Last updated: 4 September 2026. This notice explains what we do with your personal information, and what you can ask us to do about it.

Who we are

Habsburg & Kuijk Legal Services Ltd is the controller of the personal information described in this notice. We are a company registered in England and Wales, company number 16541279, with our registered office at 71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ, United Kingdom. Our UK VAT registration number is GB 496 476 921.

We advise on nationality, immigration and related law, mainly for expats, immigrants and emigrants.

For anything about your personal information, write to hls@habsburg-legal-services.com and mark it for the attention of the person responsible for data protection.

We have applied to register with the Information Commissioner’s Office. Our application reference is C2024169, and we will publish our registration number here as soon as it is issued.

The law this notice is written under

We are a UK company, and the law that applies to us is the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. Because we also advise people living in the European Union, the EU General Data Protection Regulation applies to that part of our work as well. The two are closely aligned and we apply the same standard to everyone.

What we collect, and why

• From your Retainer Agreement: your name as it appears on your identity document, date of birth, address and country of residence, email, telephone number, your passport or identity document number and its country and date of issue, the service you have asked for, and the details of any spouse, partner, adult child or minor children you have asked us to include.
• During your matter: your identity documents, birth, marriage and other civil-status certificates, documents about your parents and grandparents where your case turns on descent, correspondence between us, our notes and our advice, and correspondence with authorities on your behalf.
• For invoicing: your name, address, email and the record of what we charged and what you paid.
• If you subscribe to our news or law alerts: your name and email address, and nothing else. This is kept entirely separately from client files.

Our lawful bases

• Performing our contract with you (Article 6(1)(b)) – for almost everything we do on your matter.
• Our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)) – for confirming your identity, for preventing anyone impersonating you to us, and for checking that an enquiry is serious before we commit time to it. We have considered your interests and rights and consider this proportionate: it protects you as much as it protects us.
• Complying with a legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)) – for our accounting and tax records.
• Your consent (Article 6(1)(a)) – only for our newsletter and law alerts, which you can withdraw at any time using the link in every message.

Sensitive information about you

Nationality is not by itself a special category of personal data. But nationality cases often turn on descent, place of birth and family lineage, and that reasoning can come close to information about ethnic origin. We therefore treat the documents you give us about your family and your origins as sensitive, and handle them accordingly.

Where that information is special category data, we rely on Article 9(2)(f) – that the processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

Where your information is held, and who else sees it

The rule we work to is simple: our website holds no client information. It collects what you send, it emails it to us, and it keeps nothing.

• Proton (Switzerland) – your documents and our notes, in encrypted storage. Proton Mail is also what we use for anything sensitive.
• FreeAgent (data held in Ireland) – your contact and invoicing details.
• Wise – our bank, for payments.
• Bluehost (United States) – our website hosting, and some mailboxes we are in the process of retiring. Some images and files on our website are also delivered through a service operated by Automattic, in the United States.
• Other lawyers – where your matter needs a lawyer in another country, or a lawyer able to appear before a court. We will tell you before we share anything, and we will tell you who they are. Where you become their client, they will give you their own privacy notice.

We do not sell your information to anyone, ever, and we do not use it for advertising.

Information leaving the United Kingdom

Sending personal information outside the UK is lawful where the destination country is recognised as providing adequate protection, or where appropriate safeguards are in place.

Switzerland and the countries of the European Economic Area are recognised as adequate, so our use of Proton and of FreeAgent needs no further protection.

Our website hosting, and some of our email, is in the United States, and we are moving both to Europe. Until that move is complete we keep what is held there to a minimum: our website stores no client information, and anything sensitive goes through Proton in Switzerland. If you would like to know more about the arrangements covering that hosting, please write to us and we will tell you.

How long we keep things

• Your matter file, our notes and our advice: for as long as your retainer is active, and for one year after it ends.
• Your identity documents: the same period. You can ask us to delete them sooner and we will, unless the law requires us to keep them.
• Invoices and accounting records: six years, because tax law requires it.
• Newsletter and law-alert subscriptions: until you unsubscribe.

You can ask us to return or delete your documents at any time. We will do so, unless the law requires us to keep something – and if that is the case we will tell you what we are keeping, and for how long.

Keeping it safe

Your documents are held in end-to-end encrypted storage. Access to our systems requires more than a password. We keep our software up to date. We would rather send you a secure link than an email attachment, and we will always do so if you ask.

You can choose how we communicate with you, and you can change your mind at any time. Everyday channels such as email and WhatsApp are convenient but pass through services we do not control. Proton and Signal are encrypted end to end. Our duty of confidentiality to you is the same whichever you choose.

Your rights

You have the right to ask us for a copy of the information we hold about you; to have it corrected if it is wrong; to have it deleted where we have no continuing reason to hold it; to restrict or object to what we do with it; and to receive it in a portable form. Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

Write to hls@habsburg-legal-services.com. We will answer within one month.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, you can complain to us directly. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and tell you what we intend to do about it.

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk, or by telephone on 0303 123 1113. We would rather you came to us first, but you do not have to.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies that are necessary for it to work, and cookies set by the tools that run the site. We do not use advertising cookies, and we do not sell or share information about your visit for advertising purposes.

We are adding a consent tool so that you can control any cookie that is not strictly necessary. This section will be updated when it is in place.

Changes to this notice

If we change this notice we will change the date at the top. If a change materially affects you, we will tell you.