Cancellation and Refund Policy

IAS Cancellation and Refund Policy 

At Immigration Advice Service, we’re extremely proud of our core set of values, which we adhere to at all times. In addition to the fantastic people we have working at IAS, the values that we uphold are what truly set us apart from other immigration providers. 

As well as being ethical, we uphold the belief that everyone should be entitled to precise, professional immigration and asylum advice, and we endeavour to make sure that this is the case through a core set of principles, pro bono and charitable work. 

However, we recognise that people’s circumstances change and that you may need to cancel services that have already been booked and paid for. Please find below our policies in relation to refunds and also how you can register a complaint if you are not happy with the service you have received. 

UK Cancellation Policy

Advice Sessions 

If an Advice Session appointment is cancelled more than 24 hours before the appointment start time, a refund of the amount paid minus an administration fee* will be made via the original form of payment. If an Advice Session appointment is cancelled less than 24 hours before the appointment start time, no refund will be made. 

Refunds will not be given to any client for advice sessions that have been previously rescheduled.

Applications, Document Checks, and other representation services 

When an application, document check or other representation service is purchased, a Client Care Letter will be provided to you to sign which outlines our full terms of business. 

If the service is cancelled before any work has been carried out and more than 24 hours before the initial appointment start time, a refund of the amount paid will be returned to the original form of payment minus an administration fee*. If the service has been cancelled less than 24 hours before the initial appointment but before any work has been carried out, a £200 cancellation fee plus administration fee* will be charged and the balance will be refunded.  

If the service is cancelled after the initial appointment/advice session but before work has begun on the case, the amount paid will be refunded minus £200 (to cover the cost of the advice session) and an administration fee. 

If the service is cancelled when work has already begun on the case, a refund of the amount paid less an amount to cover the value of any work already carried out may be made. The amount to be deducted will be determined on a case by case basis. 

When a service from Immigration Advice Service is cancelled, you will receive written acknowledgement of the cancellation and of the amount of refund due within 14 working days of the date we were notified of the cancellation. If there is an element of complaint or dispute, we will endeavour to resolve this with you within 28 working days of the date we were notified of the cancellation.  

Rescheduling Policy

If an advice session is missed, or rescheduled within an hour of the set start time, the full fee for a new session must be paid in order to arrange a new time and date. If you wish to cancel and reschedule your session within 24 hours (up to 1 hour before the start time) then a £30.00 admin fee will be charged to reschedule.

Any rescheduling requests that are made 24 hours or more before the session start time can be changed free of charge on the first occasion. Any subsequent changes will incur a £30.00 admin charge.

Global Migration Cancellation Policy
(USA/ Canada/ Portugal/ Spain/ Italy/ ROI/ NZ/ France/ Germany)

If an advice session is cancelled more than 24 hours before the appointment start time a refund will be given minus a £30.00 admin fee. If an advice session is cancelled less than 24 hours before the appointment starts time, no refund will be given.

Refunds will not be given to any client for advice sessions that have previously been rescheduled.

Global Migration Rescheduling Policy

If an advice session is not attended within 10 minutes of the start time, missed, or requested to be rescheduled within 24 hours of the set start time, the full fee for a new session must be paid to arrange a new time and date.

Any reschedule requests made 24 hours or more before the set start time can be actioned with no charge on the first occasion, any further changes will incur a £30.00 admin fee.

Registering a Complaint for UK services

Although we are confident that our services are always of the highest quality, there may be occasions when things do go wrong. In these instances, you should first contact the enquiries team or your caseworker who will do their best to resolve any issues. If they are unable to resolve the issues to your satisfaction, you should send a detailed email outlining the following to [email protected]; 

• The service that has been purchased 
• The caseworker or staff member(s) you have been in contact with 
• The nature of the complaint (giving as much detail as possible). 

The complaint will then be handled in line with our Client Care Letter and T&C’s. You can expect to receive acknowledgement of your complaint and a full reply within 14 working days. In some cases, it may take up to 28 working days to fully investigate a complaint. If this is the case, you will be made aware of why there is a delay and the time it is expected to take. 

If your complaint is in regard to an advice session, the matter will be investigated and then a decision will be made on whether a refund is to be made, and the amount that will be refunded – this will be assessed on a case by case basis. 

Where a complaint is in regard to an application, document check or other service, the matter will be investigated and then a decision will be made on whether a refund is to be made and the amount that will be refunded. This will depend on the amount of work already carried out on the case. 

Incorrect Advice/Legal Representation 

In the extremely rare case where you feel incorrect legal advice or work has been provided (whether it be an advice session, application or other representation service) then you should email your complaint to Abigail Solomon at [email protected].  

Please be aware that any issues that are non-legal/compliance based will not be dealt with through this channel. 

If we are unable to resolve matters to your satisfaction, or you wish to pursue your complaint through other channels, you are entitled to contact the OISC at any time. The OISC details address is: 

5th Floor, 

21 Bloomsbury Street, 

London 

WC1B 3HF 

Refund Timeframe 

When a refund is to be made, this will be credited back to the original form of payment within 14 days of the end of the period of any investigation that has been completed and after you have been notified of the outcome of the investigation and the final refund amount. Please be aware that refund times may be longer during periods of public holidays such as Christmas, Easter, Bank Holidays etc.  

*Administration Fees 

An administration fee may apply to cancellations or refunds and is charged to cover the costs of opening a legal file, processing payments/refunds and the time of any staff involved in the investigating of cancellations and/or complaints. The admin fee currently stands at £30.00 as of January 2019.