hi I’m Tom Bradford in this livestream I’m going to explain the changes that you ought to know about the immigration rules in the most recent statement of changes and this includes appendix W and the changes to this start-up and innovator visa roots so let’s make a start so the first point here as relevant is in relation to the contact points so these this part of the immigration rules provides for how often you need to be in contact with your endorsing body once your innovative visa or start-up visa is granted and it’s it what it states which I think is quite helpful just for clarification is that you’ve got to maintain contact with your endorsing body as required as a minimum after six months and twelve months from the date the application was granted so six and twelve months from the date the application was granted and that’s the new bit because that wasn’t clear previously so I think this is particularly relevant for I’ll speak in a moment about when these rules are going to be implemented from June and because they only apply to new applications but if you’re innovator or start-up visa application is granted towards what in the second part of the year and if the corona crisis is going on for you’re not able for any reason to actually come in I’m to the UK then young you’ll still be assessed in terms of that contact point from six or 12 months and the point the application is granted whether or not you’ve actually been able to come into the UK or if you’ve been held up abroad which may be possible with is if there’s a second coronavirus wave in the winter we so need hope not and you must show reasonable progress against the business plan and this is this is an interesting point at these contact points the applicant must either show reasonable progress as assessed by their endorsing body against the business ban assisted in their endorsement or show that they are pursuing a business venture which the endorsing body is satisfied meets the requirements in paragraph W 5.2 below in other words the innovation fibber is a scalability so in other words you can be pursuing a new business venture other than the one for which your endorsed that’s clearly very important so you can switch businesses if you like while you’re in the UK but what you have to do is obviously plan is strategically if you were to do something like that so if your honour and this this provision is in their relation to both start-up and innovative visas now so you could let’s say if your beginning on a start-up visa and you begin with one business and then you decide to change the business let’s say perhaps it’s something to do with the corona crisis you know if you’re in doing something in relation to travel or retail and decide to change the business then you’ve still got to be supported by your endorsing body and well but when you come to apply for the innovative visa you’ll be applying under the new business provisions and you’ll be assessed in relation to the to the new business provisions so that needs to be planned out planned out carefully yeah so that’s the second point again that unbent hadn’t been there in the previous rules now then the next provision here as in relation to viability now I’ve done videos on what business viability means in this context but it says here the applicants business plan is realistic and it or based on the applicants available resources the applicant has or is actively developing the necessary skills knowledge experience and market awareness to successfully run the business now the new bet here is based on the applicants available resources so the endorsing body has got a assess whether what you’re planning to do is realistic and achievable based on your available resources now your available resources could include support from third parties in my view but they’re still looking at your resources now resources are going to at the very least include although they’re not and so limited to money and this is within the start-up provisions now so although there’s no minimum investment there’s still got to be an assessment of what it is that you’re saying you’re going to be doing in the UK and what available resources you have to achieve that the next amendment is here it states that the I’ve just underlined it here in red for you that the applicant must be either a sole founder of the business or an instrumental member of the founding team more than one applicant can be endorsed for the same business as long as each applicant is a founding member the applicant must be relying on their own business plan and they must have generated the ideas in the plan all made a significant contribution to those years ideas must be responsible for executing the plan so the point here is that you’ve got to be an instrumental member of the founding team I’m it had been already present in the earlier rules that more than one applicant could apply but I think this just emphasizes um that you’ve got to be core to the delivery of the business so you know it’s got to be your own idea and you’ve got to be delivering it you couldn’t simply be piggybacking off of someone else’s idea or let’s say just purchasing and already trading business where you know you are not a founder originally and these rules take effect from the fourth of June so if your application if you had a stiff co-sponsorship before then then it would be decided under the earlier rules before this was this was implemented now another interesting point here under again under viability is that you’ve got to show you have the necessary skills knowledge experience and market awareness to successfully run the business so market awareness is it’s important and it’s something which you might be tested on how well do you know your particular market and this is another interesting development so it says the business may have already started trading in the UK but the applicant must be either the sole founder of the business or an instrumental member of the founding team as we covered in the previous provision it says more than one applicant can be endorsed for the same business but previously it had not been obvious in the rules any means that you could stop start trading in the UK so the provision now is that you can apply in respect of a trading business a business is already trading but you need to have founded that business yourself under the new rules so in conclusion then I think there’s nothing which is particularly adverse to applicants or do you think the threshold is particularly made higher these are largely clarification amendments to the extent there is anything novel in there it’s only applicable from the 4th of June I think if there was anything that was arguably knew it would be this I suppose the point that the time runs from the six month and twelve months runs from the date of the application this point about the assessment of your own resources the requirement that you be an instrumental member of the founding team that you’re responsible for executing your business plan that for that you’ve got to have market awareness and that your business may have already started trading so I hope that that’s helpful review of the start-up visa rules now under the under the under the statement of changes there are also other amendment to the sole representative route which I’m going to review in the next video and also there’s amendments to the exceptional talent pathways as well which I will also review in a livestream later this week thank you so much for listening and stay well I say bye for now