Privacy Policy

Ewnder Legal respects your privacy and is committed to keeping your personal information safe. This policy is written with the purpose of explaining what information we collect when you contact us, how we use it, and how long we keep it. As an immigration law practice, we often deal with information that is personal and sensitive. We take our responsibilities under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the requirements of the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA) seriously.

Ewnder Legal Ltd is the organisation responsible for the personal information we collect and use.

• Ewnder Legal Ltd
• Registered Office: Sunny Cottage, Pengersick Lane, Germoe, TR209RB
• Registered Branch: Keynsham Waterfront, Stidham Lane, BS311GB
• Email: admin@ewnderlegal.com
• Telephone: (+44) 00 7712 332 012
• ICO registration number: 00015378265

If you have any questions about this policy or the way we handle your information, please contact us using the details above.

You can contact us through our website by completing our ‘online enquiry form’. The information you provide will depend on the nature of your enquiry, but will include: your name, and contact details, and may include your: nationality, immigration status, details of your immigration history, family circumstances and information about the immigration matter you are considering. You may also provide information about other people, for example a spouse, partner, child or family member, where this is relevant to your enquiry.

Please do not send unnecessary sensitive information or copies of passports, identity documents or other supporting documents absent of request. If we need these documents, we will explain how to provide them securely.

We use the information you provide to understand your enquiry and decide how we may be able to help you. This may include contacting you, arranging a consultation, carrying out an initial conflict of interest check and considering whether we are able to accept your instructions. We may also keep a record of the enquiry so that we can deal with any subsequent correspondence, complaints or other issues that may arise.

Sending an enquiry does not mean that Ewnder Legal has agreed to act for you. We will only formally accept instructions once this has been confirmed with you.

If you become a client of Ewnder Legal, the information you provided through the website enquiry form will normally form part of your client file. We will then collect further information where it is necessary to deal with your matter. Depending on the type of immigration case, this may include identity and passport information, immigration documents, Home Office correspondence, family and relationship information, financial information, employment details, medical information and information concerning criminal convictions or offences.

When we act for you, we keep a secure client file containing the information and documents relevant to your matter. We only collect information that is relevant to your matter or that we are required to keep for legal, regulatory, professional or insurance purposes. Your information may be used to advise you, prepare and submit applications, communicate with the Home Office or other authorities, represent you in immigration proceedings and otherwise carry out the work you have instructed us to undertake. These actions will only be exercised following instruction.

By law we must retain a completed client file for six years from the date the matter is closed. We may keep information for longer where this is necessary because of an ongoing matter, complaint, legal claim, regulatory requirement, insurance requirement or another lawful reason. The IAA may require access to client files as part of its regulatory and audit functions, and we therefore need to retain appropriate records of the work we undertake.

When the applicable retention period has expired, information will be securely deleted or destroyed unless there is a good reason for us to retain it, for example you are looking to make a further application for which those documents could be of benefit.

We understand that not every enquiry results in an instruction. Where you contact us but do not become a client, we will keep a record of your enquiry for 12 months from the date of your last substantive contact with us. This allows us to deal with any follow-up questions and provides an appropriate record of the advice or information exchanged.

It may also be necessary to retain some information for longer where there is a legal, regulatory, insurance or other legitimate reason to do so. This could be where advice is given prior to formal instruction and we require our records to reflect this in case to defend against any possible resulting liability claims.

On the rare occasions where an enquiry involves substantial advice or work before a formal instruction is agreed, we may need to retain the information for longer. The appropriate retention period will depend on the circumstances. Once the information is no longer required, it will be securely deleted or otherwise disposed of.

Immigration matters can involve sensitive information, including information about health, religion, ethnicity, family circumstances or criminal convictions. We will only use this type of information where it is relevant to your matter and where we have a lawful basis for doing so under data protection law. We do not ask clients to provide sensitive information simply for the sake of collecting it. Where information is not needed, we will not ask you for it.

We use third-party providers for services such as email, IT, secure document storage, case management, accounting and payment processing. Where another organisation processes personal information on our behalf, we take appropriate steps to ensure that your information is protected. As required by IAA regulations all our files must be securely stored electronically. Please be assured that we will never sell your personal information.

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against loss, misuse, unauthorised access or disclosure. Access to client information is limited to people who need it for legitimate professional or business purposes. We use appropriate security measures for our computer systems, email, document storage and other services. No online system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, but we take the security of your information seriously and regularly review the way it is stored and handled.

You should be aware of your rights in relation to your personal information. Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to ask us for a copy of the information we hold about you, to correct information that is inaccurate, to ask us to delete information, or to ask us to restrict or stop certain types of processing.

These rights are subject to some exceptions. For example, we may need to keep information where we are legally required to do so or where it is necessary to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim. If you would like to exercise any of your rights, please contact us at: admin@ewnderlegal.com or via our contacts page

If you have any concerns about the way we have handled your personal information, please contact us in the first instance. We will consider your concerns and do our best to resolve them. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if you believe that your personal information has not been handled properly. Further information about making a complaint can be found on the ICO's website.

You can also follow our General Complaints Procedure which can be found here