Privacy Policy

V Immigration Ltd | Last updated: 25 October 2026 | Version 1.5

1. Who we are

V Immigration Ltd (“V Immigration”, “we”, “us”, “our”) is a company registered in England and Wales (Company No. 16260537) with its registered office at Lewis Building, 35 Bull Street, Birmingham B4 6AF. We provide UK immigration advice and services and are regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA) under authorisation number F202638454 at Level 1 in the categories of Immigration and Asylum and Protection. Our principal adviser is Vishal Gautam (IAA No. P063473). Our current authorisation runs from 18 May 2026 to 18 May 2027.

For the purposes of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, V Immigration Ltd is the data controller of personal data collected through this website and in the course of providing our services.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) under registration number ZB903093.

2. Scope of this policy

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share and protect personal data when you:

• Visit our website at vimmigration.co.uk
• Complete an enquiry or intake form
• Book or pay for a consultation
• Instruct us in connection with an immigration matter
• Correspond with us by email, telephone, post or messaging platforms
• Interact with us on social media or via our marketing communications

It should be read alongside our Cookies Policy and our Terms and Conditions.

3. The personal data we collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following categories of personal data:

3.1 Identity and contact data

• Full name, title, date of birth, gender, nationality(ies), country of birth.
• Home and correspondence addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers.
• Passport, travel document, biometric residence permit (BRP) and visa details.

3.2 Immigration and case data

• Immigration history, previous applications, refusals, appeals, removals, deportations.
• Family composition and dependants’ details (including their personal data, which you must be authorised to share).
• Employment, qualifications, financial means, sponsorship details.
• Criminal record information and details of any immigration enforcement contact.
• Correspondence with the Home Office, UKVI, tribunals or other authorities.

3.3 Special category and sensitive data

Immigration casework frequently requires us to process “special category data” under Article 9 UK GDPR, including data revealing racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, health, or sexual orientation, as well as criminal offence data under Article 10 UK GDPR. We only process this data where strictly necessary to provide our services and where a lawful basis and an Article 9/10 condition apply (see Section 5).

3.4 Financial data

• Billing name and address, invoice details, payment references.
• If you pay for a consultation when you book it, your card details are processed by our payment provider, Stripe; we do not see or store full card details.

3.5 Technical and usage data

• IP address, device and browser information, operating system and referring URL, recorded in our web host’s server logs for security and to keep the website running.
• Unless you turn analytics off: the pages you visit, how you arrived at our website, your device and browser type, your approximate location (town or region) and actions such as scrolling, following links, downloading a file and starting or sending a form, collected through Google Analytics. It does not include what you type into our forms. See our Cookies Policy.

4. How we collect personal data

Directly from you: when you complete forms, send us documents, email us or speak to us.

From third parties: acting on your behalf (e.g. a sponsoring employer, family member or another professional adviser) where you have authorised them to share information with us.

From public sources and government bodies: (e.g. the Home Office, HM Courts and Tribunals Service) in the course of your matter.

Automatically: through our web host’s server logs when you use our website, and through Google Analytics, unless you turn analytics off.

5. Lawful bases for processing

We rely on the following lawful bases under Article 6 UK GDPR:

Purpose	Lawful basis
Responding to enquiries and providing pre-instruction information	Article 6(1)(b) — steps prior to entering a contract; or Article 6(1)(f) — legitimate interests in responding to potential clients
Sending a guide you ask for through our website, calling you if you gave a phone number for that, and keeping a record of the request	Article 6(1)(f) — legitimate interests in providing the information you asked for
Providing immigration advice and casework	Article 6(1)(b) — performance of our contract with you
Meeting our regulatory and legal obligations (IAA, AML, HMRC, ICO)	Article 6(1)(c) — legal obligation
Internal records, complaints handling, file retention	Article 6(1)(c) and Article 6(1)(f) — legitimate interests in proper administration of our practice
Marketing to existing clients about similar services	Article 6(1)(f) — legitimate interests, with the right to object
Marketing to prospective clients (electronic)	Article 6(1)(a) — consent under PECR
Measuring how our website is used (Google Analytics), unless you turn analytics off	Article 6(1)(f) legitimate interests in understanding how our website is used, so we can improve it. You can object at any time by turning analytics off with “Cookie settings” at the foot of any page.

For special category data, we rely on:

• Article 9(2)(f) UK GDPR — establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims;
• Article 9(2)(a) — explicit consent, where appropriate; and

We ask for your explicit consent when you instruct us. If you withdraw it, we may not be able to continue acting for you.

For criminal offence data, we rely on section 10 of, and Schedule 1 to, the Data Protection Act 2018, in particular paragraph 29 (consent) and paragraph 33 (legal claims, including obtaining legal advice).

6. How we use your personal data

• To assess your eligibility and provide immigration advice and representation.
• To prepare, submit and manage applications, appeals and correspondence on your behalf.
• To verify your identity and carry out anti-money laundering and sanctions checks where required.
• To take payment, issue invoices and recover fees.
• To comply with our obligations to the IAA, ICO, HMRC and other regulators.
• To respond to complaints and defend or pursue legal claims.
• To send you a guide you ask for through our website and, if you give a phone number with the request, to call you about your situation.
• To improve our website and services and to send service-related communications. This includes measuring how our website is used with Google Analytics, unless you turn analytics off.
• Where you have consented, to send you marketing communications about our services.
• If you are or have been our client, to send you our monthly email update about immigration rule changes that may affect you. You can unsubscribe at any time with the link in every email, or by telling us.

7. Who we share your personal data with

We share personal data only where necessary and with appropriate safeguards. Recipients include:

• The Home Office, UK Visas and Immigration, HM Courts and Tribunals Service and other UK and foreign government authorities involved in your matter.
• Sponsoring employers, educational institutions or family members, where relevant to your application and on your instructions.
• Counsel (barristers), interpreters, expert witnesses and other professional advisers instructed on your matter.
• Our IT, hosting, document management, secure storage, accounting and back-office providers acting as data processors under written contracts compliant with Article 28 UK GDPR.
• Our web host, Hostinger (hosting this website, including the messages you send through our website forms).
• Cal.com (consultation booking: you book on Cal.com’s own website) and Stripe (payment for consultations). Zoom and Microsoft (video consultations on Zoom or Microsoft Teams).
• Yoshki (the Immigration Advice Authority verification badge on our website, which receives your IP address and browser details when it loads).
• Google (Google Analytics), unless you turn analytics off. Google processes this data on our behalf, as our processor, under its data processing terms.
• MailerLite (MailerLite, Inc.), which sends our monthly email update to clients for us. It acts as our processor under its data processing terms, stores your name and email address in data centres in the European Union, and records whether you click the links in the email.
• WhatsApp (Meta), if you choose to contact us on WhatsApp.
• Our regulator (IAA), ICO, auditors, insurers and legal advisers where required for regulatory, audit or complaint-handling purposes.
• Law enforcement and other public authorities where required by law or court order.

8. International transfers

Some of the providers we use (including Cal.com, Stripe, Zoom, Microsoft, WhatsApp, Google Analytics and MailerLite) are based outside the UK, including in the United States. Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we rely on one or more of the following safeguards:

• UK adequacy regulations, including the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where applicable;
• the International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses; or
• another transfer mechanism permitted by Article 46 UK GDPR.

You may request a copy of the relevant safeguards by contacting us at info@vimmigration.co.uk.

9. How long we keep your personal data

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

Record type	Retention period
Client files (open and closed matters)	6 years from the end of the retainer, in line with IAA file-retention guidance and limitation periods under the Limitation Act 1980
Anti-money laundering records (where applicable)	5 years from end of the business relationship or transaction
Accounting and tax records	6 years from the end of the relevant financial year (HMRC)
Guide download requests (your first name, email address, phone number if you gave one, any optional answer you gave and whether you asked for updates)	12 months from the request, unless you become a client or ask for updates (then as for client files or marketing data)
Marketing data	Until you unsubscribe, withdraw consent or object, and then archived for evidential purposes for up to 2 years. We keep a note that you opted out so that we do not email you again.
Website server logs	Kept by our web host for security and maintenance, then deleted. We do not use them to track visitors.
Google Analytics data (unless you turn analytics off)	2 months in Google Analytics. The analytics cookies on your device last up to 2 years unless you delete them; you can turn analytics off at any time with “Cookie settings”, which deletes them.
Complaints records	6 years from resolution of the complaint

After the applicable retention period, personal data is securely deleted or anonymised.

10. Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the following rights, subject to certain conditions and exemptions:

Right of access — to obtain a copy of the personal data we hold about you.

Right to rectification — to have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected.

Right to erasure — to have your data deleted where there is no overriding legal or regulatory reason to retain it.

Right to restrict processing — to limit how we use your data in certain circumstances.

Right to data portability — to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used format.

Right to object — including to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing.

Right to withdraw consent — where processing is based on consent, without affecting prior lawful processing.

Rights in relation to automated decision-making and profiling — we do not currently carry out solely automated decisions producing legal or similarly significant effects.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at info@vimmigration.co.uk. We will respond within one month, extendable by up to two further months for complex requests.

Complaints about how we use your personal data

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, please tell us so that we can put it right. Email info@vimmigration.co.uk with “Data protection complaint” in the subject line, or use the contact form on our website. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days, look into it without undue delay, and tell you the outcome.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office: Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF | 0303 123 1113 | ico.org.uk.

11. Security

We maintain appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data, including encryption in transit and at rest, access controls, staff training, secure document storage and incident-response procedures. No system is entirely secure.

12. Children

Where we act on a matter involving a minor (under 18), we only process their data on the instructions of a person with parental responsibility or legal guardianship, or in accordance with our regulatory duties.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The latest version will be available on our website with the “Last updated” date above. Material changes will be notified to existing clients by email.

14. Contact us

Privacy queries: info@vimmigration.co.uk

General contact: info@vimmigration.co.uk | 07947 692485

Postal: V Immigration Ltd, Lewis Building, 35 Bull Street, Birmingham B4 6AF