Five Minutes With… John Errington, Managing Director of Errington Immigration Services

We sit down with John Errington, Managing Director of Errington Immigration Services, to find out more about the world of immigration for business, families and individuals.

When did you start the company?

I founded the firm in 2014 after a career in the British Army, an MBA, PLC roles as a Commercial Director and then later a career in immigration. At Errington Immigration Services, we have immigration experience in more than 100 countries around the world. Our work is so important for people and we have wonderful emotional moments where we really make a difference to people’s lives. For example, we’ve helped a number of Ukrainian clients secure their British citizenship – as you can imagine, they couldn’t be happier.

 

Could you tell us a bit about Errington Immigration Services?

We are based in London and have eight regulated immigration lawyers on the team with one in New York, another in Moscow, and one who is Chinese but lives in London – between us we speak eight languages and we all have international, multi-service business experience. While we work with corporate firms, most of our business is private client work.

 

What’s the demographic for your business?

In theory, we can do immigration for people of any nationality moving from any country to any country. We have never been completely unable to fulfil a requirement. However, one area that we don’t do is asylum and refugee work – we don’t have the license for that.

Most of our clients are high-net-worth individuals. We also work with small international companies, such as hedge funds, who might have offices in five different countries but not very many staff. For example, we step in when they need to move somebody from Geneva to Singapore for a big deal that has to be done right.

 

What sets you apart in the world of high-net-worth clients?

When you get a visa, it’s exactly the same whether you get it from us or any of our competitors. However, the main thing that we do well and gets us lots of referrals is understanding the stress and managing the service so the client gets that stamp in their passport with the minimum effort on the client’s side.

 

How does your company sit in the world of prime property?

All of our clients need somewhere to live when they arrive. Our clients are the sort of people who look for prime properties, which, generally, comes with management challenges. Naturally, we become a gateway for other requirements and this is where we can pass on referrals to companies like Bold & Reeves.

 

What kind of synergies do you have with Bold & Reeves?

Most of our team are quite mature, having worked around the world and delivered international services. Getting a visa is an incredibly important step and clients need the confidence that the visa is going to work. When people engage with us, they get someone who has the knowledge and understanding that comes with years of experience – that level of knowledge is something that Bold & Reeves have too.

 

What’s on the horizon for Errington Immigration Services?

There are always changes to immigration laws. I think the most significant challenge today is that whilst countries have opened up more since the Covid lockdown, the bottlenecks around visa processing have become worse. However, our clients never stop demanding our services despite challenges, such as Covid and the Ukraine situation, because they always need to be internationally mobile. We have had to adapt slightly, but, if anything, it’s made our service more in demand.

 

For more information on Errington Immigration Services, please visit www.erringtonimmigration.com or email info@erringtonimmigration.com.