Even though this route closed to new applicants on 29th March 2019, you can still use this guide if you have already been granted leave in Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) or Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) categories. This guide will help you apply for a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa or extend your stay in the UK.
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Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa
If you presently hold a Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa, you can apply to recompense in the UK as a Tier 1 Entrepreneur until 5th April 2025. If your application is victorious, you will be endowed Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa and be free of immigration time constraints.
Essentials For Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa
In order to authorise for indefinite leave to stay as a Tier 1 Entrepreneur, you will need to fulfil UK Visas & Immigration that:
- You documented as a company director or as self-employed within 6 months of joining the Tier 1 Entrepreneur classification.
- You’re still recorded as a company director or as self-employed within the 3 months previous to your date of application.
- You have funded at least £200,000 or £50,000 (as applicable) in a company or enterprise in the UK.
- You have completed at least two full-time jobs for individuals recompensed in the UK and these jobs have existed for at least a period 12 months.
- You have specified, taken over or evolved into a director of a simple UK business, genuinely managed that company and genuinely plan to continue working for the company.
- You’ve spent a constant period of 5 years legally in the UK with leave as a Tier 1 Entrepreneur migrant, with not more than 180 days missing from the UK each year.
- You have displayed adequate knowledge of the English language and acceptable knowledge about life in the UK.
There is also an accelerated route to settlement as a Tier 1 Entrepreneur after 3 years if you complete at least 10 new full-time jobs or your company has a turnover of at least £5 million. The exact essentials you will need to fulfil will vary leaning on your possibilities. You might want to speak to an immigration lawyer for professional guidance.
Tier 1 Entrepreneur ILR job Formation Demand
If you have specified a new firm or business or infused in a current business, you must have completed the equivalent of 2 extra full-time paid jobs for at least 2 people who meet the description of settled workers in the Immigration Rules at the time of their employment starts. Each job must have existed for at least 12 months.
A single job doesn’t need to last for 12 straight months (for instance it could exist for 6 months in one year and 6 months the subsequent year), supplying it is the same job, with the same job title (contrasting jobs that have lived for less than 12 months can’t be merged together to make up a 12 month period). Jobs completed before the period of leave can be depended upon in a compensation application if they are carried out for at least a different 12 months during the most recent extension.
If jobs depended on in a prior period of leave no longer exist, then 2 new jobs will need to be completed and exist for at least 12 months during the most recent extension. The jobs must comply with all relevant UK regulations, including the national minimum wage and the working time directive.
If your company has been disrupted by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic then you don’t need to hire at least 2 people for 12 successive months. Rather, the 12 month period you are needed to hire someone for can be made up of numerous jobs across various months, providing that when connected this is comparable to 2 full-time jobs. Any periods of time when your workers were furloughed under the UK Government furlough system can still count towards the 12 month period delivered they were paid at least 80% of their normal salary throughout.
If you’re not able to hire staff for 12 months by the time your visa parts, you might still be given further leave for a period of 2 years supplied that you have formed at least 2 jobs for recompensed workers and you have been incapable to meet the standard conditions due to the effect of the pandemic.
If you were formerly given a covid connected attachment of leave, then in order to qualify for the compensation you will need to demonstrate that you have satisfied 2 full-time jobs for the 12 month period in addition to the existing job innovation essential for compensation. For instance, if you rely on having formed 2 full-time jobs for recompensed workers that existed in 12 months during your most current grant of leave, you will also be needed to show that 2 full-time jobs existed for an extra 12 months. These can be the exact jobs, supplying they meet the necessity of existing for at least a further 12 months.
Job innovation essential can be difficult. You might wish to pursue early guidance from a specialist immigration lawyer in order to guarantee that you can fulfil the essential.
Tier 1 Entrepreneur Indefinite Leave To Remain (ILR) Timeline
You can apply under the Tier 1 Entrepreneur route once you have lived in the UK as a Tier 1 Entrepreneur for a constant period of 5 years.
As a Tier 1 Entrepreneur, you might apply for accelerated ILR after a constant period of 3 years if you have formed the equal at least 10 new full-time jobs for members of the settled inhabitants. You might also authorise for accelerated compensation after 3 years if your UK business has had a gross gain from industry activity of at least £5 million during the last 3 years. If you are infused into a current business then your services or investment must have resulted in net growth in gross income from industry activity of £5 million during the 3-year constant period, when reached the 3 year period directly before the date you became engaged with the company.
You can apply for Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa up to 28 days before you reach the appropriate qualifying period. Your qualifying period will be the 3 or 5 years directly before the date you apply for compensation or the 3 or 5 years directly before the date your compensation application is selected, leaning on which is most profitable to you. Guidance from an immigration lawyer will confirm the accurate timing of your Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa application.
The residence requirement for a Tier 1 Entrepreneur ILR settlement application
In order to authorise for eternal leave to remain (ILR) as a Tier 1 Entrepreneur, you must not have been absent from the UK for more than 180 days in any 12 month period during your qualifying 3 or 5-year duration.
For any lacks from the UK during the duration of leave granted under the Rules in place before 11 January 2018, you must not have been absent from the UK for more than 180 days during each straight 12-month duration, ending on the same date of the year as the date of the Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa ILR application. For any scarcities from the UK during periods of leave endowed under the Rules in place since 11 January 2018, the Home Office will consider a rolling 12-month duration.
In either case, days spent journeying to or from the UK will not count for the objective of the Tier 1 Entrepreneur ILR residence and absence condition.
Tier 1 Entrepreneur ILR settlement application processing times
If you apply for eternal leave to remain as a Tier 1 Entrepreneur through UK Visa & Immigration’s traditional service, you can generally anticipate obtaining a judgment within 26 weeks of your ILR application date. The Home Office does not currently offer a focused service for Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa ILR applications. However, we have been informed that a 30-day service for Tier 1 Entrepreneur ILR applications is being prepared.
- Indefinite Leave to Remain as a Tier 1 Entrepreneur
- Tier 1 Entrepreneurs: Applying for Accelerated Settlement after 3 Years
- UK Entrepreneur Visa Success Stories
Tier 1 Entrepreneur ILR settlement applications from outside the UK
Sadly, it isn’t feasible to apply for ILR as a Tier 1 Entrepreneur from beyond the UK. Tier 1 Entrepreneur ILR applications can only be advanced from within the UK.
Conclusion
Overall, this is something that could be considered when it comes to coming over to the UK if you would like to begin creating a business plan, and establish your business here. B&F Services can offer additional information about this.
