Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner

The OISC was established under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. Advisers are registered at one of three competence levels: Level 1 (straightforward applications such as EEA nationals, leave to remain extensions), Level 2 (appeals, complex applications), and Level 3 (judicial reviews and complex appeals). It is a criminal offence to provide immigration advice or services for reward without OISC registration or qualification as a solicitor, barrister, or other exempt person. Complaints about registered advisers or about unregulated individuals providing immigration advice can be made to the OISC directly. The OISC can prosecute, issue civil penalties, and apply to court to close down businesses. A searchable register of authorised advisers is available on the OISC website — always verify an adviser's registration before paying for advice.

In practice, the OISC matters most at the moment you are choosing who to trust with an application you cannot afford to get wrong. Immigration advice is one of the few areas where unregulated operators cause serious, sometimes irreversible harm: a badly prepared application can lead to a refusal that then has to be declared on every future application, and in the worst cases to allegations of deception that carry long re-entry bans.

Worked example: Grace is offered help with a settlement application by someone advertising in a community group who asks for £900 in cash and gives no written client care letter. Before paying, she searches the OISC register for the adviser's name and finds nothing, then checks the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Bar Standards Board registers, which are also empty. She reports the advertisement to the OISC and instead instructs a Level 2 registered adviser, who provides a written fee agreement, a scope of work, and a complaints procedure. When a document is later queried, she has a paper trail showing exactly what advice she was given and when.

The pitfalls are worth knowing. Registration is by level, so a Level 1 adviser is not authorised to run an appeal — check the level as well as the name. A regulated adviser must be acting through the organisation they are registered with, so an individual moonlighting outside their registered body is not covered. Charities and law centres are often registered at a lower level and may be exempt from charging rules, but they are still bound by the code. And the OISC regulates conduct, not outcomes: it cannot overturn a Home Office decision, so a complaint about an adviser runs separately from any appeal or administrative review.

OISC regulation applies across every route, including the Skilled Worker visa, sponsor licence work, and applications under the points-based system. Before you instruct anyone, read our guides to common visa mistakes and what to do after a refusal, and check the register first — it takes two minutes and it is free.