration compliance audits and helping clients identify and address areas of risk.
• Delivering immigration training to HR, recruitment, legal and management teams. The team currently undertakes bespoke client immigration training, including right-to-work and sponsor licence/Skilled Worker training.
• Advising clients on immigration considerations arising from recruitment, workforce planning and international movement of employees.
• Working collaboratively with employment lawyers and other specialist teams where immigration issues interact with wider employment or commercial considerations. Internal material specifically describes the overlap between employment and business immigration work.
• Managing matters effectively from initial instruction through to completion, ensuring clients receive responsive, clear and commercially focused advice.
• Developing strong relationships with existing clients and identifying opportunities to broaden those relationships.
• Supporting business development initiatives, including training, seminars, briefings, articles and other thought‑leadership activity.
• Keeping clients and colleagues informed of significant developments in immigration law, policy and practice.
• Supporting and supervising junior lawyers and other members of the team, sharing knowledge and contributing to their development.
• Contributing to the continued development and profile of the immigration practice nationally.

Skills And Experience

We are looking for an experienced lawyer who has the following essential skills:

• Has strong experience advising employers on UK corporate immigration matters.
• Has experience of personal immigration matters including ILR, Global Talent, Schengen visas.
• Has detailed knowledge of the sponsor licence regime, sponsored work routes and employer compliance requirements.
• Has experience advising on right-to-work issues and immigration risk.
• Can manage complex matters with appropriate autonomy.
• Is able to translate complex legal and regulatory requirements into clear, practical advice for clients.
• Has strong client relationship and stakeholder management skills.
• Demonstrates sound commercial judgement and understands the wider business context in which clients operate.
• Is comfortable building relationships and contributing to business development.
• Can supervise, support and develop junior colleagues.
• Works collaboratively across teams and disciplines.

What Will Set You Apart

• Significant experience acting for employer clients and acting on personal immigration matters.
• Experience handling complex sponsor licence and compliance matters.
• Experience delivering client training and immigration audits.
• The ability to develop trusted relationships with HR, People and senior business stakeholders.
• An interest in growing client relationships and contributing to the wider development of the immigration practice.
• Experience of matters where immigration and employment law overlap.

About The Team

The firm's Employment & Immigration practice advises organisations on corporate and personal immigration matters and works with businesses on areas including sponsorship, sponsor management, immigration compliance and bringing individuals into the UK.

The wider People & Reward materials describe the practice as supporting organisations with sponsor licences, employees' visa applications and ongoing UKVI sponsor duties and compliance obligations, alongside employment law considerations.

The firm

Shoosmiths is the law firm clients choose for excellent service, incisive thinking and above all for our ability to focus on what matters. From offices across the UK and Brussels, we support some of the world’s most exciting and ambitious businesses; amazing clients making an impact. We empower our people to be their authentic selves and deliver together in supportive teams committed to excellence and innovation. The first top 50 law firm to achieve ‘Platinum Standard’ Investors in People, our values and culture are not just words on our website but are the heartbeat of the firm.

We have an outstanding benefits package to complement our competitive remuneration system. In addition to the competitive salaries, great working environment and high-quality work, we believe that all staff should be rewarded for their commitment to the continued success of the firm through a comprehensive and flexible range of benefits.

To discover more about our benefits, please visit: Benefits Package

Shoosmiths is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. Disability Confident is a government scheme designed to encourage employers to recruit and retain disabled people and those with long term conditions.

As part of our accreditation, we commit to interviewing any applicants with a disability who meet the essential criteria for each vacancy. In some circumstances we may only be able to interview those that best meet the essential criteria due to the volume of applications received.

Further information on the Disability Confident scheme is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/disability-confident-campaign

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to and usable by everyone. If you have a disability or long-term condition and would like to receive information in a different way, or need us to make any adjustments, changes or do anything differently during the recruitment process, please get in touch with the Talent Acquisition team on [e-mail]. We can consider your needs and requirements, and how we can assist you to apply for our roles. For example we can provide a copy of our application via email so that you can complete it using your own accessibility software.

Equal opportunities

Our approach to our people is underpinned by our approach to diversity, inclusion and well-being. Our ambition is to build a diverse and ambitious workforce that reflects all backgrounds and talents, and a workplace that is supportive and inclusive, recognises and nurtures talent, and has a strong sense of community between colleagues.

This means that everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, whatever their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, disability, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.