A Sussex firm has been set up to help businesses recruit staff from overseas.
First Visa Immigration Solutions, the first specialist immigration consultancy in the county, has opened offices in Crawley after spotting a gap in the market.
Companies recruiting people from abroad have to apply to the Department for Education and Employment for a visa, often a long drawn-out procedure according to the company's founder Neil Taylor-Tagg.
He said: "The rules are very complicated and a lot of money can be wasted on applications which have little or no chance of succeeding."
The company has more than 20 years experience dealing with immigration policy and procedures, meaning they can often give a quick decision as to whether or not an application is likely to succeed - saving time, effort and money in the process.
Mr Taylor-Tagg said: "You would normally expect to find a plethora of specialist immigration consultants around the environs of a major international airport like Gatwick but we feel we may well be filling a niche in the market.
"We are aiming our services at medium-sized companies, particularly those high-tech information technology and telecommunication companies which may have a need to recruit specialist skills from abroad."
Mr Taylor-Tagg realised there was a need for such a specialist service when he worked in the City, running an in-house global relocation department for a financial services company.
His experience of how Government departments work and how foreign consulates operate made him a highly-valued member of staff.
He picked up this experience dealing with visa applications when he worked for the Government.
Mr Taylor-Tagg added: "Firms needing advice on immigration law would often have too seek the advice of big London lawyers, the majority of whom do not employ specialists in this field.
"It is this lack of in-depth knowledge of immigration laws which First Visa intends to exploit."
The company has already been in touch with some of the largest heath authorities and hospitals in Sussex in a bid to help them solve chronic staff shortages by recruiting trained nurses and medical professionals from abroad.
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