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3.7 Document Filing
How documents are saved will depend on the organisation that you work for. Some organisations keep physical paper files whilst others are moving towards paperless offices by creating digital folders.
- A sheet of paper containing the client’s contact information – telephone number(s); address; personal email;
- Date of instruction and any notes you may have taken during your initial consultation.
- Once completed, the client contact sheet gets stapled to the inside left cover of the initial file folder.
- It is always handy to have this information at your fingertips and not just stored digitally.
- Start with one manila folder with the client’s initial documents, i.e. passport, BRP card, ARC Card confidentiality form and a completed client contact sheet
Create subfolders:
As the file grows you should create subfolders and the most common in an immigration file are:
- Proof of Application
- Identity Documents
- Finances
- Medical
- Education
- Life Events
- Depending on your organisation preference you can create a digital folder on your computer’s hard drive or your organisation ’s networked drive.
- You will need to create a folder for the digital files and electronic information for this client.
- You could first create a directory/folder labelled “Clients”.
- Then create a subfolder/directory in it for each client.
- Ensure all casenotes and correspondence have a filename that clearly identifies what they are and when they were created, sent or received - we suggest beginning the filenames with YY-MM-DD so that they appear in chronological order - for example “21-04-07 Casenote (phone call)” or “21-03-15 Client Care Letter”
- Supporting evidence should be saved in sub-folders, as detailed above.
- When you submit an application, it would be sensible to save a copy of the application, any accompanying representations and all supporting documents in a similarly dated sub-folder - for example “21-04-21 Visit Visa application and supporting docs.” This is to ensure there is no ambiguity over what has been submitted to the Home Office.
Your organization should have a system for managing files, including digital files. All your staff should be aware of this system.