Options if visa not extended?

[cbthomas2006]

Hi all, I'm an American working on a Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa, which started in July 2017, and expires in Nov 2020.

I'm currently working as an IT consultant, and so far, I've had difficulties finding the time to hire and train new people, as well as investing the necessary funds to extend the visa. Although there is obviously still time, I'm curious to know anyway: what are the implications for my British LLC if my visa expires, and what options do I have for the money left over in the corporate accounts? In other words, if I don't get a visa extension, what's the best course of action, and what options are permitted?

First of all, would I be forced to shut the company down if I lose my residency rights? Or can I keep it open? If it can stay open, is it possible to continue paying myself from the account, provided I don't reside in the UK or derive any further revenues from the UK?

Could I invest the corporate assets in the stock market, leaving it as a sort of retirement fund, and then withdraw the money years down the line, regardless of where I'm living?

Closing down the company is not ideal due to US tax implications on global income. So, is there any way to avoid this, e.g. putting the company into a dormant state? (And would that be a good idea?)

Other possibilities I've considered:
- Apply for a new tier 1 visa in the same category, in other words, reset and start over rather than apply for a 2-year extension. Obviously this is bad for ILR, but supposing I don't care too much about that, is there any chance the government would approve such an application?
- Establish a foreign company and make a zero-interest business loan to that entity, then either close the UK LLC with nothing left in the account or else let it go dormant indefinitely. But is this allowed?
- Also, if I succeeded in getting a new visa but was left with a gap between validity periods, would I need to set up a new company?

[QSDanik]

Hello CB Thomas.
Company house have nothing to do with your residence permit. You can be be Director even if your visa is finish and you work from America.
If the nature of your work is that you can work from other country you can be director or employee of the company but need to inform to HRMC that you have employees in other country. ( other national)
If your visa finish, you will not pushed to shut your company unless you want to shut. And if you want to shut you can send form to company house to close down company. You can download from from company house website and post along with £10 bank draft fee. And then Bank will get informed from company house they will write you a letter and send you firm to fill. Letter will say that your business account will be close down with 2 month of this letter if you wan to send benficiary account to detail please fill detail in this format tandem sent return to bank. If you don't send form with new benficiary bank detail. Money will be retained by bank or GOV etc. When you return from to bank. They will transfer your business money to your personal account if you give your personal bank detail as beneficiary.

[marcnath]

Hi all, I'm an American working on a Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa, which started in July 2017, and expires in Nov 2020.

I'm currently working as an IT consultant,

Have you checked to ensure that this is not in violation of your visa conditions ?

and so far, I've had difficulties finding the time to hire and train new people, as well as investing the necessary funds to extend the visa.

Not sure what you mean by difficulties in investing ? Again, depending on what that means, you may be in violation of your visa conditions.

Although there is obviously still time, I'm curious to know anyway: what are the implications for my British LLC if my visa expires, and what options do I have for the money left over in the corporate accounts? In other words, if I don't get a visa extension, what's the best course of action, and what options are permitted?


First of all, would I be forced to shut the company down if I lose my residency rights? Or can I keep it open? If it can stay open, is it possible to continue paying myself from the account, provided I don't reside in the UK or derive any further revenues from the UK?

Could I invest the corporate assets in the stock market, leaving it as a sort of retirement fund, and then withdraw the money years down the line, regardless of where I'm living?

As @QSDanik replied, UK is very liberal on business ownership and maintenance. There are very few restrictions. You may have more of a problem maintaining your bank account if you are not in country due to money laundering and know your customer restrictions. But that is between you and the bank.

Closing down the company is not ideal due to US tax implications on global income. So, is there any way to avoid this, e.g. putting the company into a dormant state? (And would that be a good idea?)

Yes, you can declare the company as dormant after it has stopped trading by informing HMRC and the Companies house

Other possibilities I've considered:
- Apply for a new tier 1 visa in the same category, in other words, reset and start over rather than apply for a 2-year extension. Obviously this is bad for ILR, but supposing I don't care too much about that, is there any chance the government would approve such an application?

Any new application will be automatically evaluated as an extension, so you cannot do this.

- Establish a foreign company and make a zero-interest business loan to that entity, then either close the UK LLC with nothing left in the account or else let it go dormant indefinitely. But is this allowed?

Sure

- Also, if I succeeded in getting a new visa but was left with a gap between validity periods, would I need to set up a new company?

No

[cbthomas2006]

Company house have nothing to do with your residence permit. You can be be Director even if your visa is finish and you work from America.

Thanks, that's encouraging.

[cbthomas2006]

Have you checked to ensure that this is not in violation of your visa conditions ?

Not sure what you mean by difficulties in investing ? Again, depending on what that means, you may be in violation of your visa conditions.

Not in violation, no - I work C2C, which is the only route permitted for this visa.

The only up-front requirement for the Entrepreneur visa is to prove availability of funds to invest, which I have. What I meant is I'm struggling to find ways to make a useful investment in this line of work due to the low overhead. In the worst case, I guess I could buy an office space or something. I had another gig lined up which would require substantial equipment purchases, but it's dependent on a friend who has since moved away.

Anyway, thanks for the other input.

[marcnath]

Have you checked to ensure that this is not in violation of your visa conditions ?

Not sure what you mean by difficulties in investing ? Again, depending on what that means, you may be in violation of your visa conditions.

Not in violation, no - I work C2C, which is the only route permitted for this visa.

Being C2C on its own does not make it ok. The guideline has a few good questions that you can check. Assuming you are offering consulting based on your personal expertise you may be at risk.

The only up-front requirement for the Entrepreneur visa is to prove availability of funds to invest, which I have. What I meant is I'm struggling to find ways to make a useful investment in this line of work due to the low overhead. In the worst case, I guess I could buy an office space or something. I had another gig lined up which would require substantial equipment purchases, but it's dependent on a friend who has since moved away.

Anyway, thanks for the other input.

investment is primarily transferring the money to your business account. There is no need to spend it all

[cbthomas2006]

Being C2C on its own does not make it ok. The guideline has a few good questions that you can check. Assuming you are offering consulting based on your personal expertise you may be at risk.

Can you give an example / link? I set up an LLC, I'm working for myself.

investment is primarily transferring the money to your business account. There is no need to spend it all

I've read other posts and articles that say HMRC is cracking down on this practice (just transferring £200K in 90 days prior to visa expiration) and asking for proof that the money has actually been spent on tangible business expenses.

[marcnath]

Being C2C on its own does not make it ok. The guideline has a few good questions that you can check. Assuming you are offering consulting based on your personal expertise you may be at risk.

Can you give an example / link? I set up an LLC, I'm working for myself.

Immigration rule 245DE states:

(iii) no employment, other than working for the business or businesses which he has established, joined or taken over, but working for such business(es) does not include anything undertaken by the applicant pursuant to a contract of service or apprenticeship, whether express or implied and whether oral or written, with another business,

Pg 55 of the Guidance document expands on this. That includes this condition:

You may not, however, be considered to be working for your own business if the work you undertake amounts to no more than employment by another business...

The highlighted part is what individual consultants can very easily run afoul of.

There is more detail there.

investment is primarily transferring the money to your business account. There is no need to spend it all

I've read other posts and articles that say HMRC is cracking down on this practice (just transferring £200K in 90 days prior to visa expiration) and asking for proof that the money has actually been spent on tangible business expenses.

Yes, you are right in that HO (not HMRC - they have nothing to do with this) will frown upon money put in just before extension. But
1) There is no reason to wait until just before extension. You are expected to maintain access to those funds you showed right until it in invested - so it is not like you can do much else with the money.
2) If you hire two employees, you will have, at the minimum, salary expenses.