What I handle
United Kingdom
- Indefinite leave to remain — applications and refusals
- Absence and continuous residence problems
- Sponsor licences and certificates of sponsorship
- Skilled Worker and work routes
- Spouse and partner applications
- Administrative review and appeals
Lithuania
- National visa (D) applications
- Temporary residence permits for work and business
- Permanent residence and long-term status
- Residence for family members
- Employer-side compliance for foreign workers
- EU free movement questions
Which country do you need status in?
The United Kingdom
Home Office routes
- Skilled Worker, Global Talent, Spouse and partner
- Indefinite leave to remain after 5 or 10 years
- Sponsor licences for employers
- Administrative review and appeals on refusal
Lithuania
Migration Department routes
- National visa (D) for work or business
- Temporary residence permit, renewable
- Permanent residence after qualifying period
- Family reunification and EU free movement
Refusals
This is where most people arrive. A refusal letter is not a final answer, and in absence cases it is very often not even a correct one.
The rules on continuous residence changed in April 2024. A qualifying period spanning that date requires two different calculations: the old 548-day total for the earlier portion, the new 180-days-per-rolling-12-months for the later one. The Home Office regularly applies one test to the whole period. That is a concrete ground of challenge, and it is checkable from the refusal letter itself.
Day 0
Refusal decision served
The clock starts on the date of the decision, not the date you open the envelope or the email.
Days 1–5
Check the calculation
Compare the Home Office figure against your own travel records and, where it matters, against their own border data obtained by Subject Access Request.
By day 14
Request a review — inside the UK
28 days if you are outside the UK. Miss it and the review route closes, leaving a fresh application at full fee.
After
Review, reapply, or challenge
Which one depends on whether the Home Office erred, whether the issue is correctable, and whether human rights grounds arise.
The full detail, including what evidence a challenge needs and how to get the Home Office's own record of your travel, is in the guide to ILR refused for absences.
Why cross-border matters here
A large part of this work involves people whose lives sit across both countries: Lithuanians settled in the UK, families split between the two, employers moving staff in either direction. Those cases fail when each side is handled by a different firm that cannot see the whole picture.
- A Lithuanian national in the UK whose absences were spent in Lithuania, the evidence sits in two countries.
- A UK settlement application where the family relationship is documented under Lithuanian law.
- An employer hiring in both jurisdictions, needing a UK sponsor licence and Lithuanian work permits at once.
- Someone deciding which country to settle in, who needs both answers before choosing.
How it works
- 01Free
Send me what you have
The refusal letter, or the outline of what you are applying for. Enough to say whether there is a route and what it would take.
- 02Before we begin
You get a written estimate
What the work involves, what it costs, and how long it should take — before anything starts. Fixed where the work allows it.
- 03Throughout
The same solicitor does the work
The person who reads your first email is the person who prepares the application and argues the review.
What it costs
Immigration work is quoted case by case, because a straightforward extension and a contested absence refusal are not comparable pieces of work. Where the work is charged by time the rate is €300 an hour, or £255 where the matter is billed in sterling, including VAT and varying with complexity. You get a written estimate before I start, and the rate that applies to your matter is confirmed in the engagement letter. Home Office fees are set by the government and are separate.
Home Office fees are separate and set by the government. The current ILR application fee is £2,885, an administrative review is £80, and the Life in the UK Test is £50. Those change — check gov.uk before relying on them.
Common questions
Can you help if my ILR was refused?
Yes — refusals are the bulk of this work. The first step is checking whether the Home Office calculation is actually correct, particularly where your qualifying period spans April 2024. Most applicants inside the UK have 14 calendar days to request a review, so it is worth sending the letter over quickly.
Do you handle Lithuanian residence permits as well as UK visas?
Yes. I am a solicitor in England and Wales and an advocate registered with the Lithuanian Bar, so both sides are handled on one file rather than by instructing a separate firm in each country.
What languages do you work in?
English, Lithuanian and Russian. The person handling your case is the person you speak to, without a translator in between.
How much does an immigration solicitor cost?
It depends on the work, since a straightforward application and a contested refusal are very different. Where the work is charged by time the rate is €300 an hour, or £255 where the matter is billed in sterling, including VAT. You get a written estimate before anything starts, and a fixed fee where the work allows one. Home Office fees are separate and set by the government.
How long do I have to challenge a refusal?
Usually 14 calendar days from inside the UK, or 28 from outside. Check the refusal notice itself, as the deadline stated there governs.
Can I just reapply instead of challenging?
Sometimes, and occasionally that is the better route. But reapplying without establishing why the first application failed risks repeating the same error at full fee, and where the refusal was caused by a Home Office mistake, a review is both cheaper and faster.
This page states the law of England & Wales and Lithuania as at 18 August 2026. It is general information, not advice on your matter, and reading it does not create a solicitor-client relationship.