New Immigration Rules were introduced on 6 April 2015 for Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa applications.
There is now a stated requirement in the Rules for initial applicants to provide a business plan with their application. (It was always good practice to do so but now the requirement has been formalised.) The relevant words in the Immigration Rule are to the effect that in the business plan the applicant must set out his proposed business activities in the UK and how he expects to make his business succeed.
There are also new requirements for the “genuineness” criteria in the Rules. Previously only initial applicants had to satisfy genuineness criteria, ie that the investment funds are genuinely available to the applicant and are genuinely to be invested in the business. Now the genuineness criteria have been extended to further leave to remain applications and indefinite leave to remain applications, and applicants in these two categories will now have to show that they have established a genuine business that is genuinely trading.
This is part of a general trend in tightening up the rules for Tier 1 Entrepreneur applicants, and applicants are strongly advised to get good professional help when preparing their applications.
