entrepreneur visa

It is clearly stated in Tier 1 (entrepreneur) rules that you must invest all your investment funds (£200,000) into your business before proceeding with your application for the Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa extension in year three. In other words, for the purpose of growing your business, you must spend all the investment money.

*Remember, applications will no longer be accepted from these dates listed above. Nevertheless, there are other similar ways you can enter into the UK.

If you are applying for an extension, you are required to demonstrate that the funds are invested into your business. In order to produce evidence that the funds have been used for your business, you could include business accounts prepared by an accountant & other documents that show that you are in fact, the director of the business. Whilst, in your first application you only needed to prove that the investment fund (£200,000) was available, for the extension you need to demonstrate that the position of the company has changed. The Immigration Rules at paragraph 245D(c)(ii) refer to ‘invested’ or ‘spent’ as being interchangeable definitions. Policy guidance is clear in its definition of financial investment, explaining that;

‘Money deposited in a bank account, even if it is in a United Kingdom business bank account, is not counted as investment in the business’.

The policy guidance continues:

‘The money should be used in the business to encourage growth or expansion, to improve services or products and to ensure the business is profitable.’

So what the UK government is looking for is that the investment funds have been used by your business within the third year. Although there are no specific ways to spend the money detailed, there are some certain things which are acceptable ways to demonstrate that the funds are used in the running of the business such as;

Certain types of spending

However, there are certain types of spending which will not be classified as an investment. These include;