Immigration Adviser Trainee – Spanish Speaker

About the role

Are you passionate about empowering communities and building a career in immigration advice?

IRMO is recruiting for the second cohort of our Advice Workforce Development Programme, delivered in partnership with The Baytree Centre, High Trees, LAWRS and Southwark Law Centre. Through this initiative, we aim to train and develop new advisers to help address the lack of accessible immigration advice for marginalised communities.

We are now recruiting for an Immigration Trainee Adviser to be based at IRMO. This is a paid, 12-month opportunity designed for those looking to qualify as an immigration adviser within a community setting.

As a trainee, you will:

• Receive structured training and supervision to develop your skills.

• Work directly with clients, providing essential immigration advice and support.

• Gain hands-on experience managing a range of immigration cases.

• Receive additional supervision from Southwark Law Centre, a specialist legal advice provider.

• Work towards passing the IAA Level 1 exam to become a legally accredited immigration adviser by the end of the programme.

IRMO is registered with the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA) at Level 3 and has a 40-year history of supporting Latin American migrants in the UK. We have a strong track record of upskilling volunteers to become accredited immigration advisers within our organisation.

This initiative, funded by London Funders through the Propel programme and supported by City Bridge Trust and London Legal Support Trust, aims to strengthen community organisations’ advice provision. Together, we aim to ensure that more people can access the support they need.

We particularly encourage applications from people who identify as Latin American to reflect the community we serve.

Job Description

As a Trainee Immigration Adviser, you will support IRMO’s IAA-regulated Immigration Adviser in providing advice and casework for our service users.

With guidance from our team and additional expertise from Southwark Law Centre, you will follow a structured 12-month training programme designed to help you gain IAA Level 1 accreditation. You will work on a diverse range of immigration cases, gaining valuable hands-on experience to prepare for the exam.

Throughout the programme, you will apply your training by supporting casework, delivering workshops under supervision and providing information to the community on key immigration topics. 

This role will help you develop professional skills, build confidence in an advice setting, and gain the knowledge, experience and training needed to become an accredited immigration adviser.

Key responsibilities

• Stay proactive in your training and development to ensure all requirements are met within the contracted period.

• Assist in triaging immigration inquiries, following procedures to connect users with the appropriate support.

• Contact service users to schedule appointments, accurately recording case details for the adviser.

• Welcome users to IRMO during advice sessions and take attendance notes.

• Communicate with service users, assisting in sending written advice forms and relevant documents to initiate cases.

• Support the Immigration Adviser with casework and related tasks.

• Monitor and evaluate advice sessions and casework to ensure quality service delivery.

• Assist in organising and delivering monthly immigration workshops.

• Participate in team meetings, providing reports on advice and casework progress.

• Uphold strict confidentiality procedures, ensuring GDPR compliance.

• Adhere to the standards and best practices accredited by IAA and AQS.

Person specification

E = Essential - D = Desirable

• Dedicated to pursuing a career in immigration law (E)

• Hold a law degree or equivalent qualification (D)

• Excellent written and spoken communication skills in English (E)

• Excellent written and spoken communication skills in Spanish (E) 

• Excellent IT skills: Google Suite, Word, PowerPoint and Excel, able to research and problem solve IT-related problems on their own (E)

• Flexible, enthusiastic and confident in working in a multicultural and multilingual environment (E)

• Excellent time management, punctuality and organisational skills (E)

• Good interpersonal and communication skills and attention to detail (E)

• Ability to work effectively as a member of a team and with a diverse population of service users, staff and external visitors (E)

• Ability to set own work priorities, take initiative and work with minimal supervision (E)

• Ability to work well under pressure with competing deadlines (E)

• A strong understanding and commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and its application to the provision of advice (E)

• Good understanding of the issues facing Latin Americans in the UK (E)