The Immigration Advice Authority, formerly known as the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner or ‘OISC’, is a governmental body established by the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 to regulate the provision of immigration advice and services throughout the UK. The Immigration Advice Authority has around 60 staff.

The Immigration Advice Authority was set up to try and prevent migrants and their families getting poor quality or dishonest immigration advice. Tackling bad immigration advice was considered to be important not just for individuals and companies directly affected, but also to be in the public interest more generally.

Essentially, the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 makes it illegal for a person or organisation to provide immigration advice or services unless authorised under the Act. Solicitors, barristers and chartered legal executives are all automatically authorised. Anyone else who wants to give immigration advice needs to apply to the Immigration Advice Authority for authorisation.

What does the Immigration Advice Authority do?

The Immigration Advice Authority supervises immigration advice in the UK that is not given by qualified lawyers such as solicitors, barristers and chartered legal executives. To do that, it runs a system of regulation for immigration advisers and takes action against those who do not comply with the system.

One of the functions of the authority is to investigate and prosecute those who give immigration advice, but who are not regulated and not registered.

Where an immigration adviser is regulated, the authority has powers to audit and inspect premises and deal with complaints. The authority can prevent a person giving immigration advice by cancelling their registration.

How can you qualify as an immigration adviser?

In order to become an Immigration Advice Authority registered adviser, you need to apply to the authority and show you are a fit, proper and competent person, as well as showing you can manage client files and more.

When you apply to the Immigration Advice Authority to become a registered adviser, you can apply at one of three different “levels” and in one of two “categories”. These levels and categories require the applicant to show the right level of understanding and skills in the right subjects for the work they will undertake.

For example, a charity worker at the Red Cross whose job is limited to helping refugees apply for family reunion on specified forms does not need as much understanding in as many subjects as an adviser who attends the immigration tribunal to argue complex deportation or nationality cases in front of a judge.

A big part of the application process is passing a test of your immigration law knowledge. These tests take place around once per month in different locations. In 2022/23, 742 candidates sat a competence assessment with the authority and 430 of those passed. The pass rate was 58%. This has been steadily increasing over the past several years in 2015/16 it was 25%, in 2016/17 it was 36% and in 2021/22 it was 55%.

That means over 40% of people who sit an Immigration Advice Authority exam fail it. It is therefore a good idea to make sure you know your stuff before you put yourself forward for the exam, if you are thinking of becoming an adviser.

We have dedicated Immigration Advice Authority Level 1 and Level 2 online training courses available to help you, as well as exam preparation for Level 1 and Level 2 to help you assess whether you are ready. For those who prefer live training, we also provide online small group tutored sessions comprising two sessions per week for four weeks with a maximum group size of ten and a dedicated tutor at Level 1 and Level 2. We also have an ebook available for Level 1 preparation.

Once registered, the authority will then check that you remain so by investigating any complaints against you, checking that you keep yourself up to date on the law and carrying out audits on your client files.

How does CPD training work for Immigration Advice Authority advisers?

The Immigration Advice Authority runs a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) scheme for immigration advisers as part of its system of regulation. There is no set minimum amount of training that advisers now need to undertake, nor are any training providers officially accredited. Advisers have to decide on their own training needs and how to meet those training needs.

The basic idea of the CPD scheme is that an adviser has to plan their CPD, do the CPD, record their CPD and then make an annual CPD declaration. An explanatory booklet and CPD Learning and Development Record are available to download.

Here at Free Movement we provide lots of online training to our members and have a wide range of live webinars and workshops available. Our courses cover all aspects and levels of immigration law. You can see the range of courses available here.

Where can I find out more about the Immigration Advice Authority?

The Immigration Advice Authority has a lot of content on its website that you can explore. You can also check out our dedicated hub.