Entrepreneur Visa £200K route from outside the UK

HI

My question is regarding Entrepreneur Visa £200K route from outside the UK.

My two brothers, who are based overseas want to set up print business in the UK - I am third party and willing to provide £200K funding. My funds are in the UK and I have earned while I was in the UK. My UK banks are not willing to provide 3rd party letters in the format required by UKBA.

Can you please let me know.

1- If UK 3rd Party funding in allowed when money is already in the UK? An immigration consultant told me 3rd Party funding from within the UK is not allowed as UKBA will ask for date of entry of funds to the UK. In this case source and origin of funds is UK itself.

2- One of the entrepreneur team member has a Uk bank account, is it possible to put money in his UK bank account and has acts as both entreprenuer team member and 3rd party to the


Kind regards

Z

Can someone please reply.

Thanks

A

zamanam wrote:HI

My question is regarding Entrepreneur Visa £200K route from outside the UK.

My two brothers, who are based overseas want to set up print business in the UK - I am third party and willing to provide £200K funding. My funds are in the UK and I have earned while I was in the UK. My UK banks are not willing to provide 3rd party letters in the format required by UKBA.

Can you please let me know.

1- If UK 3rd Party funding in allowed when money is already in the UK? An immigration consultant told me 3rd Party funding from within the UK is not allowed as UKBA will ask for date of entry of funds to the UK. In this case source and origin of funds is UK itself.

2- One of the entrepreneur team member has a Uk bank account, is it possible to put money in his UK bank account and has acts as both entreprenuer team member and 3rd party to the


Kind regards

Z

Well, looks bit complicated but If you transfer money into his bank account can be positive for their case. Yes you can not be a third party with UK statement, Sounds stupid but this is how it works. They still need to show the source of money.
2nd If you say one of them has UK bank account then is he still in UK?
Basically you really need to work it out. You just can not get the answers on forum.

BEST OF LUCK

Thanks cpmlkhan - This is the problem I have consulted many solicitors all of them saying its not a problem but I read policy guidelines and rules which are very clear - they don't say 3rd party funds are not allowed but they ask for documents which is not possible from inside the UK.

No none of them are in the UK - only one has an account in the UK as he was studied in the UK but now have gone back.


I don't know what is the way out…I think only way is to send money back to home country and then apply but its ridiculous solution!!

zamanam wrote:Thanks cpmlkhan - This is the problem I have consulted many solicitors all of them saying its not a problem but I read policy guidelines and rules which are very clear - they don't say 3rd party funds are not allowed but they ask for documents which is not possible from inside the UK.

No none of them are in the UK - only one has an account in the UK as he was studied in the UK but now have gone back.


I don't know what is the way out…I think only way is to send money back to home country and then apply but its ridiculous solution!!

But you do not have any other choice. I know its not gonna be easy for you but this is the right way to do it. Solicitor always says "No problem give us money" but follow the guidance.

BEST OF LUCK

Dear Zaman,

you can sposnor your brothers as UK Third party sponsor. I had same situation like you and i did contacted my local MP who contacted UKBA and i got response from Director of UKBA who said that as UK third party i can sponsor my sisters for their application with my UK based money. Yes, you are right that most of Banks in UK do not offer UKBA specific letter. So i overcome this issue by going to Habib bank in southall who helped me to get this specific letter for UKBA. Feel free to ask me any question if i can help you.

Umarjee Many thanks if you can guide me it will be really kind of you. I've PM you.

I tried to understand this 3rd party issue and I think (may be wrong but its my analysis after reading all rules and policy guidance) thats It's not that technically we can't have third party funding from within the UK its only because we can't provide documents in the required format. Thus is not a viable option and that's why most of the people believe this is not allowed. This is usual HO double standard, and ridiculous attitude asking for documents which is not possible for in their own country!! Funny enough seems no one is brainy enough in this policy making process to pinpoint this!! and even policy is supposed to be shared with the parliament !!

[b]Following is discussion of issues and refusals based on UK based third party.[/b]

Please find attached appendix A which specifies Attributes.

Please see Para 41 and specially 41-SD point c and d. Para 41 states documents has to be in format specified by 41SD ONLY to be considered to have access to funds. Para 41 SD states

(c) specified documents which can't be generated in the UK - please find below relevant points only..

(i) A letter from each financial institution holding the funds, to confirm the amount of money available. Each letter must
.....(6) state the applicant's name, and his team partner's name where relevant,
.....(10) for money available from any third party (if applicable) that is held in that institution, confirm that the third party has informed the institution of the amount of money it intends to make available, and that the institution is not aware of the third party having promised to make that money available to any other person

I have asked my bank they won't show entrepreneur teams names on any bank letter and they are not willing to confirm that I have informed them of my intention to give this money to Adeel or farrukh

(ii) For money held in the UK only, a recent personal bank or building society statement from each UK financial institution holding the funds, which confirms the amount of money available. Each statement must satisfy the following requirements:
.......(4) the account must be in the applicant's own name only (or both names for an entrepreneurial team), not in the name of a business or third party;

This point clearly shows from within the UK bank statements can only be in the entrepreneurial teams names only and not that of third party

(d) If the applicant is applying using money from a third party, he must provide all of the following specified documents, in addition to the specified documents in (c) above:

(i) An original written declaration ...
(ii) A letter from a legal representative confirming the validity of signatures on each third-party declaration provided

This point clearly shows affidavit and other letter which you are thinking will full fill the requirement, is just the ADDITIONAL documents needed we still have to fulfill requirements of 41 SDc and 41.

This is the main reason as to why HO has refused many application on this basis Thus its not 3rd party is not allowed from UK but its next to impossible to get letters in required format and which leads to rejection of many applications.

Rather than sending the money back home, they can open accounts in UK. Non-residents can open international accounts in the UK. I did it last month with Barclays.

Source of funds will be seen as internal UK transfer from your account to their joint account or to each own account.

I wont suggest to transfer this funds to someone who is not in UK and if money stuck due to any reason then it will be big mess to withdraw all sum from Barclays. I did receive an email today from Santander Bank as well and they are certainly happy to offer third party bank letter at cost of £10. You can sponsor as third party in UK as i mentioned in my previous comment as i receied an offical letter from director of UKBA. Do not make things complicated. Take deep breath and start beliveing that you can do it. Good Luck

Thanks NAR - I asked Barclays but they told me non residents can't open international account and this is not possible. Can you please share how have you done this!

zamanam wrote:Thanks NAR - I asked Barclays but they told me non residents can't open international account and this is not possible. Can you please share how have you done this!

You need to contact the international team directly as other bank staff don't know about it. Here is the link

https://wealth.barclays.com/en_gb/home/ ... count.html

Also when they ask you why, tell them for the visa to relocate to the UK within 3 months.

Good luck

Looking at your first post, if one of them already have an account opened in the UK, maybe he can instruct the bank (using notarized documents from overseas) to add his brother name to the account so it becomes a joint account.

This may not work depending on the bank and what they will need, but its worth trying.

If this worked, then you just transfer the money to that joint account, they can use it for the T1 Team application and letter from you as source of funds.

If you want to go via Barclays non-resident account, open a single joint account for both of them directly and no need to open two accounts with two transfers and two letters and so on.

Hi,
i aaplied from outside the uk using 3rd party funding .
I only gave them bank statement. No bank letter and visa was granted in 19 days after they requested for an up to date 3rd party bank statement again.
NO INTERVIEW
regards

HSBC is pretty flexible in opening bank accounts overseas as long as you have one in the country you reside in.

When I was in US, I opened one HSBC account in the US and from there I opened another in India. Also, I opened 2 accounts, one each in Singapore and Hong Kong without ever setting foot there from my account branch in Shanghai, China.

Where ever your brothers are, ask them to open a joint account in HSBC bank there with requirement that they also need a joint account in the UK. It will bedone very easily provided you open a Premier Account (needs a minimum balance usually in the range of GBP25K-100K depending on the country. In India it's 25K, but in UK it is 50K, in other countries is 100K). The best part with this account is, once you establish a Premier account in one country, you can extend it to any country in the world without depositing a single penny in the other country. You will get all the Premier Account benefits in the other countries. I only maintain Premier Account Balance in India, but I have Premier Accounts in 4 other countries with zero balance.

My HSBC branch in India agreed to provide the bank letter in the UKBA format, not sure if that is the case with the HSBC branches in the UK. But, your relationship manager in the home country can help influence their counterparts in other countries too. The key is to open a Premier Account (you get better service benefits).

If your brothers don't have the minimum balance for premier account in their country of residence, they can still open Premier account in residing country and UK at the same time. The bank gives you about a couple of months' time to maintain the minimum balance in any one account. After their accounts are open in both countries, you can transfer your 200K or 50K (min) balance into their UK account and they get the status. I did exactly the same when I opened account in US and India, but maintained balance in India because US minimum was very high. You can be the 3rd person on the joint account too if you wish, so you can operate UK account in their absence. I think a maximum of 3 people can be on the joint account at any time (but you need to check with HSBC).

Hope that helps.

David Congrats

attahaas - thanks for your comprehensive reply - I have HSBC business account and offer of premium account but my country is not included in premium banking list of hsbc.

zamanam wrote:David Congrats

attahaas - thanks for your comprehensive reply - I have HSBC business account and offer of premium account but my country is not included in premium banking list of hsbc.

Then I would suggest you look for an international bank that is present both in UK and your home country. I am sure most international banks have some or the other Premium Service accounts.

If that doesn't workout, then the best thing you could do is to get your brothers to the UK on a visitor visa and take care of all the bank formalities (some members here have posted that a couple of banks in the UK are ready to give letters in the UKBA format). And send them back to your country to apply for the T1 visa. Yes, you would spend about 1K money on the flight tickets, but the peace of mind and convenience you get are well worth it.