Tier 1 Extension Refused after 5 Months.Need suggestions

[awan905]

Hi, I just came across this forum last night and after doing a lot of research found this forum to be very useful and helpful (I should have found this before).
I am on tier 1 visa and applied for extension in March 2015 which got refused with two dependents. My time line is below and I applied through a solicitor.
Applied: 24th March 2015
Fee deducted: 6th April 2015
Interview letter: 16th May
Interview given: 28th June (here I have seen number of people on this forum posting the interview questions, in my interview I noticed that most of the questions were same but some of them were only related to my businesses)
IHC Refund: Got refund of £600 on 13th Sept (I paid £1800 for myself and two dependents). I would like to mention here that partial refund doesnot mean successful application.
Refusal Letter: Got refusal letter on 14th Sept with 14 calendar days for AR.
Before going on refusal reasons I would like to give my back ground for better understanding. When I applied for tier 1 initial application in Feb 2013 and while it was in process, I found a commercial place where I could start a new business. That commercial place was in a very prime location and not to lose the place; me and two others guys bought the lease from council through a solicitor. We paid the amount (60% myself and above 50K) from our personal accounts to solicitor’s account. Here I would like to mention that we were also in process of getting the company registered (Company A) and opening a business bank account which takes about 5 to 10 days. If we would have waited to transfer money from personal account to business account (once it would opened) then we might lose the commercial place because number of other buyers was interested to buy the lease. Due to this payment did not go into business account directly. We started the business where I generated 3 full time jobs lasted for more than year each (my business partners also generated separate 6 jobs in this business but they are UK national). In Feb 2015 we have had some business clashes and I resigned from company A, however in Jan 2015 I already started my 2nd company (Company B, I am the only director and provides research services), in this company I again invested above 50K which were paid from my personal account to business account in 6 different transactions in first 3 months. Company B again generated a full time job which is still on going. Right now I am running the company B and also started Company C in Feb 2016 (though I did not submit any thing related to company C to Home office).
Now coming to refusal reasons which are below........Home office Refusal reasons and after that I have put my comments.

Reason 1. Paragraph 46-SD(a)(iii): Director’s loan must be shown in identifiable transactions in bank for company A and company B.
My comments:-
A: The issue with company A is that the money was paid to a solicitor and not directly into the business account. My solicitor asked me to mainly focus the application on Company A because this business is full filling the requirements. For Company A I submitted all the documents which are asked by UKVI however here business bank statement doensot show the transfer because it was don’t done through it. So I submitted the letter from the solicitor through which we bought the place and personal bank statement showing the transfer but home office did not accept this.
B: With Company B, I submitted the accountant letter (only) which my solicitor asked to produce, but here I did not attached the director loan agreement and bank statement which my solicitor asked not to do so (Because solicitor was mainly focusing on company A). Though I asked her that it is better if we attached these things but she said no.

Reason 2. Paragraph 46-SD(g)(ii): No Evidence of being director of an active business for company B and no Corporation Tax proof for company B.
My comments:-
The Home Office have made an error here, because I did submit evidence of being director of Company B, which is an active company. Plus I also submitted the Receipt of Cooperation Tax, which has the full company name,address, amount of corporation tax which I paid and the UTR number.

Reason 3. Paragraph 245D(c)(ii)(2): investments exclude purchase of existing company assets for company B.
My comments:-
In accountant letter which I attached, he mentioned that the amount which I injected into company B, that was utilised for working capital and for accumulation of fixture and fittings. So home office though that I used this money to pay the previous business owner in order to get the previous assets, however company B is new business and I bought new fixture and fittings such as computer, tables, chairs, printer, software’s etc and these are all new things bought from Tesco, Asda, private software developers , etc. This can be seen on business bank statement.

Reason 4. Paragraph 46-SD(a)(iii): No director’s loan agreement for Company B.
My comments:-
Because of the issues with the Company A investment, the Home Office have also reviewed evidence from Company B. As mentioned above I did not submit the director load agreement and bank statement for company B as per solicitor’s suggestion.

Reason 5. Paragraph 46-SD(h)(i): Evidence of PAYE, the record which I submitted doesnot show the employee names, date of joining and leaving and amount of NI and tax paid.
My comments:-
The Home Office have made another error in stating that your only option is to evidence PAYE via Real Time payments. There is a choice here and I have evidenced this via Employment Payment Records, which is sufficient for the rule. The documents which I submitted they have full list of employee name, date of joining and leaving plus NI and tax which they paid.


Now from above I can see that my solicitor did a blunder and did not read the home office guidance and it is also my mistake that I did not check guidelines and fully trusted the solicitor. At extension time I was busy in setting up a Company C, so I was busy in that and did not give personal time to my application.
Home office has given me 14 days for AR and I need the comments of you guys that what you think. I am now doing my own research and also contacted a different solicitor whom I will meet on 19th for this issue. So should I go for a new application or go for AR and submit additional documents. Such as Company B bank statement, director loan agreement, also another accountant letter clarifying that the fixture and fitting were new. In refusal letter they have mentioned about EVIDENTAL FLEXIBITY. I am coping the exact wording which home office has written at the end of refusal letter.
In making the decision to refuse your application we have considered paragraph 245AA which explains the actions that we may take if specified documents are not submitted with an application.
Your application has a missing specified document. Full details of this document appeared earlier in the letter.
The immigration Rules for evidential flexibility only cover missing documents from a sequence of documents that have been provided with the application, such as one bank statement missing from series, or missing information from documents which have been provided. Therefore in line with paragraph 245AA(b), as the missing specified document does not fall with in series of documents that you have provided, we have reached a decision based on the evidence provided in the application.
Regards

[awan905]

In addition to above my visa expired on 28th March, but I applied on 24th March 2015. If I go for AR and if that will be refused then can I got for JR and if that will be also refused, then can I go for fresh application or do I need to do for fresh application first without going for AR and JR

[kingraja]

Sorry to hear that but one thing is positive at least they replied someone after interview
If you list the documents you submitted with your application then people can help you, may be you submitted wrong format documents but one thing is sure that your's solicitor made so many errors.

[awan905]

Documents for Company A:-
Personal bank statement showing transaction, solicitor’s letter confirming the amount was paid for company A, 2 years annual accounts which shows the director loan which I gave to company A, accountant letter, payslips, P32,Employee History Record, Employee detail record showing join date and when they left, FPS (real time submission record), 1st year annual account for company B which I started in Jan 2015, UTR Number of company A, Cooperation Tax submission receipt of company B which shows UTR number , address, amount paid and name. Latest bank statement for company B, Last month’s bank statement of company A whom I was director, Company house appointment reports of company A and B, Solicitor’s letter and my cover letter explaining that why investment did not go in company A bank account at first, marketing material of company B, employer liability insurance certificate, Membership of professional body (whom I am member as this is requirement for my company B),Director loan agreement for company A, Maintenance funds statement, degree, personal ID’s, child birth certificate, marriage certificate, application forms.

Basically they did not award me 40 point, 20points for investment proof (if I might have submitted company B bank statements showing the funds which I invested and director loan then they might have awarded this); and 20 points for employee record (this I submitted but home office did not check full record).

[kingraja]

Have you invested 50k in your company B as well?

[awan905]

If you read my first post I did mention that I invested more than 50K in Company B in 6 installments over the first 3 months,from next month I was also investing more in company B and C (which I started 6 months ago) and also started advertising a 2nd job vacancy for Company B but due to this I have to hold this.

[kingraja]

Yes I read it above just wanted to confirm, they will never award you point if you are not investing the way they want you to invest, in your company b you are going on the right path the only way to invest is to transfer money from your personal account to business account & then spend from there for your business, this is not required for normal businessman who already have immigration status but people on tier 1 entrepreneur visa they have to follow immigration rules, you can go for AR but I don't think they will award you point for investment but they will award you points for being register as an director because you submitted them current appointment report for both companies, doing this you will get some time for fresh application & then you can discuss your case with some experience solicitors.

[Mrchaany]

Ukvi is quit right regarding your refusal points.
1 I agree with ukvi director loan must be shown in identifiable transaction in bank accounts and in annual accounts.
2 if have not provided current appointment reports for company B so ukvi is again right to refuse you.
3 investment at commercial property is not allowed at tier 1 enterprenuer.
4 yes I again agree with ukvi your company B director loan agreement must be provided.
5 RTIs PFS is the only acceptable documents for paye of your employee.

Note. Everything mentioned at the tier 1 entrepreneur guidance. This is only responsibility to read and check your visa rules every time and please don't trust on solicitors 100%.
My advice is only fresh application can save your.

[awan905]

Thanks for the reply and for COMPANY B, I invested the money directly from my personal bank account to business account from there, company paid the wages, service hired for set up, payment of software developers and purchase of fixture and fittings from tesco, asda, etc. For company A, I know it is difficult to get points but for company B, I have my personal bank statement showing funds transferred and also they can be checked on business bank statement. I am first thinking to submit these additional bank statements with director loan agreement to proof that the investment was done in the way they asked to do. Let see what would the reply and as a backup I will also prepare for fresh application because I always keep a minimum balance of 5k and above in my personal account, because as a businessman I need this money in emergency.

[awan905]

Ukvi is quit right regarding your refusal points.
1 I agree with ukvi director loan must be shown in identifiable transaction in bank accounts and in annual accounts.
2 if have not provided current appointment reports for company B so ukvi is again right to refuse you.
3 investment at commercial property is not allowed at tier 1 enterprenuer.
4 yes I again agree with ukvi your company B director loan agreement must be provided.
5 RTIs PFS is the only acceptable documents for paye of your employee.

Note. Everything mentioned at the tier 1 entrepreneur guidance. This is only responsibility to read and check your visa rules every time and please don't trust on solicitors 100%.
My advice is only fresh application can save your.

Thanks for the comments however I did submit the current appointment reports for both companies A and B, but I think they missed the company B report and did not check it...........this is UKVI mistake. I remember in interview they asked me question about this that why you registered company B and they also asked same question for company C about which I didnot submit anything (I was setting up the firm and only got the firm and bank account registered).

Further I did ask the solicitor for director loan and bank statements for company B but that is my mistake that I fully trusted on her. What she suggest to keep application simple and not to make the case complex by not showing further investment.....she was wrong here.
For company A and B about employment I submitted all the documents but I think caseworker didnot check them and it is clearly UKVI mistake. What do you think will they accept additional documents in AR because they gave me this option or should I go for new application.

[irana2015]

Are the following details correct have you applied in 2015 or 2016?


Applied: 24th March 2015
Fee deducted: 6th April 2015
Interview letter: 16th May
...............

[Mrchaany]

Wait for other users and moderators to comments
Yes you have right of AR and new application

[awan905]

Hi, I just came across this forum last night and after doing a lot of research found this forum to be very useful and helpful (I should have found this before).
I am on tier 1 visa and applied for extension in March 2015 which got refused with two dependents. My time line is below and I applied through a solicitor.
Applied: 24th March 2015
Fee deducted: 6th April 2015
Interview letter: 16th May
Interview given: 28th June (here I have seen number of people on this forum posting the interview questions, in my interview I noticed that most of the questions were same but some of them were only related to my businesses)
IHC Refund: Got refund of £600 on 13th Sept (I paid £1800 for myself and two dependents). I would like to mention here that partial refund doesnot mean successful application.
Refusal Letter: Got refusal letter on 14th Sept with 14 calendar days for AR.
Before going on refusal reasons I would like to give my back ground for better understanding. When I applied for tier 1 initial application in Feb 2013 and while it was in process, I found a commercial place where I could start a new business. That commercial place was in a very prime location and not to lose the place; me and two others guys bought the lease from council through a solicitor. We paid the amount (60% myself and above 50K) from our personal accounts to solicitor’s account. Here I would like to mention that we were also in process of getting the company registered (Company A) and opening a business bank account which takes about 5 to 10 days. If we would have waited to transfer money from personal account to business account (once it would opened) then we might lose the commercial place because number of other buyers was interested to buy the lease. Due to this payment did not go into business account directly. We started the business where I generated 3 full time jobs lasted for more than year each (my business partners also generated separate 6 jobs in this business but they are UK national). In Feb 2015 we have had some business clashes and I resigned from company A, however in Jan 2015 I already started my 2nd company (Company B, I am the only director and provides research services), in this company I again invested above 50K which were paid from my personal account to business account in 6 different transactions in first 3 months. Company B again generated a full time job which is still on going. Right now I am running the company B and also started Company C in Feb 2016 (though I did not submit any thing related to company C to Home office).
Now coming to refusal reasons which are below........Home office Refusal reasons and after that I have put my comments.

Reason 1. Paragraph 46-SD(a)(iii): Director’s loan must be shown in identifiable transactions in bank for company A and company B.
My comments:-
A: The issue with company A is that the money was paid to a solicitor and not directly into the business account. My solicitor asked me to mainly focus the application on Company A because this business is full filling the requirements. For Company A I submitted all the documents which are asked by UKVI however here business bank statement doensot show the transfer because it was don’t done through it. So I submitted the letter from the solicitor through which we bought the place and personal bank statement showing the transfer but home office did not accept this.
B: With Company B, I submitted the accountant letter (only) which my solicitor asked to produce, but here I did not attached the director loan agreement and bank statement which my solicitor asked not to do so (Because solicitor was mainly focusing on company A). Though I asked her that it is better if we attached these things but she said no.

Reason 2. Paragraph 46-SD(g)(ii): No Evidence of being director of an active business for company B and no Corporation Tax proof for company B.
My comments:-
The Home Office have made an error here, because I did submit evidence of being director of Company B, which is an active company. Plus I also submitted the Receipt of Cooperation Tax, which has the full company name,address, amount of corporation tax which I paid and the UTR number.

Reason 3. Paragraph 245D(c)(ii)(2): investments exclude purchase of existing company assets for company B.
My comments:-
In accountant letter which I attached, he mentioned that the amount which I injected into company B, that was utilised for working capital and for accumulation of fixture and fittings. So home office though that I used this money to pay the previous business owner in order to get the previous assets, however company B is new business and I bought new fixture and fittings such as computer, tables, chairs, printer, software’s etc and these are all new things bought from Tesco, Asda, private software developers , etc. This can be seen on business bank statement.

Reason 4. Paragraph 46-SD(a)(iii): No director’s loan agreement for Company B.
My comments:-
Because of the issues with the Company A investment, the Home Office have also reviewed evidence from Company B. As mentioned above I did not submit the director load agreement and bank statement for company B as per solicitor’s suggestion.

Reason 5. Paragraph 46-SD(h)(i): Evidence of PAYE, the record which I submitted doesnot show the employee names, date of joining and leaving and amount of NI and tax paid.
My comments:-
The Home Office have made another error in stating that your only option is to evidence PAYE via Real Time payments. There is a choice here and I have evidenced this via Employment Payment Records, which is sufficient for the rule. The documents which I submitted they have full list of employee name, date of joining and leaving plus NI and tax which they paid.


Now from above I can see that my solicitor did a blunder and did not read the home office guidance and it is also my mistake that I did not check guidelines and fully trusted the solicitor. At extension time I was busy in setting up a Company C, so I was busy in that and did not give personal time to my application.
Home office has given me 14 days for AR and I need the comments of you guys that what you think. I am now doing my own research and also contacted a different solicitor whom I will meet on 19th for this issue. So should I go for a new application or go for AR and submit additional documents. Such as Company B bank statement, director loan agreement, also another accountant letter clarifying that the fixture and fitting were new. In refusal letter they have mentioned about EVIDENTAL FLEXIBITY. I am coping the exact wording which home office has written at the end of refusal letter.
In making the decision to refuse your application we have considered paragraph 245AA which explains the actions that we may take if specified documents are not submitted with an application.
Your application has a missing specified document. Full details of this document appeared earlier in the letter.
The immigration Rules for evidential flexibility only cover missing documents from a sequence of documents that have been provided with the application, such as one bank statement missing from series, or missing information from documents which have been provided. Therefore in line with paragraph 245AA(b), as the missing specified document does not fall with in series of documents that you have provided, we have reached a decision based on the evidence provided in the application.
Regards

Oh sorry typo mistake, I applied in 2016 not 2015.

Applied: 24th March 2016
Fee deducted: 6th April 2016

Thanks for rectification

[awan905]

Wait for other users and moderators to comments
Yes you have right of AR and new application

Thanks and just looking for comments especially about this that can I submit additional documents such a director loan agreement for company B, bank statements for company B and accountant letter with clarification about fixture and fitting.

[awan905]

Kindly dont send me private messages because I am not allowed to view private message (new user), you can ask a question here and I will be happy answer it.

Also I applied in 2016 not 2015, by mistake I put 2015 instead of 2016.

[Anna2016]

Dear friend,
I am very sorry to hear that .Did you ask the help from local MP after long time waiting ? I got big shock why home office wanted to interview you and made decision only based on your original documents. What 's the significant for interview ?

[helpingperson]

I agree with Anna about Interview part, there is no mentioning of interview in your refusal? What was interview for as Home Office could have refused you without interview?

[awan905]

Anna2016 and helpingperson, thanks for the comments and it is kind of shock for me as well that I submitted application on 24th March 2016 and after 5 and half months they rejected and also took the interview. In my application though they are right about the first point because that is my mistake due to having full trust on solicitor. However further points which they mentioned for refusal are baseless.

In start of august I lost my father in law, he died due to cancer. Me and my wife could not do any thing and due to home office delay we were unable to go on his funeral back home. I called several time to home office but they always have a stupid answer to withdraw application. I even wrote a letter with medical records and sent to home office in mid of july about my father in law's condition but they did not bother to even reply.

I was thinking to contact MP in Oct but got a reply last week about refusal.

What I can say is that there are number of people they are misusing the tier 1 entrepreneur visa, and due to them genuine people are suffering. Home office is also treating is like MILKING COWS, and they know this very well that if they will simply reject the application we will apply again and they will again get more money from us.

In my case except the first point, the reset of refusal points are very silly. Such as they are saying that I didnot submit current appointment report which i did, also they are saying that I didnot submit UTR for my Company B, however in same refusal letter they are mentioning that I submitted the HMRC Letter (this is the receipt copy of my company B corporation tax which I paid, it has tax number, company name, tax amount, address and date). For employees they are saying that they cannt check that when each employee joined and left the company, however they are also accepting that I submitted the full record in which I attached each and every record of the employee showing the names, date of joining and leaving, number of hours, pay, tax and NI.

Well lets see on 19th I am meeting a solicitor to discuss this further and will update on this forum.

[Anna2016]

Dear friend,
I wish everything is going smoothly , Don't worry too much.

[awan905]

Dear friend,
I wish everything is going smoothly , Don't worry too much.

Thanks and actually the problem is time which is being wasted by home office. Now due to this I am even holding my further investment and job. This is really frustrating that instead of spending this energy on work we are spending in visa application which is like doing a PhD.

[zimba]

It is astonishing how you set yourself up for disaster. Three companies ?? Are you kidding me ?
Poor business practises and decision making, not reading the Tier 1E guide, relying solely on a solicitor, thinking that HO will accept alternative evidence is the reason why you failed to extend.

All the evidence they want from you is quite specific and need to have the right information in the correct format they require (alternative evidence HAS NO VALUE). FPS reports should show joining/leaving dates, company accounts must show DL under your name, DL agreement must be provided exactly as they require, CT bill is not acceptable evidence for being registered for corporation tax, you cannot purchase a business from someone else)

[awan905]

It is astonishing how you set yourself up for disaster. Three companies ?? Are you kidding me ?
Poor business practises and decision making, not reading the Tier 1E guide, relying solely on a solicitor, thinking that HO will accept alternative evidence is the reason why you failed to extend.

All the evidence they want from you is quite specific and need to have the right information in the correct format they require (alternative evidence HAS NO VALUE). FPS reports should show joining/leaving dates, company accounts must show DL under your name, DL agreement must be provided exactly as they require, CT bill is not acceptable evidence for being registered for corporation tax, you cannot purchase a business from someone else)

I do accept my mistake that I fully trusted this lady,because I was quite busy in businesses which are doing quite good now. However when I did my own research in last couple of days what I found that my case was simple but she made it complex. Also I started totally new companies and businesses and didnot buy from anyone else. The fixture and fittings which accountant mentioned in letter are totally new one which every business needs in order to run such a table, chair, computers, etc. But homeoffice though that I bought this from some one else meaning an old business but this is not the case. Also about the cooperation tax receipt, it does have my company tax number on it.

I have seen that you are quite experienced and will appreciate your suggestions in this regard. I am meeting my accountant and another solicitor today (howevr this time I will be doing my own research and will discuss every thing on this forum) and will update what they suggest.

I will appreciate your recommendations.

[n8net]

I am sorry to hear about your case.

I get furious when some one in position of power such as your solicitor fails to do their job, and yet charge ridiculous sum of money.

You really need to name and shame them here, so one one goes near them, also pursue a claim against Legal Ombudsman for the incompetency which has resulted in your life being affected in number of ways.

as for HO, I think your best chance is to submit an out-of-TIME application with all the new evidence as per Tier 1 guidance. since you have genuinely invested money and created jobs (it is just that you were unable to prove to HO) your new application may stand a chance. (explain in cover letter why ur application failed first time)

all the best.

[noajthan]

I am sorry to hear about your case.

I get furious when some one in position of power such as your solicitor fails to do their job, and yet charge ridiculous sum of money.

You really need to name and shame them here, so one one goes near them, also pursue a claim against Legal Ombudsman for the incompetency which has resulted in your life being affected in number of ways.

...

all the best.

Noone will be named and shamed here - however deserving they may be.
OP needs to follow up with concerned regulatory authorities (SRA, Law Society & etc).

[awan905]

Just finished meeting with few of lawyers today about my case and conclusion is this that my initial application is still strong though the money didnot go via bank but still it went to very reputable law firm through which we bought the premises lease and due to circumstances and limited time we were unable to open the bank account. Most of them said the same thing that in AR, home office will not accept any thing and then I have to go for JR. In JR and in front of jude home office cannt defend the case because even at that time when I bought the lease there was no such rule about payment to business bank and then forward. However the only problem in JR is this that the legal team of home office will most probably try to settle it before court or will try to further waste the time by delaying the appeals (which is very common practice followed by home office). Due to all this JR can take 3 to 6 month on top of 1 month for AR.

Now 2nd option is this that I submit a new application and with that I attach all the additional documents including the bank statement and loan agreement of company B and submit it, with further correction of Full time submission for employees.

I am thinking to go for 2nd option because here I will be saving the time and will be attaching all the additional documents which they mentioned are missing. What do you guys think about this?