New Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) rules from 6 April 2015: business plan, source of funds and “Genuine, Genuine, Genuine”!

By 1st 4Immigration - #1 UK Immigration Experts -
As we work a great deal with this category, we felt it needed a separate post. Here is our summary of what is changing on 6 April 2015 for Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa applicants.

1)     A business plan will be compulsory for initial applications. Until now we have been advising to add a business plan anyway, as a part of a Genuine Entrepreneur test; it was beneficial but not compulsory. We offer this service “Business plan writing from an experienced Immigration Adviser”, you can read more here on our website: http://www.1st4immigration.com/business-plan-writing.php

2)     The Applicant will have to explain and evidence the source of funds, normally £200,000, if he/she has held the money for the less than 90 days. In this case evidence from third party funding will be needed even if the funds are held on the Applicant’s name. At the moment there is no minimum time the funds can be on the Applicant’s account except for the right of the visa officers to question the source anyway.

3)    “Genuine, Genuine, Genuine”!!! This is an addition to the Genuine Entrepreneur test, which was applicable to the initial applications. It is now being extended to extensions and ILR applications. If you happened to read the Statement of Changes, it looks like the UKVI added a word “genuine” before every other noun and verb. Such as “has established a genuine business in the UK and has genuinely operated that business”, “genuinely invested the money (£200,000 or £50,000) into one or more genuine businesses in the UK” and so on.

Another common word now is “Credibility”: of the job creation, of the business activity, of the financial accounts and so on.  

So, if you are an Entrepreneur migrant, you have to genuinely meet the requirements, otherwise your credibility will suffer (on the balance of probabilities, that is). Of course if you are genuinely running a business in the UK and following this category rules there genuinely should not be a problem, save for the mountain of (genuine) paperwork you’d need.
Irony aside (Did we mention “genuine”?), there are 2 main things about this category. First is the balance of probabilities, ie whether the visa officers believe in your plan to run a business in the UK. Second issue is that your application is assessed by the UKVI caseworkers who are employees and most have probably never had a business themselves (How can they assess a business plan, for example?)

For an individual advice or to make an application please contact us: info@1st4immigration.com or visit www.1st4immigration.com  

If you are an Immigration Adviser or a Solicitor please visit our immigration Training and CPD website: www.1st4immigration.com/training  

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