Karma is an associate in our Immigration, Asylum and Nationality team with experience across the field of immigration and nationality law.
She undertakes work in a broad range of areas, assisting individuals, organisations and businesses with the following matters, among others:
- Family-based visas, including partners, parents and children
- Citizenship and nationality applications for adults and children
- Applications for indefinite leave to remain/settlement
- Appeals, judicial review and administrative reviews
- Entry clearance
- Sponsor licences and skilled worker visas
- Global talent applications
- EUSS and European applications
- Human rights cases and applications outside the Immigration Rules
- Asylum claims based on political views, religious beliefs and sexual orientation
Karma has a keen interest in applications involving children, particularly surrogacy and intercountry adoption cases.
She writes for the leading immigration news website, Free Movement, and is responsible for the site’s courses on surrogacy and Article 8 law.
She also delivers regular training for other immigration and family lawyers through MBL Legal Seminars. Topics include surrogacy, the EU Settlement Scheme and British Nationality law.
Recent directory and client quotes
Legal 500 2025
- Karma is recommended in the editorial commentary for Immigration, Immigration: Human Rights & Immigration: Personal.
- “Karma Hickman is so calm and thoroughly pursues what she knows to be correct that her scattergun strategy got us back home to England in the end. Karma also invested her emotional all in our case without letting it cloud her Solicitor Judgment, and responded to our emotions about our awful stuck and uncertain situation.”
- “Karma Hickman was superb in the provision of information and clarifications.”
What clients say
I am yet to work with someone who is as knowledgeable, professional, detail-oriented and yet incredibly empathetic as Karma. She went above and beyond… Very rarely have I come across someone who displays this level of professionalism and care for the client
– Client
Karma was clear, efficient, and met all of our expectations. She took the time to form a relationship with us and I appreciated her approachability. She made it so easy for me to share my story and took all the anxiety away, making this the easiest process yet and a successful outcome
– Client
Publications
- Karma is a regular contributor to Free Movement. She also wrote the site’s courses on Surrogacy and Article 8
- Analyses of R (on the application of Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens and others) v SSHD), Lexis Nexis
- The reintroduction of Swiss immigration quotas, Lexis Nexis
Education and career
- Karma obtained a first-class degree in English and Italian Literature at Royal Holloway University of London in 1998
- She later studied for a Graduate Diploma in Law, followed by the Legal Practice Course, for which she was awarded a distinction
- She holds an LLM (Merit) in International Human Rights Law from the LSE
- Karma joined Bindmans LLP as an associate in 2022
- She was previously an associate at Bishop & Sewell (2017-2022) and Fisher Meredith (2010-2017), where she qualified in 2012. Before that, she was an immigration paralegal at Birnberg Peirce & Partners (2007-2010)
- Prior to her legal career, Karma worked in Italy for many years as a journalist, translator and bar manager
