UK Visas and British Citizenship

Week 1 –  How much money do I actually need, GBP 200 000 or 50 000? Week 2 –  It only works if you are a “genuine” applicant / entrepreneur and have “genuine” funds “genuinely” available! Week 3 –  Raise the funds that will remain available after you secure your visa. Week 4 -  Your business idea must be realistic, not too generic and in-demand in the UK economy.  Week 5 –  Entrepreneurial (dream) teams. Week 6 –  Business plan is the key! And the keys to a successful business plan. Week 7 –  How to invest GBP 200,000 and what to spend it on? Week 8 –  When to invest GBP 200,000? IS there a deadline, such as within 6 months, every year etc? Can I move from one business to another? Week 9 –  When do I have to create jobs and whom can I hire? Week 10 –  Frequently Asked Questions and Compliance. For more info please visit our website: -  Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa and business plan from immigration entrepr...

Week 1 –  How much money do I actually need, GBP 200 000 or 50 000? Week 2 – It only works if you are a “genuine” applicant / entrepreneur and have “genuine” funds “genuinely” available! Week 3 – Raise the funds that will remain available after you secure your visa. Week 4 - Your business idea must be realistic, not too generic and in-demand in the UK economy. Week 5 – Entrepreneurial (dream) teams. Week 6 – Business plan is the key! And the keys to a successful business plan. Week 7 – How to invest GBP 200,000 and what to spend it on? Week 8 – When to invest GBP 200,000? IS there a deadline, such as within 6 months, every year etc? Can I move from one business to another? Week 9 – When do I have to create jobs and whom can I hire? Week 10 – Frequently Asked Questions and Compliance. For more info please visit our website: - Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa and business plan from immigration entrepreneurs - Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa - Entrepreneurial Teams - ...

This is the last post in these popular series, and we will be also posting a summary of all posts later.     FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: How much money do I need, GBP 200 000 or 50 000? The main amount is 200 000 British Pounds. The 50 000 applications are only allowed if you have funds from specified sources. For example, from a UK Government department or UK-regulated venture capital fund. There are strict rules on this. We will be able to advise you in your individual case during advice session. Can I apply in the UK or do I have to apply in my country? You can only apply in the UK if you currently have a UK visa that allows to change your status while on the UK. If you don't, you have to apply from your country. Having said that , we can prepare your application In advance, so you would only need to leave the UK to submit your paperwork abroad and to wait for a decision, thus reducing your time abroad to the minimum possible.  What is meant b...

When it comes to the Job Creation rule for Entrepreneur visa migrants , these are 2 most common questions.  Question 1:  when is the deadline for creating 2 jobs and hiring the workers ?    The answer is there is no real deadline other than the visa expiry date minus 12 months, although it is very risky to leave it until that point! The rule is to create 2 full-time jobs for settled workers during the time of the initial visa with each job lasting 12 months. The 1st visa is for 3 years (plus 4 months if you applied outside the UK), so you have all that time.  You can create jobs in the 1st year or in the 2nd or - as often happens - in the 3rd year. As long as you can meet this rule. Each job doesn’t need to be for continuous 12 months , can be one person working for 6 months in year 2 and then replaced by another worker (in the same job) for the other 6 months during the year 3.  Same for the 2nd job.  The absolutely latest would be to wait fo...

There are 2 aspects to take into account. On one hand, the Rules do not put a deadline other than within 3 years, ie during your initial visa period. There is no rule to invest equally in each year, or to invest by certain deadline after securing a visa etc.  Strictly speaking, it can be the last day before you submit your application for extension. In practice, we often see large sums (such as £100,000) invested in the last couple of months before the visa expiry date. On the other hand, there is the notorious Genuine Entrepreneur Test – and this is where such last-minute investments can be questioned by the visa officers. The only way to deal with it to submit as much evidence of “genuineness” as possible. The more genuine it looks the better your chance to be granted a visa extension! Can you move from one business to another? What if your first idea hasn't worked out or you did not get on with your business partners?  Yes, you can be a part of several businesses,...

Once you have your Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa, it is actually just the beginning - now the real work begins. You have 3 years to invest the capital of GBP 200000. The main thing here is to understand the difference between the following: On one hand, there are practical day-to-day actions, such as transferring the money from your personal account (or your sponsor’s account) to your UK company’s account you are investing in. So, you transfer the funds to your UK company’s bank account, then you can use it to run your business, ie to spend on your business expenses. What can you buy with this money? Generally, this is dictated by the tax rules, some expenses are allowable, some not. In short, you can spend it on the costs of running your business, ie things you need to buy to have your business going: stock / supplies, wages, rent of premises, marketing, business-related travel, website etc. The visa rules go further: you cannot spend this money on buying a residential pr...

A business plan is a compulsory visa requirement for an initial entrepreneur application. It is also a key to a successful application and meeting the Genuine Entrepreneur Test. A business plan is a CV (some say “Resume”) of your business. It is a description of your idea, the actions you plan to make it work. The steps you have already taken, such as the market research, approaching potential clients, learning about UK taxes. Plus the steps you are planning in the future, such as organising marketing and employing staff. Finally, a financial plan: how you spend your capital of GBP 200,000, how much sales your business could achieve and profit it would eventually make. Like with your CV, you would like to highlight your skills and experience for the “job” (the job of running your business in the UK), Like with a CV, you should NOT make the most common mistake of downloading a standard template from the internet. The problem with that is the same as with most CVs these days. T...

How many people?  2 visa applicants can form a team and share the funds, usually GBP 200 000. Both will be "main" applicants. What about family members? Each main applicant can include their respective families as dependants. When is it useful? When you have to combine the funds available to you with someone else's to make the total amount. For example, with a friend or a business partner. Not to be confused with the "Third Party" funds' provider, who is not applying for a visa. Also, this can be used by family members teaming up when they cannot be included as dependants. For example, a real case from our practice: a brother and a sister applying as a team and sharing GBP 200 000, then each including their families as dependants. Same can be done by a parent and an adult child. Do the team members need to equally contribute to GBP 200 000? No, but both need access to it. This is a very technical subject, and one that leads to many visa re...

In  Week 1 post we mentioned the importance of the Entrepreneur visa applicant to have relevant skills and experience in the chosen industry. If not their own - then experience of their families or business partners. Here we consider what kinds of business ideas work and don't work, based on our practice. A business idea shouldn’t be too generic. For example, another restaurant or a shop is unlikely to work, there is no shortage of them! Importing consumer goods to the UK could be difficult too (mobile phones, clothes etc) unless these particular goods are in great demand. You have more chance to succeed with a specialist type of skills/services, as long as it is in demand by the economy. Property-related activities are excluded by the Rules (although nothing is stopping you from doing it as a secondary activity, separate from your business for the visa purpose ). Examples of business ideas that are likely to be successful: IT services, particularly very specialist ones...

Another day, another request for advice from a client to extend his Entrepreneur visa but ... “there is no money”.  This is a typical scenario – and a cry for help -  we see, which is rapidly becoming very common. A migrant had an initial Entrepreneur visa issued 3 years ago, having provided evidence of £200,000 (often borrowed from their families). Now, 3 years later, his visa is about to expire and he needs to apply for extension. One of the conditions, however, is that this money had been invested in a UK business. In a typical scenario, we see investment of only a quarter of that amount. The rest of the money isn’t there and often was returned to the family. Although this concerns a visa extension stage, we would strongly advise to think about this during the initial application. On one hand, it is a part of the Genuine Entrepreneur Test that the funds are “genuinely” available and will continue to be available. The visa officers will be using the balance of probabil...

Why do we say “genuine” so many times? It is from the Immigration Rules – Genuine Entrepreneur Test and it is the main reason for refusals in this visa category. Evidence of funds – can be arranged; evidence of English – same; evidence of being “genuine” – now it gets tricky (for you) and makes it easier for the government to refuse your application. Our advice – be a genuine applicant! May sound obvious but this is the most important thing in the whole application! You have to be a genuine entrepreneur and genuinely intending to come to the UK to run your own business or to join an existing one. Do not use this category “just to come to the UK”, it is fairly obvious to professionals like us (and the Government officers!) when someone is trying to do so. When we work on an Entrepreneur visa application, we look at least at one of the following (better both): 1)       Does the migrant have past experience of running his/her own business? If...

The main amount is 200 000 British Pounds. The 50 000 applications are only allowed if you have funds from specified sources, and there is an exhaustive list in the Rules and can be found here:  https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-a-attributes    For example, from a UK Government department or UK-regulated venture capital fund. There are fewer sources for students to “encourage” them to apply from outside the UK. In addition to the main amount of GBP 200 000, you also need further funds under the Maintenance requirement, which is separate. You can’t use the same money for both.  Next week - be a "genuine" applicant!  For individual advice or to make an application please contact us info@1st4immigration.com  or visit   http://www.1st4immigration.com/index.php    We respond emails on the same working day! 1st 4Immigration Ltd, authorised by the OISC, ref 200800152. we operate at the highest...