Pat Saini
Partner
Services
Immigration for business
Pat leads the firm’s immigration team and is co-head of the India group, bringing nearly 30 years’ experience advising business, education and private individual clients, including high net worth individuals, on all aspects of UK immigration.
In the education sector, universities, overseas HEI’s, study abroad providers, FE colleges, and independent schools seek her strategic advice on a range of matters including liaising with the Home Office, UK establishment, mergers and acquisitions, compliance audits (including action plans), international recruitment strategy and CAS requests. Her business clients range from multinational corporations to start-ups and scale-ups. She provides strategic immigration advice on UK market entry, mergers and acquisitions, UKVI compliance, and Right to Work issues, including civil penalties. Pat’s private individual clients include those looking to apply under the Global Talent and Innovator Founder routes, advice on spouse and family visas and those looking to acquire British citizenship.
I always start a matter by getting to know my client, which includes knowing about their business and sector that they work in. I find this is the best way to provide pragmatic solutions to what are often complex scenarios.
As the immigration team’s government liaison services lead, she has been instrumental in shaping immigration policy. Her work includes lobbying the Home Office on behalf of pathway providers which resulted in ‘sites and partnerships’ being incorporated in the guidance, leading the case for adding digital tech jobs to the shortage occupation list and being part of the panel which advised the government on the redesign of the Global Talent visa (tech nation).
Pat regularly delivers training on UK immigration and speaks at conferences in the UK and internationally. She has served on the board of the Department for International Trade’s Global Entrepreneurship Programme and currently chairs the Immigration and Talent Working Group at Tech London Advocates. She also sits on the advisory boards member of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry and Tech India Advocates Global Advisory Council. Beyond her legal practice, Pat is a member of the firm’s inclusion committee and chairs the gender group.
Recent work highlights
University sponsor licence reinstated
Judicial review lead advisor
OfS registration secured
Strategic advice for Indian business school
Support during trafficking scandal
Action plan compliance strategy
Charity sponsor licence reinstated
Immigration support for care provider
Right to work compliance defence
Global talent endorsement – gaming
Global talent visa – arts
Citizen renunciation advice
Charity sponsor licence reinstated
Immigration support for care provider
Right to work compliance defence
Global talent endorsement – gaming
Global talent visa – arts
Citizen renunciation advice
External recognition
What people are saying
I will never forget the level of service, detail, effort and care Pat provided to successfully obtain the Exceptional Talent Visa. Pat not only was instrumental in advocating for and developing the visa, but also had an impressive success track record.
She is outstanding, knowledgeable and a driven individual. She is a real problem solver.
What sets Pat apart is her genuine compassion and support during the inherently stressful application process and passion for talented people to remain and grow their businesses in the UK.
Pat is extremely professional. She is an absolute expert in her field.
Pat Saini was empathetic, kind, and a thorough professional in advising on my ILR application.
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