Challenges In Acquiring a UK Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa
UK has always welcomed foreign business investors with its “Britain is open for business” – campaign – a staple in many successive UK governments.
If you are entrepreneurs from outside of EU and wanting to set up or invest in the UK, your natural visa is the Tier I Entrepreneur Visa. The financial mandate to qualify in for this visa includes two basic parameters:
– Access to a ready capital of £50,000 from a government department, seed funding capital from a registered venture capital firm.
– Access to £200,000 worth of personal wealth.
Many tech-based ventures have seen a boost with the recent influx of private sector talent due to entrepreneurial growth. Though the current trend in high refusal rates for the Entrepreneur Tier I applicants due to “genuine entrepreneur test” is a little alarming. This provision was made by the government to tackle abuse of this immigration category. This clause has though introduced a new challenge for a genuine applicant also. Adding to it is the change in Immigration rules integrated from 6th April 2015. Some of the clauses of this tightening of the system include:
– Now the applicants have to furnish a business plan to establish the authenticity of the business proposal and as such the visa appeal
– Furnish proof of holding of requisite qualifying funds in applicants account if the funds have been held for less than 90 days
– The “genuine test” has also been extended to apply at visa appeals aimed at settlement applications and extensions.
The idea behind the measures is to ensure the genuineness of the application and to also concurrently secure the entrepreneurialism of the investment and business proposal.
The complex law system which is constantly changing makes obtaining the Tier I visa a tough task, the subsequent compliance is also not made easy by the multifaceted legal system and it becomes imperative to consult immigrant lawyers.