Shahjahan Ali
Shahjahan was recognised as a leading immigration solicitor by Legal500 from 2022 through to 2025. He has also been on the Lexis Nexis panel of immigration experts for over a decade. Formerly, Shahjahan chaired the London First Immigration Working Group.
He has over 17 years’ experience advising clients on a range of immigration matters, particularly businesses, entrepreneurs, highly skilled individuals, investors, HNWI, executives and professional sportspersons.
Shahjahan has an exceptional track record of success. He has helped international businesses establish branches in the UK and supported international recruitment in a range of sectors including finance, IT, healthcare, manufacturing and retail. He has also supported clients with investment, work and family based visas.
Examples of Shahjahan’s work include:
- Advising HNWIs in relation to entry clearance, extension and indefinite leave to remain under the investor category.
- Supporting tech entrepreneurs with Global Talent visa applications.
- Assisting businesses with obtaining and managing a sponsorship licence.
- Advising on immigration and sponsorship compliance for small and large businesses.
- Assisting British citizens with visa applications for their partners.
- Advising on British citizenship.
Practice Area
Panel
- Contributing Author
Qualification
- Solicitor
Education
- Lancaster University, Law LLB (Hons)
- Languages spoken: Bengali French
3 Contributions by Shahjahan Ali
PRACTICE NOTES
Judicial review of Home Office Workers and Temporary Workers sponsor licence decisions: refusals, suspensions, downgrades, revocations; merits, urgent interim relief, procedural fairness, investigation, negotiation and pre-action
STOP PRESS:
This Practice Note is currently in the process of being revised to reflect amendments to the Sponsor Guidance that took effect on 6 March 2026. See the News Analysis: Detailed list of the Home Office’s Sponsor Guidance changes of 6 March 2026. A refusal by the Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD), acting through the Home Office, to grant a Workers and Temporary Workers sponsor licence carries no right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), although a ‘pre‑licence error correction’ process has been available since 6 April 2016. Decisions to suspend, downgrade or revoke sponsor licences attract no right of appeal or review. Operating a sponsor licensing regime without an appeal to an independent tribunal has been held to comply with Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 (right to a fair trial). The Court of Appeal in R (New London College Ltd) v SSHD confirmed that judicial review was an appropriate and sufficient remedy in these circumstances. The criteria governing the grant, suspension or withdrawal of a sponsor licence are, at present, set out exclusively within the Home Office Sponsor Guidance...
Immigration
PRACTICE NOTES
Tier 1 (Investor) UK—archived: Practical guidance on AML, client management, ILR/naturalisation absences, dependants, tax and KoLL; extensions/settlement for existing holders and alternative routes
ARCHIVED : The Tier 1 (Investor) category was closed to initial applications, without warning, from 16:00 on 17 February 2022 through Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules CP 632.
Applicants with existing permission in this route can still seek to extend their leave, and may apply for entry clearance from outside the UK if they have held Tier 1 (Investor) leave within the 12 months before the date of application, as well as apply for settlement.
Extension applications, whether made in the UK or abroad, must be lodged by 17 February 2026.
Applications for indefinite leave to remain must be submitted by 17 February 2028.
For additional details, see: LNB News 17/02/2022 76.
This Practice Note—last updated before the post-Brexit work and study routes introduced in December 2020 via Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules HC 617—has been kept in archived form for historical interest.
Anti-money laundering duties and other client due diligence processes, together with advisers’ own regulatory compliance and other UK legal obligations not relating to immigration law, fall outside the scope of this Practice Note...
Immigration
PRACTICE NOTES
UK Home Office sponsor licence enforcement for Workers and Temporary Workers: downgrading, suspension, revocation, surrender and CoS reductions—grounds, process, consequences and responses
STOP PRESS
This Practice Note is being updated to incorporate changes to the Sponsor Guidance that took effect on 6 March 2026. For a full breakdown, see News Analysis: Detailed list of Home Office’s Sponsor Guidance changes of 6 March 2026.
This Practice Note sets out how a sponsor in the Workers and Temporary Workers routes may lose its licence or have it curtailed. These routes are:
downgrading
revocation
suspension
surrender by sponsor
reduction of Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) allocation
The applicable Home Office guidance for sponsors is the Workers and Temporary Workers Sponsor Guidance, with Part 3 in particular covering sponsor duties and compliance.
In R (New London College Ltd) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD); R (West London Vocational Training College) v SSHD, the Supreme Court confirmed that the Immigration Act 1971 (IA 1971) provides general statutory authority for the SSHD to run a sponsor licensing regime, including vetting sponsors, through rules that do not need to be laid before Parliament...
Immigration
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