Irina Firsova

What cases an immigration lawyer handles

Irina practices extranjería, Spanish immigration law:

• residence permits and their renewal;
• work and study permits;
• family reunification;
• citizenship;
• cases after a refusal: finding a different legal route, gathering evidence where the authority found the documents insufficient, and filing administrative appeals;
• replies to requests for additional documents and disputes with public authorities.

A case example

The client held an EU Blue Card in Lithuania, and the Lithuanian migration service had started cancelling his wife’s residence permit, leaving only a few weeks to move. The Spanish application covered all three at once: the applicant, his wife and their son. The diploma did not work in this case, so the qualification was proven through professional experience, and the documents came from Lithuania with an apostille and a sworn translation.

Filed on 1 July, three approvals on 3 August: 33 days, with a permit for three years. Thirty-three days is the timeline of this particular case, not a promise: it depends on the authority’s workload. We did not handle the Lithuanian side, which is a different jurisdiction.

The full case, with sources and what stayed outside our work: Blue Card for a family from Lithuania.

Lawyer, abogado, gestor: not the same thing in Spain

In English, “immigration lawyer” is often used for anyone who advises on visas. In Spain, only a practicing member of a bar association may call themselves an abogado, under the Statute of the Legal Profession (Real Decreto 135/2021). A bar number stands for three things a consultant without that status does not have: it can be checked in a public register, it carries a duty of professional secrecy, and complaints can be filed with the bar association. Gestores and asesores handle paperwork and tax filings, but they are not lawyers.

What Irina does not handle

Immigration cases only. Property, tax, commercial, family, inheritance and criminal law are handled by other specialists: we find a lawyer from those we trust and stay in touch with you. No single person handles everything in any legal practice, and we will not pretend otherwise.

How to check and where to start

Irina works in Russian, Spanish and English. Her bar number is public: 46.385, Barcelona Bar Association. We ask you to check it in the ICAB register rather than take our word for it: being verifiable is the main difference between a lawyer and a consultant.

To start, describe your situation in your own words. We will tell you whether you need an immigration lawyer at all, since some tasks are covered by a gestor and that is cheaper, and if you do, what we will do and in what order.