Agenda
9.00am - Breakfast & Networking
9.25am - Opening Remarks
9.30am - Grace McGill (Partner) and James Ritchie (Associate) from Burness Paull
10.00am - Q&A
10.25am - Closing Remarks
10.30am - Close
Event Outline
Discussing the recent changes in UK visa sponsorship legislation and how these changes may affect the recruitment of overseas staff in the Healthcare and Hospitality industries.
Speaker Bios
Grace McGill
Grace is an experienced practitioner in immigration, nationality and refugee law and has specialised in this area since 1995. She has extensive experience in all aspects of UK immigration law, focusing on family migration, inter-country adoption work and Corporate immigration for companies with a global footprint.
She has been recognised for her work by both Chambers and the Legal 500 having been acknowledged as a leading individual in Scotland since 2015, appointed to the Hall of Fame in 2023.
Holding a masters degree in international human rights law, Grace is recognised as an accredited specialist in immigration law by the Law Society of Scotland and is the principal author of the immigration chapter of the Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia. She has been a Trustee of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association in London since 2014 and is Chair of Migration Policy Scotland having served as a Trustee since 2020.
Grace was appointed as a Writer to HM Signet ( The WS Society ) in 2016 and sits on the professional conduct committee of the Law Society of Scotland. Having been admitted as a foreign legal consultant by the Supreme Court in Texas, she is an international associate member of the American Immigration Law Association.
She was appointed as a Global Scot by Scottish Enterprise given the extensive nature of her practice representing both corporate and private clients globally and has been recognised as a Global Leader in the field by Who's Who Legal since 2020.
James Ritchie
James is an Associate in our Immigration team. He works on all areas of UK immigration applications with a keen focus on Corporate migration and the sponsorship of skilled workers and the new global mobility routes.
He regularly engages with international companies expanding to the UK and deals with complex global mobility issues. He has extensive experience in assisting clients in the Hotel and Hospitality sectors.
James also has a keen interest in maritime immigration law, having worked with clients in the fishing industry to secure sponsor licences for foreign crew. He has also developed a niche practice area in the application of the Minister of Religion visa category to charities, members of faith-based communities, and members of religious orders.
James is a member of the Scottish Young Lawyers’ Association and JUSTICE Scotland and the Immigration Law Practitioners Association.