A bit random, but does anyone here work in corporate immigration compliance?

[Waytooearly]

Hi all, I'm up early mulling this over. I'm an immigration and asylum lawyer, working in practice for over a decade. The work is high pressure, hugely rewarding, and very low pay.

I was not in the market for a new job but out of the blue a recruiter contacted me about a job in corporate immigration compliance, in a company near me. Stable, reputable company. Sponsorship licenses, right to work checks, Tier 2 visas, that sort of thing.

I'm posting in chat rather than employment because I understand the technical aspects of the job, just mulling over what the change would be like. I fear I would miss that face-to-face client contact of practice, but then I would have plenty of internal 'clients' in a corporate role. Part of me would love to be free from the crazy deadlines and pressure to meet billing targets, however perhaps there would be just as much pressure in a corporate role?

I literally don't know anyone in this type of role.All of my lawyer friends work in practice or teach. In fact there seems to be a pattern of 'work in practice until you can't bear it anymore, then teach' 😊

I will go to the interview because why not, but in the meantime I would be really grateful to hear from anyone in this kind of role,especially if you moved from practice to in-house corporate. Is it fulfilling? Boring? Room for growth? Do you regret the switch?

I know two people who made the switch. Both for loads of money. Both lasted less than 2 years before they moved back!

Thank you for sharing verite!

Why did they move back into practice? What didn't they like about the job?

Not incidentally, the person I'd be replacing was also in the role for about two years. In the interview I will ask why the position is open.

Having both coming from a similar background as you, they found the corporate side boring and frustrating in comparison. I don’t think they regret doing it however. One in particular found that it opened lots of doors to new more lucrative work (which balances out the poorly paid legal aid work) when they returned to private practice. I also think that it can be good to re-energise you.

Thank you for sharing. I've just told the recruiter no, only because I haven't been at my current job all that long and I think it'll do more harm than good to job-hop too much. But nice to know what's out there, and to know what others have done. 🤗