Despina StoimenidiParalegal

I joined Lewis Silkin in September 2018 as an employment/data & privacy paralegal and became an immigration paralegal in January 2019. Before joining the firm I gained two years’ experience as a legal assistant in a specialist immigration law firm advising on a range of work, study, settlement and EU applications as well as Home Office compliance matters. During this time I also worked as part of a higher education institution’s Immigration Compliance team, focusing on student immigration and ensuring the institution’s compliance with its sponsor licence obligations.

I hold a Masters degree in Forensic Linguistics awarded by Cardiff University in 2016, having conducted research on the UK’s asylum policy, and a Bachelor degree in English Language and Linguistics awarded by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2015.

I am a member of the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA). I also regularly volunteer at the charitable organisation Asylum Justice, which provides free legal representation to asylum seekers and other vulnerable migrants.

I speak Greek to a native level and am learning Welsh.

Immigration & global mobility

My work covers several areas of UK immigration law and most commonly involves:

• Work-related visa applications, especially under Tiers 2 and 5 of the Points-Based System and sponsor licence matters for employers
• Applications for settlement/indefinite leave, citizenship and British passports
• Tier 1 Investor and Entrepreneur applications for high-net-worth individuals
• applications for EEA nationals and their non-EEA family members
• Visit visas (e.g. for business or family visits) to the UK and to the Schengen area