Oliver, one of our IAA course tutors, shares an update in Autumn 2025 about the OISC Name Change
The OISC is rebranding and changing its name
A few months ago the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) “rebranded” and changed its name to the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA). The IAA evidently believes that this new emanation is better than the previous one.
In any event the IAA does the same work as its predecessor. It is the governing body for UK-based immigration advisers other than solicitors, barristers and suchlike people, who have their own governing bodies.
As part of this process it sets IAA exams for immigration advisers and aspiring immigration advisers. Immigration advisers can be registered at IAA Level 1, Level 2 or Level 3, and the different levels permit work of differing levels of difficulty and complexity. IAA Level 1 is the lowest level, IAA Level 2 is intermediate and IAA Level 3 is the highest.
It is fair to say that these exams (or, properly speaking, “competence assessments”) are generally difficult, and a fair number of people fail, and of course if a candidate fails they do not acquire the registration.
Various legal firms and training firms offer online training courses, which are designed to help aspirants succeed in the competence assessments. The IAA does not provide such courses itself; they are only provided by third-party organisations. But they constitute an important part of the overall training scheme because (a) they provide important knowledge and (b) in many cases the IAA has a requirement that a candidate has studied a relevant course before they take the competence assessment.
These IAA courses often come as IAA Level 1, IAA Level 2 or IAA Level 3 courses. Such a course could be a one-day course but in some cases they are held over more than one day. Courses may also be focused on one particular aspect of UK immigration, not specifically related to any IAA level, and they may be shorter in duration.
Pacific Legal Training offers a wide range of online IAA courses, both one-day courses and short focused ones. Our remit is three-pronged: to try and simplify as far as possible complex material, to provide an interactive environment where questions are welcomed, and to provide an “aftercare” service to delegates whereby they can ask more questions after the event and keep in touch with each other.