Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa <> ILR questions

Dear Mods,

I hope you are well. I would first like to thank all of you and congratulate you on your great work and helping hundreds of confused immigrants

Brief
1. We are an entrepreneurial team first given visas in April 2019 and entered the UK on 05 May 2019
2. We invested in an existing company as a director's loan
3. Our extension was granted in November 2022 (extension applied in June 2022 & biometric given in August 2022) on the basis of a net increase of 2 jobs in the company
4. The company is a tech company and has been trying to raise funds for some time and is behind in payments to HMRC and pensions

Questions
1. As the initial visa was granted in April 2019 but we entered on 05 May 2019 - the 5-year period will count from which date? April or May?
2. My dependent (whose visa was granted in April 2019) entered the country in May 2019 to collect her BRP but went back to our home country to resign from her job, serve a notice period, etc., and permanently shifted to the UK in September 2019. When will her 5-year period be completed?
3. As mentioned above, the company is behind payments to HMRC & pensions. We are trying to raise funds to make all the statutory payments but if the company fails to do so, can this cause a problem in our ILR?
4. There are 3 employees who started work b/w January - May 2022 and now have completed one year with the company and hopefully will stay with the company till November 2023. These 3 employees were not counted in our initial extension application as they hadn't completed one year when we applied for our extension. Can we count them now in our ILR application as joined much after our investment, completed more than one year, and stayed with the company during the duration of our extension i.e. Nov 2022 - Nov 2023?
5. If the main applicants shift to a T2 SKW visa, will our time spent on a T-1 Entrepreneur visa count towards our 5-year continuous period and we can still apply for ILR next year? If so, how to prove the time spent on the T1 Ent visa, and will we still require any documents from the company while filing ILR holding a T2 visa?

Looking forward to your valuable input.

Thank you

1. The 5 year period starts from date of award (April) though the period from April to May counts towards absent days calculation.
2. Still April.
3. It shouldn't
4. As long as these jobs are Net increase (for example they were not replacement for employees who were there before you invested) and they are there for 12 months in the extension period, they will count. When they started is irrelevant.
5. Yes, it will count. Nothing needed to prove. HO obviously knows how long you have had the T1E visa

Hi @marcnath

Thank you for your prompt response. I have a couple of more queries, please

1. As our initial visa was granted in April 2019, for purposes of absent days calculation- a year will be counted as April - April for us?
2. If we apply for a T2 SKW visa, will we have to resign from the directorship of the present company before applying for the visa or we can resign once the visa has been granted?
3. If we apply for a T2 SKW visa sometime in January 2024 (our current visa is till Nov 2024) and the T2 visa is not granted in March/April 2024 - we will still continue on a T1 visa till Nov 2024?
4. Are there any 90-day financial requirements similar to extension applications where the applicants have to produce their 90-day bank statements with a min balance?

Thank you

rxhxl wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 18, 2023 9:40 am

Hi @marcnath

Thank you for your prompt response. I have a couple of more queries, please

1. As our initial visa was granted in April 2019, for purposes of absent days calculation- a year will be counted as April - April for us?
2. If we apply for a T2 SKW visa, will we have to resign from the directorship of the present company before applying for the visa or we can resign once the visa has been granted?
3. If we apply for a T2 SKW visa sometime in January 2024 (our current visa is till Nov 2024) and the T2 visa is not granted in March/April 2024 - we will still continue on a T1 visa till Nov 2024?
4. Are there any 90-day financial requirements similar to extension applications where the applicants have to produce their 90-day bank statements with a min balance?

Thank you

1. The year is calculated back from your ILR application date. So, if you apply in April, it is April to April. If you apply in July, it will be July to July and so on.
2.Good question. Strictly speaking you can't be a Director with the T2 SKW visa so at least for a few days, you may be violating the conditions of your T2 visa. Not sure if HO will care about a few days but ..
3. Yes, you current visa will continue to be valid until a new one is granted
4. No

Hi admin,

Is there a priority service for ILR application on the T1 Entrepreneur route? I heard someone applied using this service last month but I was under the impression that this service was not available to T1 Entrepreneur applicants, thanks

Priority service, even if exists, is very unlikely to be fulfilled. Very likely you'll get an email from UKVI saying they can't make it in time, since T1 applications tend to be complex (see eg post2128741.html#p2128741 ).
It's up to you to risk it, but IMO it'll be money spent for no reason.

Understood. However, just for knowledge - is this option presented to T1 Entrepreneur applicants applying for ILR?

Eligible visas are stated in rhe ukvi website.

https://www.gov.uk/faster-decision-visa ... ide-the-uk

Whether you get the option or not is another issue. If you get the option, you still might not get a decision in 5 working days.

Thank you for your reply.

1. Can you tell what are the chances of being interviewed (genuine entrepreneur test) at the ILR stage (The entrepreneurial team was interviewed in 2019 at the time of application but not at the extension stage)

2. The entrepreneurial team joined an existing business with 3 directors (a total of 5 after the team joined the company). After the extension application, one British director resigned but is still employed by the company. Do we need to clarify the resignation to the HO in our application?

Thanks

One more question

3. RTI-FPS - The company accountant uses XERO software for payroll and the FPS provided by this software is in XML format (which is not an easily readable file) - Is it okay that I use an online tool for converting XML file to Excel and submit the excel file as FPS or am I required to also provide the XML file in addition to Excel FPS? Thanks

rxhxl wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 23, 2023 3:55 pm

Thank you for your reply.

1. Can you tell what are the chances of being interviewed (genuine entrepreneur test) at the ILR stage (The entrepreneurial team was interviewed in 2019 at the time of application but not at the extension stage)

2. The entrepreneurial team joined an existing business with 3 directors (a total of 5 after the team joined the company). After the extension application, one British director resigned but is still employed by the company. Do we need to clarify the resignation to the HO in our application?

Thanks

1. No. Each case is different so there is no way to evaluated chances
2. No
3. You need to submit the XML version. Whether you provide an Excel version is entirely up to you.

Thanks for your reply, much appreciated.

I understand your comment that each case is different and it is hard to predict whether an interview will occur or not but what is the general trend as per your experience? Is the genuine entrepreneur test (interview) strictly applied at the ILR stage when HO has cleared the applicant twice at both the initial application & extension stages?

`Regards

Also,

2. As mentioned above the entrepreneurial team was awarded the visa on 15 April 2019 but entered the country on 05 May 2019. When is the earliest can we apply for our ILR? 28 days before the visa grant date or entry date.

Thank you

rxhxl wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 23, 2023 6:25 pm

Also,

2. As mentioned above the entrepreneurial team was awarded the visa on 15 April 2019 but entered the country on 05 May 2019. When is the earliest can we apply for our ILR? 28 days before the visa grant date or entry date.

Thank you

28 days before 5th anniversary of grant date. But the period between grant and entry is counted towards the 180 day absence

rxhxl wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 23, 2023 6:07 pm

Thanks for your reply, much appreciated.

I understand your comment that each case is different and it is hard to predict whether an interview will occur or not but what is the general trend as per your experience? Is the genuine entrepreneur test (interview) strictly applied at the ILR stage when HO has cleared the applicant twice at both the initial application & extension stages?

`Regards

There are no trends. There have been all kind of cases reported here

marcnath wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 23, 2023 10:38 pm

rxhxl wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 23, 2023 6:25 pm

Also,

2. As mentioned above the entrepreneurial team was awarded the visa on 15 April 2019 but entered the country on 05 May 2019. When is the earliest can we apply for our ILR? 28 days before the visa grant date or entry date.

Thank you

28 days before 5th anniversary of grant date. But the period between grant and entry is counted towards the 180 day absence

Thanks for your reply @marcnath - it is really appreciated. I have 2 follow up questions

1. It's silly - but if we apply sometime in March 2024 (28 days before visa grant date) > Will the period between March and the visa grant date count towards 180 dat absence period?
2. From visa grant date to April 2020 (one year) - My wife has been absent for 165 days - can this be a problem for her? If so, should we apply her ILR later as our BRP's are valid till the end of next year?

3. Also, we are filing the previous year's amended accounts. I hope this is not an issue?

rxhxl wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 24, 2023 11:27 am

marcnath wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 23, 2023 10:38 pm

rxhxl wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 23, 2023 6:25 pm

Also,

2. As mentioned above the entrepreneurial team was awarded the visa on 15 April 2019 but entered the country on 05 May 2019. When is the earliest can we apply for our ILR? 28 days before the visa grant date or entry date.

Thank you

28 days before 5th anniversary of grant date. But the period between grant and entry is counted towards the 180 day absence

Thanks for your reply @marcnath - it is really appreciated. I have 2 follow up questions

1. It's silly - but if we apply sometime in March 2024 (28 days before visa grant date) > Will the period between March and the visa grant date count towards 180 dat absence period?
2. From visa grant date to April 2020 (one year) - My wife has been absent for 165 days - can this be a problem for her? If so, should we apply her ILR later as our BRP's are valid till the end of next year?

1. No
2. Why should that be a problem. The criteria is 180 days

Hi Admins,

Hope you're well

I have 2 questions

1. The company is amending accounts of the previous year, can this be an issue in ILR?
2. Extension Granted in November 2022 - There are a few employees who joined post my investment in 2021/2022, who completed 12 months but have left the company before November 2023 i.e. did not stay for 12 months in the most recent grant of stay - will I need to collect and present documents for these employees too?

rxhxl wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 04, 2023 8:43 pm

Hi Admins,

Hope you're well

I have 2 questions

1. The company is amending accounts of the previous year, can this be an issue in ILR?
2. Extension Granted in November 2022 - There are a few employees who joined post my investment in 2021/2022, who completed 12 months but have left the company before November 2023 i.e. did not stay for 12 months in the most recent grant of stay - will I need to collect and present documents for these employees too?

1. No.
2. No