Running a multi-branch immigration consultancy: roles, data separation and reporting

Opening a second office changes how a consultancy has to be run. With one office, the owner can see every file and knows every client by name. With three, that stops being possible, and informal habits — everyone sharing one login, leads passed around on WhatsApp, branch numbers compiled by hand — start to cause mistakes, disputes and privacy risk. This guide covers the structure, access rules and reporting that let branches grow without losing control.

Decide what a branch is

Before setting up any system, agree what a “branch” means in your firm. It is usually one of three things:

• A physical office with its own front desk and walk-in clients.
• A market or region, for example clients in one country served by a dedicated team.
• A business line, such as a separate student team, where that team works as a unit.

Pick one definition and use it consistently, because branch becomes the boundary for data access and the main dimension of your reports. Keep a head office for owners and shared functions such as finance, marketing and compliance review.

Then decide what is local and what is shared. Typically each branch owns its leads, clients, calendar and front-desk work, while services, templates, pricing rules and compliance standards are set centrally.

Least-privilege roles

Least privilege means each person can see and do only what their job requires. In an immigration practice this is not just good security. You hold passports, financial records, family details and sometimes medical or criminal information, and privacy law generally expects access to personal information to be limited to people who need it. Check your specific obligations with your regulator or a privacy lawyer.

A role model that works for many consultancies:

Two rules keep the model honest. First, only the owner or a named administrator can change permissions — nobody should be able to grant themselves more access. Second, every person signs in as themselves. Shared logins make it impossible to know who did what.

Separate reception, calling, filing and accounts

Separating duties is about quality as much as privacy. Each stage has different skills and different risks.

Reception

Captures every walk-in and phone enquiry as a lead with source and service, books consultations and greets clients. Reception should not see case files or advise on eligibility.

Calling

Makes first contact, follows the agreed cadence and books consultations. Callers work from a queue of leads assigned to them, so performance is measurable and leads are not called twice.

Filing

Prepares applications once a retainer is signed. Filing staff need full access to the cases they work on and nothing else. A handoff memo from the consultant stops them asking the client the same questions again.

Accounts

Records payments, issues invoices and reconciles. Keeping money handling apart from case work means no single person both agrees fees and records what was paid — a basic control that protects staff as well as the firm. If your regulator requires trust accounting, use a system that supports it.

In a small branch one person may hold two roles. That is fine, provided it is a deliberate decision recorded on their account, not an accident of everyone having full access.

Moving leads and clients between branches

Leads will arrive in the wrong branch: a client moves city, an ad reaches the wrong area, or a specialist service is only offered in one office. Without a rule, transfers become disputes about who gets credit. Write down:

1. When a transfer is allowed — client request, location, language or service availability.
2. Who approves it — usually the sending branch manager, or head office for disputed cases.
3. What travels with it — the full history, notes, documents and source. Never re-create the record in the new branch.
4. A handover note explaining what has been discussed and promised.
5. Telling the client who their new contact is.
6. How credit is counted in reports, for example source credited to the originating branch and enrolment to the receiving one.

Standards every branch shares

Clients should get the same quality whichever office they walk into. Set these centrally and review them on a schedule:

• The list of services offered and their names.
• Lead statuses and their definitions, so “qualified” means the same thing everywhere.
• Retainer agreement templates, with version control and a named approver.
• Document checklists per service — see our guide to client document checklists.
• Message templates for email and WhatsApp, and the rules in our WhatsApp playbook.
• Response-time targets and the follow-up cadence.
• Who is authorised to give immigration advice. Only licensed professionals should advise, in every branch.

Branch reporting that compares like with like

Branch reports are useful when they help managers improve, and harmful when they create unfair league tables. Use the same definitions for every branch and look at trends over several months.

Branch managers should see their own branch; owners see all of them side by side. Discuss the numbers in a regular meeting and agree one or two actions, rather than circulating a spreadsheet.

Onboarding and offboarding staff

When someone joins

• Create their account with the right role and branch before their first day.
• Use their own work email — never a shared one.
• Walk them through the shared standards and the confidentiality expectations, and record that they have read them.
• Start with the narrowest access and widen it on request, not the other way round.

When someone leaves

• Deactivate their account on their last day, not at the end of the month.
• Reassign their open leads, cases and tasks, with a handover note on each.
• Make sure client conversations were on firm-owned channels, not a personal phone.
• Recover office devices and remove access to shared mailboxes and drives.
• Keep their history on the records — deactivate rather than delete.

Every quarter, review who has access to what and remove anything no longer needed. Access tends to accumulate as people cover for colleagues.

Common mistakes when adding a branch

• Copying the head office spreadsheet. A second copy of the lead list means two versions of the truth within a week. Use one system with branch separation instead.
• Giving the new branch manager full access “for now”. Temporary access rarely gets removed. Set the branch role from the start.
• Letting each branch write its own retainer. Local edits to fees, scope or refund terms create inconsistent promises and compliance risk. Keep one approved template set.
• Separate WhatsApp numbers on personal phones. Each branch can have its own firm-owned number, but conversations must stay with the firm.
• Reporting before definitions are agreed. If one branch counts a lead when a form is submitted and another when someone answers the phone, the comparison is meaningless.
• No named person for licensed advice. Every branch needs a clear route to a licensed consultant or lawyer for eligibility questions, even if that person sits in another office.

How ImmiPractice handles this

ImmiPractice ships with seven roles — Business Admin, Branch Manager, Manager, Receptionist, Calling Team, Filing Team and Accounts Team. Each branch’s leads, cases and team are isolated from other branches, and only the Business Admin sees everything. Admins can switch permissions on or off per role, and permission editing is locked to the Business Admin. By default, receptionists see their own branch’s leads and never see enrolled cases, callers see what is assigned to them, filing team members see only their assigned cases, and the Accounts module is limited to Business Admin, Branch Manager and Accounts Team. A lead’s branch follows its owner, so reassigning the owner moves the lead with its history. Staff sign in with their work email and a one-time code, deactivating a member ends their access on their next request, and Office Analytics shows leads versus enrolled by branch and source. See team, branches & permissions, analytics and our security page.

This guide describes practice workflow and is not legal advice. Immigration rules change; confirm current requirements with official government sources and your regulator.