The verdict in three sentences
An Oxford relocation and global mobility firm wins mandates from HR teams who compare providers late at night, often from another country, so the website must answer their questions without a meeting. Choose a local agency if you need filmed content in colleges, labs or client offices and want your partners in workshops every fortnight; choose a remote studio if your priority is a precise, compliant employer site delivered fast at a fixed price, from Starter at £2,300 to Premium at £6,900. Whatever you choose, the copy about permits must stay general and point to regulated advisers, because that rule matters more than the build method.
Who visits an Oxford mobility firm's website, and what do they need?
Oxford's international hiring comes from a mix of employers: the university and its colleges recruiting academics and postdocs, hospitals recruiting clinical staff, science and engineering employers at the Oxford Science Park and the Harwell campus, and the car plant at Cowley. Each audience reads the site differently.
| Audience | What they look for | Page that answers it |
|---|---|---|
| HR or reward manager at an employer | Scope, process, reporting, data security | Employer services and how we work |
| Mobility lead handling a group move | Capacity, timelines described generally, single point of contact | Group relocation page with case example |
| Assignee and family | Housing, schools, settling-in, what happens when | Assignee guide in plain language |
| Academic department administrator | Simple steps, who to contact, documents to prepare | Academic hiring page |
| Procurement team | Policies, insurance, data processing terms | Downloadable documents page |
| Regulated adviser partners | How referrals are handled | Partner page |
A local agency and a remote studio can both build these pages. The real difference is how the content gets gathered: through workshops in Oxford, or through structured questionnaires and recorded calls.
How does each provider type run the project, phase by phase?
| Phase | Oxford agency, typical | Remote studio, typical | Watch point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery | 1 to 2 workshops on site, 2 weeks | 2 video calls and a questionnaire, 3 to 5 days | Who attends from HR side |
| Content and copy | 3 to 5 weeks | 1 to 2 weeks | Review of immigration wording by your regulated adviser |
| Design | 2 to 4 weeks | 1 week | Accessibility of colours and forms |
| Build and intake forms | 3 to 5 weeks | 1 to 2 weeks | Data minimisation on forms |
| Photography | Often arranged by the agency | Local photographer hired separately | Consent of people photographed |
| Launch and handover | 1 week | 2 to 3 days | Domain and hosting in your name |
| Total | 10 to 18 weeks | 3 to 4 weeks | Your own approval speed |
On price, the 2026 ballpark from public agency rate pages and typical agency quotes in Oxfordshire is around £3,000 to £8,000 for a freelancer, £10,000 to £25,000 for a studio and £25,000 or more for a larger agency, against Kolonell's fixed Starter £2,300, Growth £3,900 and Premium £6,900. Remote timelines assume content arrives on time. If three partners each take a week to approve a page, both options slow down equally.
What are the regulatory guardrails for the copy?
In the UK, giving immigration advice or services without being qualified is a criminal offence. Advice must come from someone regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA, formerly OISC, renamed in January 2025) or by a designated professional body, for example a solicitor regulated by the SRA, a barrister or a chartered legal executive. A relocation company that is not regulated must not give immigration advice. Your website should therefore present permits as coordinated with regulated advisers, describe Home Office and UKVI processes only in general terms, present sponsor licence support for employers generally, and never suggest an outcome or a processing time. A short line such as "routes described generally, eligibility confirmed by a regulated adviser or lawyer" belongs on every route page. Where rules require regulatory information to be displayed, put it in the footer; check the precise requirement with the competent body.
On data, the intake form should collect a name, employer, destination and move window, nothing more at first. Passport scans and family details belong in a secure upload space (on quote) with a stated retention period. UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018, ICO guidance and PECR for cookies and marketing email apply; WCAG 2.2 AA is the sensible target under the Equality Act 2010. This is not legal advice.
When is an Oxford agency clearly the better option?
Be honest about these cases. If the site is one piece of a larger launch that includes a brand film shot in Oxford, printed welcome packs and an event for HR clients, a local agency coordinating everything will be worth its premium. If your firm runs on long in-person partner meetings and nobody will own the project remotely, a local agency keeps the project moving. And if you need a bespoke assignee portal with complex integrations from day one, a larger agency with a dedicated engineering team may suit better, although Kolonell quotes such applications separately.
What should you ask either provider?
- Which pages will mention routes, and who signs off that they stay general?
- Can you show how the intake form minimises data?
- Are the domain, hosting and code registered to us?
- Who writes each language, and is the writer native?
- How many revision rounds are included, and what does an extra round cost?
- What does handover include if we leave?
Compare the answers with the international offer, where each tier's contents are listed.
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Mini case study
Illustrative example. Tom founded Cherwell Mobility, a fictional 9-person firm in Summertown serving HR teams at research employers. He compares the three-year cost of two options.
| Item | Oxford studio | Remote studio |
|---|---|---|
| Build | £16,000 | £6,900 (Kolonell Premium, the multilingual tier, languages set in the quote) |
| Native German reviewer | Included | £900, independent translator (third-party cost) |
| Maintenance, market assumption | £300 × 36 months = £10,800 | £180 × 33 months = £5,940 (Kolonell maintenance after 3 months on quote) |
| Three-year total | £26,800 | £13,740 |
Tom expects about 25 qualified HR enquiries a year from the site, so 75 over three years. Cost per qualified enquiry: £26,800 / 75 = about £357 with the Oxford studio, £13,740 / 75 = £183.20 with the remote option. He goes remote and spends part of the £13,060 difference on a day of local photography.
FAQ
Is a remote studio less safe for sensitive assignee data?
Not by nature: safety depends on where forms store data and who can access it. Ask for the hosting location and a retention period in writing, for example 12 months after the move unless law requires longer.
Do we need Premium from the start?
Only if you publish in more than one language at launch. Many firms start on Growth at £3,900 and upgrade when a client asks for assignee pages in another language.
Can the site list visa routes?
It can name route families in general terms, with a note that eligibility is confirmed by a regulated adviser or lawyer. It should not list thresholds, fees or processing times, which change and are set by the Home Office.
How much time does our team need to give?
Plan for around 6 to 10 hours over 3 to 4 weeks: two calls, content answers and two approval rounds.
Can we start small and add an HR portal later?
Yes. The public site can launch at £2,300 or £3,900, with an employer portal quoted later. Request a free quote to scope both stages.
Let's scope your project. An employer-facing relocation site with compliant route pages and minimal intake, from £2,300 to £6,900, live in 3 to 4 weeks. See the international offer or request a free quote: detailed reply within 48 hours.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.