Solicitors who allow dishonest immigration advisers to work in their practices will not be allowed to claim ignorance as a defence, the immigration advisers’ regulator has warned.

Immigration services commissioner Suzanne McCarthy told the Gazette that her office is working closely with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to ensure advisers cannot escape regulation by operating under the wing of a law firm.

McCarthy warned law firms to be ‘ultra-careful’ about taking on non-solicitor advisers. ‘It is no defence to say you weren’t aware an adviser was ripping off clients – your complicity will be assumed.’

McCarthy said she has proposed new joint investigative procedures to be carried out by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) and the SRA. Measures under consideration include a joint register of accredited advisers.

Such a register could have helped regulators act more quickly against Max Kingsley, who was convicted last month of fraudulently passing himself off as an immigration lawyer, said Stephen Seymour, OISC’s head of operations.

‘Kingsley had links with several law firms over the years. If we had had a definitive register of advisers, we could have stopped him much earlier,’ he said.

The OISC has investigated 1,144 complaints against advisers working within solicitors’ practices since 2001. Seymour said the office had carried out ‘a significant number’ of investigations into advisers who claimed links with solicitors.

An SRA spokesman said: ‘We are keen to support the work of the immigration services commissioner and are giving serious consideration to the proposal for a joint database of advisers.’