What is the Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa?
The Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa is a UK business visa of the British Point Based System, that is issued to international businesspersons who want to invest £50,000 to £200,000 in the UK. They can either establish a new business or form a business partnership in an existing company. The Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa is given for three years and four months.
Holders of the Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa can:
- Start or direct on or more businesses in the UK;
- Get actively involved in business activities – including self-employment;
- Bring family and/or other dependents with you in the UK
You are also allowed to share the same investment funds with another Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa holder, by creating the Entrepreneurial Team. Such funds cannot be included in another visa application with another team
Who needs a Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa?
To be eligible for a Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa, besides having a purpose of investing the aforementioned sum of money in a UK business, the applicant must also be a citizen of a country that is not in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland.
Also, the applicant must have full access to a minimum 50,000 up to 200,000£ available in investment funds dedicated to a business in the UK.
How to apply for Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa?
You will have to complete your application process for a Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa from outside the UK, more specifically from your home country 3 months before the intended travel. You will need to submit your application online through the official website of the UK government, where you will have to give some basic information, on you and your purpose of traveling to the UK, as well as to upload scanned versions of your original documents.
If this is your first time traveling to the UK, you will need to schedule an appointment at the nearest application center, UK embassy or consulate in your home country, where you will need to submit biometrics and a photograph of yours.
The cases when the application can be done from within the UK are when the person is already in the UK with a valid visa and wants to either:
- Switch into Tier 1 Entrepreneur from an existing visa
- Extend the Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa
Switching into Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa
If you are in the UK with the following visas, you can apply to switch into the Tier 1 Entrepreneur:
- Tier 1 Investor;
- Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur;
- Tier 2;
- A tourist allowed to be engaged in activities as a potential entrepreneur;
- Tier 1 Post-Study Work;
- Tier 1 General;
- Tier 4/Student Categories
When switching the visa to Tier 1 Entrepreneur, the candidates must also offer their biometric information at authorized Post Offices, such as a photo and fingerprints, a service that costs £19.20. If the candidate is approved for switching the visa, they will automatically receive the Biometric Residence Permit. You are allowed to remain in the UK while the verdict on the application is being processed
There is a limitation of three years that one can stay in the UK with a switched visa to Tier 1 Entrepreneur.
To apply for a switch to Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa, applicants must:
- Have minimum £50,000 available funds
- Be constantly engaged in business
- Pay the Healthcare Surcharge
- Be registered with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) as self-employed, or, registered with Companies House as the director of a business
Tier 1 Entrepreneur extension
The application for extension is done when the candidate is within the UK on a Tier 1 Entrepreneu and wants to stay beyond the existing visa period. This application should be done before the end of the existing visa period. The longest period that an extension is give is two years
Visa Requirements for Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa
To have a successful visa application one must:
- Fulfill General Requirements of Application for a UK Visa
- Have 75 points in Attributes in Tier 1 Entrepreneur Migrant;
- Have 10 at least points for Understanding the English Language – An English language proficiency equivalent to level B1 or above of the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework for Language Learning
- Have a Business Plan – The business plan of the planned business project with all parts of it, including investment, costs, as well as the expected returns from business operations;
- The needed Documents to confirm Past Investment and Business Activity – For candidates who previously have been involved in business in the UK;
- The Unconditional Written Consent of the Sponsor
- Be older than 16 years old;
- Parents’ or Legal Guardian’s Letters
- The Criminal Record Certificate
- Provide tuberculosis test results – If the candidate is from a country that has to take the test;
- Must not take public funds of any type;
- Must be registered with the police;
- Must not get a job in the UK during the involvement in business
- Have at least 10 points for financial requirements
Financial requirements
The candidate which is applying for Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa needs to offer evidence that they and their dependents have enough money to support themselves in the UK.
The amount of money required to be at the applicants disposal is:
- £3,310 – for those applying for an EC from outside the UK;
- £945 – for those applying for LR from the UK
- £1890 – for a dependent child of a visa holder who is outside the UK for less than one year and in this case the maintenance funds must be on hold of the other parent – not the main applicant, who is within the UK with a visa;
- £630 – for a dependent of a visa holder who is within the UK for more than one year
The money should be saved in the bank account for at least three consecutive months before the application.
You cannot cannot use any money that is for investing or gained from working in the UK as evidence of financial subsistence.
Can a Tier 1 Entrepreneur be Revoked?
Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa can be revoked if the applicant fails to comply to the following:
- Was not registered as a self-employed in UK with HM Revenue & Customs;
- Has not registered any new company or joint-company where they were a partner or a director;
- Was not registered as a director or partner of an existing company or joint-company;
- Did not spend the entire investing money appropriately
How to apply for a Settlement Permit?
A foreigner who can apply for an Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in the UK must have lived for three up to five continuous legal years in the UK, involved in the business life.
The application for ILR must be done within the valid period of the previous visa. To apply for an ILR one must:
- Fulfill General Requirements of Application for a Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa
- Have 75 Points in Attributes for ILR in Tier 1 Entrepreneur Migrant;
- Lived in the UK for three or five continuous lawful years
- Must not have any history of overstaying in the UK after visa expiring date.
Points for attributes when for Tier 1 Entrepreneur candidates
When applying for Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa, the candidate has the following available points, and they have to score at least 75 of them. The following amounts of points can be allocated
- 25 Points – are given if the candidate can show the needed documents to prove that they have in their disposition the following available money, whichever:
- Minimum £200,000
- Minimum £50,000
- 25 other Points – if this money is kept in one or more regulated financial institutions (in the world);
- 25 other Points – if this money is kept in one or more regulated financial institutions (in the UK) as the candidate is applying for LR;
- 20 Points – if the candidate has or had invested on their behalf in a business in the UK a minimum £200,000, or £50,000 money in cash to the last visa;
- 20 Points – if the candidate has registered either as a self-employed (with HM Revenue and Customs), as a director of a new or existing business, or, as a member of a new or an existing limited responsibility partnership (with Companies House);
- If the last visa of the candidate was a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) Visa either an EC or LR, the candidate needs to be registered in six months of their arrival to the UK, or, of taking the visa;
- 15 Points – If the candidate was registered (in aforementioned institutions) not earlier than three months BEFORE the visa application;
- 20 Points – if the candidate has started a new business in the UK by which they created at least two full-time jobs for settled workers in the UK, or, has directed or invested in a business by which they created at least two full-time jobs for settled workers in the UK.
If the last visa of the candidate was a Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa either an EC or LR, the jobs must have existed at least one year before the last visa.
To get the needed scores for Attributes for EC or LR, the candidate must provide:
- Any document showing the readiness to start, join, or, direct a business in the UK within the six upcoming months;
- Realistic intention to invest the available funds in directing a business;
- Demonstrate that available money is realistically available, and will continue to be to the candidate, up to the time when they will be spent for the business operations;
- A proof that all parts of available funds, were properly spent in business operations (when the candidate was involved in a previous investment and seeks to get extra points by that);
- A disinterest in getting a job in the UK
Points allocated when applying for an ILR
When applying for ILR in Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa, the candidate can score the following available points, and they have to score all 75 of them:
- 20 Points – if the candidate has or had invested on their behalf in a business in the UK a minimum £200,000, or £50,000 money in cash to the last visa;
- 20 Points – if not earlier than three months from visa application the candidate has registered either as a self-employed (with HM Revenue and Customs), as a director of a new or existing business, or, as a member of a new or an existing limited responsibility partnership (with Companies House).If the last visa of the candidate was a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) Visa either an EC or LR, the candidate needs to be registered in six months of their arrival to the UK, or, of taking the visa;
- 20 Points – if the candidate has started a new business in the UK by which they created at least two full-time jobs for settled workers in the UK, or, has directed or invested in a business by which they created at least two full-time jobs for settled workers in the UK.If the last visa of the candidate was a Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa either an EC or LR, the jobs must have existed at least one year before the last visa.
- 15 Points – If the candidate has a legal continuous period of stay in the UK holding Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa, by including verified absences of not more than 180 days per one calendar year.
When given points for Attributes for ILR, the candidate should provide:
- Evidence that they have established and directed a business, as well as frankly operated it;
- Prove the appropriate investment of available funds in the business;
- Show realistic intention of continuing to run the businesses in the future;