Leiyana Damba & Anor v Immigration Services Commissioner

Facts

The appellant, Ms Leiyana Damba, is an experienced immigration adviser who has worked in the field since 2012 and was previously registered under the Immigration Advice Authority scheme as a Level 3 adviser. She was employed by Visa Legal Ltd from 2012 until February 2023, and thereafter worked within firms regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, including Garth Coates Solicitors and Suassuna Global. On 2 April 2025 an application for registration was submitted under Schedule 6 to the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 in connection with Epsom Chambers Legal, proposing her as a Level 3 adviser in the categories of Immigration and Asylum and Protection. In the application form she answered "No" to the question asking whether she had ever been dismissed or asked to resign. The Commissioner, who already held information from Visa Legal Ltd, made enquiries about how that employment had ended, issued a Minded to Refuse letter on 19 August 2025 and pressed the point in further correspondence. The appellant attributed the answer to mistake and explained her departure by reference to disagreement with a newly appointed Managing Director about the future direction of the business. On 13 October 2025 the Commissioner refused the application on grounds relating to honesty and financial probity, principally a failure to disclose the circumstances of her dismissal. She appealed.