Bird & Bird
Business Immigration Law Firm of the Year - UK
Bird & Bird is one of the few firms with an end-to-end global mobility offering, focusing on mobility as a concept rather than a particular component(s) of a move and regularly pooling knowledge and expertise from a number of practice groups – immigration, employment, incentives, tax etc. – to ensure that all aspects of international reloca-tions are handled efficiently and with an exceptional level of client service. They also continue to work with clients on ex patriate management issues throughout the migrant’s time in another jurisdiction rather than seeing a project as concluded with the issuing of the visa. We spoke to them to find out more.
At Bird & Bird we offer a truly integrated approach to global mobility services. This will usually start with the immigration process, assessing which immigration category is most appropriate taking account of both the individual’s and the company’s objectives and balancing these against current (and projected) Home Office policy. Often the ability to settle in the UK and obtain a British passport – with the key associated benefit of an unrestricted right to travel and work throughout the EEA - is a key driver in a business’ decision to relocate an individual and of the individual agreeing to the move, requiring us to navigate through the Home Office’s commitment to reducing net migration and the removal or redefining of a number of immigration categories that had previously led to settlement.
Our firm is headquartered in the UK, and immigration continues to be a hot topic in this region. It has formed a central policy in each of the main political parties’ manifestoes and with the Home Office changing the Immigration Rules (and related policy) to continue to restrict the ability of non-EEA nationals to enter the UK whilst seeking to ensure that the UK remains a desirable and competitive market for global talent.
However, whilst immigration forms a key (and, in many cases, central) part of a global mobility mandate, we often see through our work that companies require a much broader range of services when considering an international relocation - including employment law support, dealing with employee incentives and benefits issues and taxation arrangements – to, essentially, enable an individual to be “lifted and shifted” from one country to another. A key element of a global mobility project is also the ancillary services that make a reloca-tion truly “work” and we have proven relationships with a number of business critical third parties including accountants, property agents, investment managers and payroll providers.
As an international firm – with 27 offices in 18 countries and tried and tested co-operation relationships throughout the World – Bird & Bird has a dedicated team of International HR Services solicitors who are able to advise on these global mobility and employment law issues on cross-border projects and across multiple jurisdictions.
For more information about Bird & Bird please visit www.twobirds.com and for more information about the firm’s global mobility services please contact Jonathan Goldsworthy on jonathan.goldsworthy@twobirds.com or 00 44 (0)20 7905 6389.
