Nath Gbikpi, Solicitor
“Professional, honest, respectful, flexible, considerate, great listener and superior follow up skills are some of so many skills Nath genuinely has”. – Client
“Your assistance was amazing and really helped us to feel confident with the application. We can’t thank you enough for the detailed, dedicated and professional way in which you put our application together and walked us through each step of the process”. – Client
“Thank you for being a great help in my difficult time. Your calm nature, expertise, communication and hard work is highly commendable”. – Client
“Any client will be lucky to get you. You really helped a very stressful experience turn out in the best way possible and I cannot thank you enough”. – Client
Nath is a dual French and Italian national, with Burundian and Togolese origins. She has worked with Wesley Gryk Solicitors since June 2014.
Before joining Wesley Gryk Solicitors, Nath worked as a paralegal in a legal aid immigration law firm.
Her practice covers a wide range of immigration and nationality law, with particular emphasis on applications based on partnership, family and private life; European free movement law; and asylum on the basis of sexual identity.
She writes regularly for Free Movement, which offers updates, commentary and advice on immigration and asylum law; and has written practice notes for Practical Law.
Recent work and notable cases
- Secured leave to remain for several long term overstayers on the basis of their long residence in the UK, their parental relationship with British children, or on the basis that they could not live in their country of origin with their partners because of insurmountable obstacles.
- Secured indefinite leave to remain for spouses of British citizens who were victims of domestic violence.
- Secured spouse and visit visas for applicants with poor past immigration histories or who cannot meet the immigration requirements but can be granted visas because of ‘exceptional circumstances’.
- Secured asylum on the basis of sexual identity for more than a dozen refugees, including by winning an appeal at the Upper Tribunal.
- Obtained permanent residence document for an European national who had stopped work due to permanent incapacity.
- Secured registration of children as British citizens, including registrations relying on discretion and following adoption.
- Got condition of no recourse to public funds lifted for the parent of a British child diagnosed with autism.
- Won appeal against the refusal of family reunion for the child of a refugee who was over 18 at the time of the application.
- Obtained returning resident visas for individuals whose indefinite leave lapsed due to being absent from the UK for more than 2 years.
- Secured a Tier 2 (Sponsorship) licence for a company who wanted to sponsor a non-EEA national migrant.
Publications and training
- Numerous articles on Free Movement blog, covering diverse topics including EU immigration law, domestic violence, surrogacy, adoption and general grounds for refusal.
- Publication of practice notes relating to applications made on the basis of family and private life for website Practical Law.
- Participated in free Brexit immigration advice session at Waterloo Action Centre to advise local Europeans on their rights to remain in the UK.
- Spoke with Tim Barnden at Matrix Roundtable on marriages of convenience.
- Co-taught ILPA courses on the Financial Requirement of Appendix FM, the EU Settlement Status, and Significant Others.
- Contributed to a number of Free Movement courses, including on the asylum process, Appendix FM applications, deportation and the OISC Level 1 training course.
Memberships and volunteering
- Volunteer for UK Lesbian & Gay Immigration Group.
- Volunteer for Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre.
- Co-convenor of Immigration Law Practitioners Association(ILPA) Well-Being Working Group.
- JCWI Trustee.
Education and experience
- De Montford University: Legal Practice Course.
- University of London: Bachelor of Laws.
- University of Oxford: MSc Refugee and Forced Migration Studies.
- SOAS (University of London): BA Development Studies and Politics.
“Professional, honest, respectful, flexible, considerate, great listener and superior follow up skills are some of so many skills Nath genuinely has”. – Client
“Your assistance was amazing and really helped us to feel confident with the application. We can’t thank you enough for the detailed, dedicated and professional way in which you put our application together and walked us through each step of the process”. – Client
“Thank you for being a great help in my difficult time. Your calm nature, expertise, communication and hard work is highly commendable”. – Client
“Any client will be lucky to get you. You really helped a very stressful experience turn out in the best way possible and I cannot thank you enough”. – Client
