Head of Public Law · Member — Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
Called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn and forged across 600+ tribunal appearances, Sheryar has shaped UK immigration law itself — 18 reported cases carry his work, including Ahsan v Secretary of State, the Court of Appeal landmark that affected some 45,000 migrants.
· Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority · Legal 500 · Lexcel
What He Leads
Core Practice Areas
01Tribunal Advocacy
First-tier and Upper Tribunal representation with more than 600 appeal hearing appearances.
02Judicial Review & Appeals
High Court and Court of Appeal immigration challenges — up to and including the Supreme Court.
03Corporate Immigration
Sponsor licence management, compliance strategy and executive relocation for multinationals.
04Full-Route Applications
Points-based system, naturalisation and settlement, entry clearance, EEA/EUSS, human rights and asylum.
The Foundations
Professional Background & Education
Sheryar holds a double bachelor's degree in engineering and law — 2:1 honours in both — completed the Bar Vocational Course at the Inns of Court School of Law in 2008, and was called to the Bar by Lincoln's Inn in 2009, marshalling for the Hon. Mr Justice Blackburne and the Hon. Mrs Justice Dobbs at the Royal Courts of Justice. The engineer's precision never left the lawyer: colleagues and judges alike remark on it. He leads the immigration department at Connaught Law.
In Practice
Tribunal Advocacy
More than 600 appeal hearings before the First-tier and Upper Tribunals have made Sheryar one of the most experienced immigration advocates in practice — experience that shows in the preparation, the instructions to counsel, and the results across every immigration route from points-based applications to fresh asylum claims.
Corporate Immigration
His corporate practice advises multinationals with workforces above 10,000 — including companies with net worth estimated by Forbes at over £1 billion — alongside SMEs: sponsor licence management, compliance strategy, executive and board-level relocation, and coordinated global immigration planning.
Shaping the Law
Reported Cases
Eighteen reported cases carry Sheryar's work, from the foundations — AS (Afghanistan) [2009], Pankina [2010], Shahzad [2012] UKUT 81 — through the s.85A and points-based era of Khatel [2013] UKUT 44, Raju [2013] EWCA Civ 754, Nasim [2013] UKUT 610 and Durrani [2014] UKUT 295, to the senior years: R (Khan) [2015] UKUT 353 and 684, Patel v Secretary of State before the Supreme Court (UKSC 2018/0006), and the Court of Appeal decisions in Laci [2021] EWCA Civ 769 and Mobeen [2021] EWCA Civ 886.
The landmark is Ahsan v Secretary of State [2017] EWCA Civ 2009 — run with Stephen Knafler QC and Rowan Pennington-Benton — a Court of Appeal decision affecting approximately 45,000 migrants accused in the ETS/TOEIC cases, and one of the defining immigration judgments of its decade.
What Others Say
Professional Recognition
"Experienced and safe pair of hands; class act" — Stephen Knafler QC. "Having worked with Sheryar on a couple of very high profile matters, I can say he is a force to be reckoned with" — Rowan Pennington-Benton. "Hard-working lawyer, with an eye to detail, who is committed to the welfare and well-being of his clients and provides excellent instructions to Counsel" — Professor Satvinder Juss, King's College London.
Sheryar's Practice Areas at Connaught Law
Work with Sheryar
For appeals, judicial review or corporate immigration strategy, Connaught Law puts case-law-shaping experience behind your matter.