MA Consultants (“we”, “us”, “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal information when you visit our website maconsultants.co.uk (“Our Site”) or use our immigration and visa consultancy services.
This policy is provided in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. Please read it carefully. This notice explains our processing; it does not ask you to consent to every use of your information.
MA Consultants is the data controller responsible for your personal data. If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your data, please contact us:
When you contact us, instruct us, or use Our Site, we may collect:
When you visit Our Site, we may automatically collect:
We use your personal data for the following purposes:
We will not use your personal data for direct marketing purposes unless you have given us your explicit consent. You may withdraw consent at any time by contacting us at info@maconsultants.co.uk.
We use contact details and enquiry information to respond to requests about our services and, where applicable, take steps at your request before entering into a contract. We process information needed to provide agreed services to perform our contract with you. We may also process information to meet applicable legal obligations and for legitimate interests in administering our practice, maintaining records, dealing with complaints and legal claims, and protecting our website and systems, where those interests do not override your rights.
Where we rely on consent, we ask for it separately and you may withdraw it. Submitting a contact form does not give blanket consent to unrelated processing or marketing.
Case documents may contain health information, racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or other special category information. We process this only where an additional condition under data protection law applies, including where necessary for establishing, exercising or defending legal claims, or explicit consent where appropriate. Criminal conviction and offence information is handled only where a relevant legal authorisation and safeguards apply. We explain the conditions relevant to your matter where required.
Client files: We retain client files and records for at least six years from closure of the matter. At the end of that period, records are reviewed for secure destruction. A longer period may be necessary for a specific continuing matter, complaint, legal claim, applicable legal obligation or justified insurance requirement. Digital records are not kept indefinitely simply because they are electronic. Records are securely deleted or anonymised when no longer required, subject to any applicable duty to retain the original record.
Enquiries: Retention depends on the nature of the enquiry, ongoing correspondence, whether it becomes a client matter, and any need to resolve a complaint or claim. We review retained information and remove information that no longer has a justified purpose.
Other records: Financial and regulatory records are retained for the periods required by applicable obligations. Retention of copies in email, backups and AI tools also needs to be considered; deleting a case-folder copy does not necessarily delete those copies immediately.
Under the UK GDPR, you have the following rights:
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@maconsultants.co.uk. We normally respond without undue delay and within one calendar month. The law permits extensions or adjustments in some circumstances; we will explain any applicable change. We may need to verify your identity. There is normally no charge for a subject access request, but we may charge a reasonable fee if the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):
We use external providers to operate our website, business email and supporting services. Providers and their authorised subprocessors may process information outside the UK; we do not promise UK-only storage.
Where a restricted international transfer is made, it must meet the applicable UK data protection requirements, through an applicable adequacy arrangement, appropriate contractual safeguards or another legally permitted mechanism. Contact us for information about the providers and transfer safeguards relevant to your information.
Use of artificial intelligence: We use business AI tools to assist advisers with reviewing and summarising relevant information and preparing draft work. This can involve personal information and, where necessary and lawfully permitted, sensitive information contained in case documents. An adviser always reviews AI-assisted work before it is used and remains responsible for the advice and work provided.
Content submitted through our business AI arrangements is excluded from model training by default under the applicable provider terms. The AI service still processes the information submitted to it to produce an output. These arrangements do not mean that a model never processes the documents or that authorised provider access is impossible. Applicable terms allow limited authorised access or disclosure for purposes such as service operation, security and compliance with law.
We must limit information submitted to what is needed, protect client confidentiality and obtain any client authorisation required for disclosure. This notice does not itself replace any separate authorisation required in your matter. Information held in AI tools remains subject to applicable retention and deletion arrangements; we do not promise zero retention or immediate deletion.
Our Site uses cookies — small text files stored on your device — to improve your experience and to help us understand how visitors use Our Site. We use the following types of cookies:
These are necessary for the Site to function properly, including session management, security, and form submission. They cannot be disabled without affecting Site functionality.
Any non-essential analytics or similar technologies must be described in the applicable cookie information and used with consent where legally required. Browser settings can help control cookies but do not replace any consent required from us.
Our contact form uses Google reCAPTCHA v3 to protect against spam and abuse. reCAPTCHA may collect hardware and software information, such as device and application data, and send it to Google for analysis. Your use of reCAPTCHA is subject to Google’s Privacy Policy (policies.google.com/privacy) and Terms of Service (policies.google.com/terms).
You can control and delete cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to refuse cookies or alert you when a cookie is being set. Please note that disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of Our Site. For more information about cookies, visit allaboutcookies.org.
We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer your personal data to third parties for marketing purposes. We may share your data with:
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. Safeguards should be proportionate to the information and risks, including appropriate access controls and secure transmission. However, no method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Our Site is not directed at children under the age of 16. Where we process personal data relating to a child as part of a family immigration matter, we use information only where necessary for the matter and on an appropriate lawful basis, taking account of the child’s interests and any parental or guardian authority required. Parental consent is not assumed to be the lawful basis for every use.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The revised policy will be posted on Our Site. We encourage you to review this page periodically. Where required, we will bring significant changes to your attention. Updates do not remove your data protection rights.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us:
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