Call us on +44 20 3384 3075

English
Chinese
Russian

22 Jun Changes to Tier 1 visa category

Posted on June 22, 2018 in Investing in the UK by
0 Likes

Following the recent Statement of Changes in Immigration rules presented to Parliament on 15 June 2018, please see below for a summary of the changes relating to Tier 1 (Entrepreneur), Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) and Tier 1 (Investor):

Tier 1 (Entrepreneur)

Two main amendments are being made:

Making clear the circumstances in which legal representatives must provide letters confirming signatures.
Restoring a provision for accountants to confirm that investment has been made on applicant’s behalf;

Tier 1 (Exceptional talent)

The following changes are being made to this category:

Those in the fashion industry who are operating leading designer fashion businesses will be included in the endorsement of arts applicants. These applicants will be assessed by the British Fashion Council operating within the endorsement remit of Arts Council England.

Other changes are being made to the criteria for endorsement by each Designated Competent Body, at those bodies’ requests. These include:

Changes to the evidential requirements for applicants holding a peer-reviewed research fellowship;
Changes to the criteria and list of eligible awards for applicants in film and television; and
Changes for digital technology applicants to reflect the rebranding of “Tech City UK” as “Tech Nation”.

Croatian nationals:

Amendments are being made so that endorsements for Croatian nationals no longer count against the number of allocated endorsements available to each Designated Competent Body. This is because Croatian nationals will no longer need to apply for work authorisation in this category as mentioned above.

Tier 1 (Investor)

Applicants are required to maintain their investments. A change is being made to clarify that, while applicants may withdraw interest and dividend payments generated by their qualifying investments from their portfolios, they may not do so if these were generated before the applicant purchased the portfolio.

As evidence of their investment, applicants must currently submit portfolio reports signed off by a financial institution regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

A technical change is being made to require institutions to confirm that the funds have only been invested in qualifying investments, and that no loan has been secured against those funds. This change will put a further obligation on financial firms to scrutinise the suitability of applicants’ investments, in addition to their own due diligence.

Please note: The statement of changes shall take effect from 6 July 2018.*

The content of this article is for general use and information only. Since each case should be prepared on its own merit and in light of the constant amendments to the Immigration Rules, it is important to note that the information provided must not be relied upon unless Migra & Co has either given written consent or has been officially engaged in relation to a specific immigration matter. As a result, Migra & Co will take no responsibility for any damage, cost or loss resulting from relying on the information contained in this article, blog and website.