T1 E Guidance 04-14

TIER 1
(ENTREPRENEUR)
Version 04/2014
Tier 1 (Entrepreneur)
of the Points Based System –
Policy Guidance
This document gives the policy guidance for Entrepreneurs

coming to the UK under Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) of the Points
Based System, and should be read with paragraphs 245D
to 245 DF of the Immigration Rules (these can be found on
the gov.uk website at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/
immigration-rules).
It is correct at the time of publication but may change, so

you should always check that you have downloaded the right
version by going to our website.
For more information on how to apply, go to the visa and

immigration section of the gov.uk website which can be
found at: www.gov.uk/visas-immigration.
This guidance
is to be used
for applications
made on or after
6 April 2014
Contents
Introduction 1
General information on making an application 1
Self-assessment 1
Date of application 1
When should you apply 1
Verification and other checks 2
Outcome of the decision 2
Administrative review (entry clearance applications only) 2
Appeal Rights (in-country applications) 3
Change of circumstances 3
Documentary evidence 3
Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) overview of terms and conditions 4
Length of leave 4
Eligibility to apply in the UK 5
Care Arrangements for Children 5
Private Foster Care Arrangements 6
Conditions of stay 6
Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) - points scoring 6
Points scoring requirements 6
Attributes for initial entry 7
Attributes table for initial applications 8
Genuine Entrepreneur Test 9
Entrepreneur teams 9
Claiming points for attributes 10

Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) Policy Guidance version 04/2014 page i of ii
Available funds - all applicants 13
Attributes for extension applications 15
Entrepreneur teams 16
Claiming points for attributes 16
Evidence of the amount of money available to invest 19
Additional evidence for third-party funding 22
Money that has been invested in business 23
Evidence of registration as self-employed or as a director – extension applications only 26
Evidence of current registration as self-employed or as a director 27
Evidence of graduate level occupation 28
Employment creation 29
English language requirement 32
English language assessment 32
National of a majority English speaking country 33
English language test 34
Degree taught in English 35
Maintenance (funds) 37
Maintenance requirement – all applications 37
Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) - Indefinite Leave to Remain 40
Annex A - Glossary of Terms and Further Information 41
Annex B - Administrative Review 48
Annex C - Verification and other checks 52
Annex D - Additional evidence for sponsored students 54
Annex E - Templates 55
Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) Policy Guidance version 04/2014 page ii of ii

Introduction
1. The Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) category of the Points Based System is for those investing in the
United Kingdom by setting up or taking over, and being actively involved in the running of one
or more businesses in the United Kingdom (UK).
2. This document provides guidance on Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) policy. It will be subject to change
and should be read together with the relevant paragraphs of the Immigration Rules.
3. The section of the Immigration Rules titled General Grounds for Refusal will also apply
to you. This means that your application may be refused for other reasons (such as your
previous immigration history). Further information is available on our website at: www.gov.uk/
government/publications/general-grounds-for-refusals-rfl03.
4. In this document, ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ refer to the Home Office. ‘You’ and ‘your’ refer to the
person making the application.
5. When we refer to a grant of leave, we mean permission stay in the UK.

• If you apply from overseas, you are applying for entry clearance.
• If you apply from within the UK, you are applying for further leave to remain.
General information on making an application

Applying outside the UK (Entry Clearance) Applying inside the UK (Initial or Extension
application)
Application form at: www.gov.uk/tier-1-entrepre- Application form at: www.gov.uk/tier-1-entrepre-
neur/apply neur
Self-assessment
6. The online calculator helps you assess whether your application is likely to be successful, and
whether your qualification is likely to meet the English language requirements. The online
calculator is on our website at: www.points.homeoffice.gov.uk/gui-migrant-jsf/SelfAssessment/
SelfAssessment.faces.
7. The results show the possible points you could score, they do not guarantee your application
will be successful. We make a decision after giving full consideration to your application and
evidence.
Date of application
You are outside the UK You are inside the UK
the date of application is the date that you pay the date of application is the date of posting or
your application fee which is the date shown on date delivered by courier to the Home Office.
your payment receipt.
When should you apply

8. You will need to send us documentary evidence and you should check that you have
everything needed before making your application. In some cases you must send us
documents dating back some time.
9. If you are in the UK we encourage you to apply at least a month before your existing leave
expires. If you apply much earlier than this you risk having a shortfall in leave if you choose to
apply for settlement. This is because any further grant of leave is given from the date that we
make the decision, not the date your leave expires.
Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) Policy Guidance version 04/2014 Page 1 of 56

10. Changes to applications from overstayers: Applications for further leave to remain under
the Points Based System decided on or after 1 October 2012 will fall for refusal if you have
overstayed for more than 28 days, unless there were exceptional circumstances which
prevented you from applying within the 28 day period. The 28 day period of overstaying is
calculated from the latest of:
• the end of the last period of leave to enter or remain granted;

• the end of any extension of leave under sections 3C or 3D of the Immigration Act
1971; or
• the point a written notice of invalidity is deemed to have been received, in accordance
with paragraph 34C or 34CA of the Immigration Rules, in relation to an in-time
application for further leave to remain.
If there are exceptional circumstances which prevented you from applying in time you must
submit evidence of the exceptional circumstances with your application. The threshold for what
constitutes ‘exceptional circumstances’ is high and will depend on the individual circumstances
of the case, but for example may include delays resulting from unexpected or unforeseeable
circumstances such as the following:
• serious illness which meant that you or your representative were unable to submit the
application in time (where supported by appropriate medical documentation);
• travel or postal delays which meant that you or your representative were unable to
submit the application in time;
• inability to provide necessary documents. This would only apply to exceptional or
unavoidable circumstances beyond your control, such as the Home Office being
at fault in the loss of, or delay in returning, travel documents, or delay in obtaining
replacement documents following loss as a result of theft, fire or flood (where
supported by evidence of the date of loss and the date replacement documents were
sought).
11. You should not make plans to travel outside of the Common Travel Area whilst your application
is under consideration. Where you request your passport back from us in order to travel prior
to a decision being reached on your application, your application will be treated as being
withdrawn in accordance with Paragraph 34J of the Immigration Rules.
Verification and other checks
12. We may want to check the supporting documents you send with your application. You must
ensure that all the evidence comes from a source that can be clearly identified and that we can
independently confirm it as being genuine. More information is given in Annex C.
Outcome of the decision

13. We will notify you of the decision and return documents by Royal Mail Recorded Delivery. If
you require your documents to be returned by Royal Mail Special Delivery, you must provide
a pre-paid Special Delivery envelope that is large enough for your documents with your
application.
Administrative review (entry clearance applications only)

14. If we refuse an application for entry clearance and you think that a mistake has been made,
you can ask us to check our decision. This is known as an ‘administrative review’. Full
guidance on administrative reviews can be found at Annex B.
Appeal Rights (in-country applications)
15. If we refuse an application for leave to remain and you think that a mistake has been made,
you may be able to appeal against our decision. Details on how and if you can appeal against
our decision will be included with your refusal letter.
Change of circumstances
To change your: If your current grant of leave was made by

• contact details; or means of a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP),
• details of your criminal convictions; or to change your:
• representative’s details; or
• dependants details • name
• date of birth
complete a change of circumstances form • nationality
which is available on our website at: www.gov. • gender
uk/change-circumstances-visa-brp. • appearance
We will confirm that we have noted your you must send a new application on form NTL
change of circumstances in a letter. You should or TOC. Please see the related link: changes
keep this letter with the original documents to BRP available on our website at: www.gov.
from your application. uk/transfer-visa.
16. You, or any member of the public, can report illegal immigrants and other immigration offences
via our website www.gov.uk/report-immigration-crime.
Documentary evidence
17. You must provide all of the documents to support your application when you submit it. These
documents must be originals (not copies) unless stated otherwise. We only accept the
documents specified in the Immigration Rules and covered in this guidance. We will not
consider unrelated evidence when calculating the points score.
18. If you have submitted specified documents in which:

• Some of the documents in a sequence have been omitted (for example, if one bank
statement from a series is missing); or
• A document is in the wrong format (for example, if a letter is not on letterhead paper
as specified); or
• A document is a copy and not an original document; or
• A document does not contain all of the specified information;
we may contact you or your representative in writing, and request the correct documents. We must
receive the requested documents at the address specified in the request within 7 working days of
the date of the request. We will not ask for further information where:
• we do not anticipate that a correction of minor errors or omissions will lead to a
successful application because it would be refused for other reasons; or
• where a specified document has been completely omitted.

If you have submitted a specified document that is:
• in the wrong format; or
• a copy and not an original document; or
• which does not contain all of the specified information, but the missing information is
verifiable from:
o other documents submitted with the application; or

o the website of the organistation which issued the document; or
o the website of the appropriate regulatory body;
we may approve your application exceptionally if we are satisfied that the specified documents are
genuine and that you meet all the other requirements. We reserve the right to request the original
documents in the correct format and to refuse applications if the specified documents are not
provided.
Additional evidence for sponsored students

19. If you have been studying in the UK and have been sponsored in your studies by a
Government or international scholarship agency, you must provide us the sponsor’s consent
for you to stay in the UK. Please see Annex D for a further explanation.
Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) overview of terms and conditions

20. The following section explains key features of Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) category. Full details of the
requirements are at paragraph 245D to 245DF of the Immigration Rules.
Length of leave
Type of leave: Length of grant:
Entry clearance Three years plus four

months
Switching (Leave to remain where previous grant of leave was Three years
not as a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur))
Extension (Leave to remain where previous grant of leave was Two years
as a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur), Businessperson or Innovator)
21. Information on how to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (settlement) is available on the
Home Office website on www.gov.uk/government/publications/chapter-6a-section-1-
points-based-system-tier-1.

Eligibility to apply in the UK
22. You are allowed to make an initial application in the UK (including switching from one
immigration category to another) if you are here with permission to stay as:
• a highly skilled migrant; • a Tier 1 (General) migrant;
• a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) migrant; • a Tier 1 (Investor) migrant;
• a Tier 1 (Post-Study Work) migrant; • a Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur)
migrant;
• a Businessperson; • an Innovator;
• a Work Permit holder; • a Writer, Composer or Artist;
• a Self employed Lawyer; • a participant in the International
Graduates Scheme (or its predecessor, the
Science & Engineering Graduate Scheme);
• an Investor; • a participant in the Fresh Talent: Working in
Scotland Scheme;
• a Tier 2 migrant; • a Prospective Entrepreneur.
23. If you are in the UK with permission to stay as:
• a Tier 4 migrant; • a Student nurse;
• a Student; • a Student writing up a thesis;
• a Student re-sitting an examination; • a Postgraduate Doctor or Dentist;
you are allowed to make an initial application in the UK (including switching from one immigration
category to another) only if you have specific types of funding. You must have access to
£50,000 or more from:
i) one or more registered venture capital firms regulated by the Financial Conduct
Authority (FCA);
ii) one or more UK entrepreneurial seed funding competitions which is listed as endorsed
on the UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) website; or
iii) one or more UK Government Departments or Devolved Government Departments in
Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, which is made available by the Department(s) for the
specific purpose of establishing or expanding a UK business.
(This is also referred to as a section b funding in this document.) Students without this type of
funding are not permitted to switch into the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) category in the UK.
24. You must be at least 16 years old to use this route.
Care Arrangements for Children

25. Under Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009, the Home Office must
have regard to the need to safeguard children and to promote their welfare. All children working
in the UK must have suitable care arrangements in place for their travel, reception on arrival in
the UK and living arrangements while here.
26. Please note that 16 and 17 year olds have the legal right to live independently in the UK, and
may therefore make their own arrangements for accommodation. If you are 16 or 17 years old
on the date that your application is decided, you must have your parent(s) or legal guardian(s)
written consent to the arrangements that have been made in regard of your application,
travel, reception and care arrangements. You must submit a letter from your parent(s) or
legal guardian(s) giving their consent to you making this application and to the arrangements
for your care in the UK. The letter must be original (not a copy) and must confirm if your
parent(s) or legal guardian(s) have legal custody or sole responsibility for you. If they have sole
responsibility they must sign the letter. If they do not, the letter must confirm that each parent
or legal guardian agrees to the content of the letter and must be signed by each parent or legal
guardian.
27. The letter must clearly show:
• the relationship between the parent(s) or legal guardian(s) and you;
• that your parent(s) or legal guardian(s) have given their consent to this application;
• that your parent(s) or legal guardian(s) agree to your living arrangements in the UK; and
• your parent(s) or legal guardian(s) full name and address.
Private Foster Care Arrangements

28. Children (under 16 years old or 18 years old if disabled) are privately fostered when they are
cared for on a full-time basis by adults, who are not their parents or a close relative, for more
than 28 days. It is the responsibility of the parent, carer, and anyone else involved in making
the private fostering arrangement to notify their UK local authority of the private fostering
arrangement.
29. In the UK local authorities are responsible for safeguarding and protecting children. They must
make sure that private foster carers are suitable and that they get any support and guidance
that they may need to help them care for a child. You must tell us if you are living under local
authority care in the UK. If you are in local authority care you must provide a letter from the
local authority that is caring for you confirming that you are currently in local authority care. The
letter must be original (not a copy) and be on official headed paper.
30. A close relative, parent or legal guardian caring for a child is not considered to be a private
foster carer and so will not need to register with a UK local authority. A close relative is a
grandparent, brother, sister, step-parent, uncle (brother or half-brother of the child’s parent) or
aunt (sister or half-sister of the child’s parent) who is aged 18 or over.
Conditions of stay
31. Permission to stay under this route will be subject to the following conditions:
a) no recourse to public funds (which means you will not be able to claim most benefits paid by
the state);
b) registration with the police, if this is required by paragraph 326 of the Immigration Rules;
c) no employment other than working for the business or businesses that you have established,
joined or taken over; and
d) no employment as a professional sportsperson (including as a sports coach).
Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) - points scoring

Points scoring requirements
32. In order to obtain entry clearance or leave to remain within Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) you must
score enough points and send supporting evidence where appropriate.

33. Under Tier 1 (Entrepreneur), you must score:
• at least 75 points for attributes (Appendix A of the Immigration Rules);
• 10 points for English language (Appendix B of the Immigration Rules); and
• 10 points for Maintenance (funds) (Appendix C of the Immigration Rules).
34. You will find explanations of some of the terms we use in Annex A.
Attributes for initial entry

35. Points available for attributes are in the table below. This table applies to you if you are
seeking:
• entry clearance or leave to enter as a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) migrant and did not have
leave in this category within the last 12 months; and
• further leave to remain in the UK in this category when your previous permission to
stay was given under a category other than Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) or one of the former
Businessperson, or Innovator, categories, so you are switching categories.

Attributes table for initial applications
Attributes: pass mark = 75 Points Points
available
(a) You have access to not less than £200,000, or 25
(b) You have access to not less than £50,000 from:
(i) one or more registered venture capital firms regulated by the Financial
Conduct Authority (FCA),
(ii) one or more UK Entrepreneurial seed funding competitions which is listed
as endorsed on the UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) website, or
(iii) one or more UK Government Departments or Devolved Government
Departments in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, and made available by
the Department(s) for the specific purpose of establishing or expanding a UK
business, or
(c) You :
(i) are applying for leave to remain,
(ii) have, or were last granted, leave as a Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur)
migrant, and
(iii) have access to not less than £50,000, or
(d) You:
(i) are applying for leave to remain,
(ii) have, or were last granted, leave as a Tier 1 (Post-Study Work) migrant,
(iii) were, on a date no earlier than three months prior to the date of
application,
(1) registered with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) as self-employed,
or
(2) registered a new business in which you are a director, or
(3) registered as a director of an existing business,
(iv) are working in an occupation which appears on the list of occupations
skilled to National Qualifications Framework (NQF) level 4 or above, as stated
in the Codes of Practice in Appendix J of the Immigration Rules and the
Codes of Practice for Tier 2 Sponsors published by the Home Office, and you
provide the specified evidence in paragraph 41-SD. “Working” in this context
means that the core service your business provides to its customers or clients
involves the business delivering a service in an occupation at this level. It
excludes any work involved in administration, marketing or website functions
for the business.
(v) have access to not less than £50,000.
The money is held in one or more regulated financial institutions 25
The money is disposable in the United Kingdom 25
Please see the relevant section below for more details.

English Language: pass mark = 10
Evidence to prove that you speak English to the required standard and meet the 10
requirements explained in this guidance. Please see relevant section below for
further details.
Maintenance: pass mark = 10

A certain amount of funds to support yourself (and any dependants) in the UK. 10
Please see relevant section below for more details.
Genuine Entrepreneur Test
36. We may ask you to demonstrate that the funds you have used to apply remain available to you
beyond the date of your application. The funds must continue to be available to you until they
are spent for the purposes of your business or businesses. ‘Available to you’ means that the
funds must be in one of the following:
(1) in your own possession,
(2) in the financial accounts of a UK incorporated business of which you are the director, or
(3) available from the third party or parties named in your application (if applicable).
‘Spent’ by your business’ excludes spending on all of the following:
(1) your own remuneration,
(2) buying the business from a previous owner, where the money goes to that previous
owner rather than into the business,
(3) investing in other businesses, and
(4) any spending which is not directly for the purpose of establishing or running your own
business or businesses.
37. The declaration from your third party funds donor must confirm that the funds will remain
available to you until they are transferred to you or to your business.
38. We may request further evidence or verify that the money will remain available and we will
refuse your application if this evidence is not provided or if we cannot satisfactorily verify it. If
your application is refused on other grounds we may not carry out the genuine entrepreneur
test assessment, but if we reconsider the decision we may do the assessment then.
39. If you already have leave as a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) migrant we may curtail your leave if the
funds you have used to apply cease to be available to you (unless you have spent them in the
establishment or running of your business or businesses). ‘Spent’ excludes spending on your
own remuneration.
Entrepreneur teams
40. Money for investment can be shared by a team of a maximum of two entrepreneurs. Each
team member may apply to come to the UK as a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) using the same
investment funds. Neither applicant must have used the same funds with any other applicant.
Please note: you should provide all the documents needed for evidence with your own
application. Your team member should also provide all the documents needed with their
application. In some cases this means that your team will need to send two sets of documents.
It will help in processing your application if you do not rely on information presented with
anyone else’s application.
41. No points will be awarded for funds that are made available to anyone else, other than your
entrepreneurial team member (if you have one). You may use your money that is held in a joint
account with your husband, wife, civil partner or unmarried or same-sex partner, but only if
these people are not applying to be a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) migrant.
42. Where this guidance refers to funding being available, unless stated otherwise, this means
available to:
• You; or
• Your entrepreneurial team members; or
• Your business.
Where this guidance refers to your business, you must be registered as a director of that
business in the UK, and provide a Companies House document showing the address of the
registered office in the UK, or if there is no registered office, the head office in the UK, and your
name as it appears on the application form as a director.
Claiming points for attributes
Section a: £200,000 funding

43. You or the entrepreneurial team must have £200,000 of your own money available to make
a fresh investment into business in the UK. You should supply documentary evidence of
the money in your/ each member of the entrepreneurial team’s name as specified in the
‘Immigration Rules and in the ‘Documents we require’ section below.
44. You or your entrepreneurial team can include money made available by other people (known
as ‘a third party or parties’, and this can include money from your (or your entrepreneurial team
member’s) husband, wife or partner). In this case you must also provide a declaration that
the money is available to you and your entrepreneurial team member (if applicable), or to the
business that you or your entrepreneurial team are running. You must provide a declaration
from each contributor of funds, together with confirmation that the declarations are valid.
45. This money can be made up from money already invested in a UK business together with
access to any balance of money needed to total £200,000.
Section b: £50,000 funding
46. You or the entrepreneurial team must have access to £50,000 or more from:
(i) one or more registered venture capital firms regulated by the FCA;
(ii) one or more UK entrepreneurial seed funding competitions which is listed as endorsed on
the UKTI website; or
(iii) one or more UK Government Departments or Devolved Government Departments in
Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, which is made available by the Department(s) for the
specific purpose of establishing or expanding a UK business.
47. You must supply documentary evidence as specified in the Immigration Rules and in the
‘Documents we require’ section below. This will include a letter from each venture capital
firm, seed funding competition, or UK Government Department or Devolved Government
Department in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, allowing you to use the funds, and
evidence of the funds.
48. Funds from more than one of these sources may be combined to total the required £50,000.
49. You may not mix your personal or other third party funds with the funding from the venture
capital firms, seed funding competitions and/or UK Government Departments/Devolved
Government Departments towards the £50,000. If you wish to mix the funding you will need to
invest £200,000 into the UK business.
50. This money can be made up from funding obtained from the venture capital firm(s),
Seed funding competitions and/or UK Government Department(s)/Devolved Government
Departments already invested in business together with access to any balance of money from
these sources needed to total £50,000.
51. If you have formed an entrepreneurial team with another applicant, the documents must
confirm that the funds are available to both team members or your business.
Where this guidance refers to your business, you must be registered as a director of that
business in the UK, and provide a Companies House document showing the address of
the registered office in the UK (or if there is no registered office, the head office in the UK).
The document must show your name (as it appears on the application form) and your team
member’s name both listed as directors.
Your entrepreneurial team member must also qualify to use the same amount of investment if
the total amount available to your entrepreneurial team is £50,000 or more. If the other team
member does not also qualify for this level of investment, the total amount available to the
team must be at £200,000 or more.
52. Only the following sources of funding will be accepted for this section. These are:
Registered venture capital firms regulated by the FCA: Venture capital is defined on the
Gov UK website at www.gov.uk/. Venture capital firms must be regulated and listed as venture
capital firms by the FCA to be considered for the award of points. The FCA website is at www.
fca.org.uk/.
UK entrepreneurial seed funding competitions listed as endorsed on the UK Trade and

Investment (UKTI) website: The list of competitions that have been endorsed for this purpose
and can be considered for the award of points is given on the UKTI website on www.ukti.gov.
uk.
UK Government Departments or Devolved Government Departments in Scotland, Wales

and Northern Ireland, and made available by the Department(s) for the specific purpose
of establishing or expanding a UK business: Where a UK Government Department
or Devolved Government Department is providing all or some of the funds specifically for
the purpose of setting up or expanding a business in the UK, the funding package can
be considered for the award of points. Please see www.gov.uk/ for information on UK
Government Departments and Devolved Government Departments.

Section c: Leave as a Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) Migrant and £50,000 funding
53. You must be applying from within the UK and have last been granted leave as Tier 1 (Graduate
Entrepreneur) migrant. You will not be asked to provide documentary evidence of this, we will
use your travel document or passport and our records.
54. You must also have £50,000 of your own money available to make a fresh investment into
business in the UK. You must supply documentary evidence of the funds as specified in the
Immigration Rules and the ‘Documents we require’ section below.
55. You can include money made available by other people (known as ‘a third party or parties’) but
you must also provide a declaration that the money is available to you or the business that you
are running, from each contributor of funds, together with confirmation that the declarations are
valid. If you are relying on money held by your husband, wife or partner, they will be regarded
as a third party.
56. This money can be made up from money already invested in business together with access to
any balance of money needed to total £50,000.
confirm that the funds are available to both team members.
• Your entrepreneurial team member must also qualify to use the same amount of
investment if the total amount available to your entrepreneurial team is £50,000
or more.
• If the other team member does not also qualify for this level of investment, the
total amount available to your entrepreneurial team must be at £200,000 or more.
Section d: Leave as a Tier 1 (Post-Study Work) Migrant and access to £50,000
58. You must be applying from within the UK and have last been granted leave as a Tier 1 (Post-
Study Work) migrant. You will not be asked to provide documentary evidence of this; we will
use your travel document or passport and our records.
59. You must also have £50,000 of your own money available to make a fresh investment into
business in the UK, and be established in business in the UK as a self-employed person or as
a director.
i. Applying for leave to remain
You must be in the UK and be applying to switch to Tier 1 (Entrepreneur). You may not
use section d (see the attributes table for initial applications) if you are applying for entry
clearance or leave to enter.
ii. Last granted leave as Tier 1 (Post-Study Work) migrant
You must have last had leave as a Tier 1 (Post-Study Work) migrant.
iii. Registered with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) as self-employed; or

registered as a director
You must have been registered as self-employed or a director of a business within the
last 3 months before submitting your application as a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur). If you were
registered earlier than this you will still need to provide evidence that you were registered in
this period.
iv. In an occupation skilled to graduate level
Other than the work necessary to administer the business, your main business activity
must be working skilled to National Qualifications Framework (NQF) 4 or above. We will
not take into account the tasks involved with the running of the business for this
assessment.
For example
• If the business is software sales and your main activity is developing software, you may
qualify for points;
• If the business is a taxi firm, the main occupation is driving a taxi and you will not score
points even though you manage the business. Your main activity is providing a taxi
service which is not skilled to graduate level.
Guidance on what is work skilled to NQF 4 or above, as stated in the Codes of Practice
for Tier 2 Sponsors published by the Home Office is found on our website at: www.ukba.
homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/employersandsponsors/pointsbasedsystem/cop-
skilled-workers.pdf and in Appendix J of the Immigration Rules.
v. Access to £50,000
You must also have at least £50,000 to invest in UK business. You must supply
documentary evidence of the funds as specified in the Immigration Rules and in the
‘Documents we require’ section below
60. You can include money made available by other people (known as ‘a third party or parties’) but
you must also provide a declaration that the money is available to you or the business that you
are running, from each contributor of funds, together with confirmation that the declarations are
valid. If you are relying on money held by your husband, wife or partner, they will be regarded
as a third party.
61. This money can be made up from money already invested in business together with access to
any balance of money needed to total £50,000.
confirm that the funds are available to both team members. Your entrepreneurial team member
must also qualify to use the same amount of investment if the total amount available to your
entrepreneurial team is £50,000 or more. If the other team member does not also qualify for
this level of investment, the total amount available to the team must be at £200,000 or more.
Available funds - all applicants
Funds already invested.
63. You may not use the same funds to score points for your funds available for investment and for
maintenance funds for yourself and any dependants.
64. If you have already legally established a business in the UK while under a different immigration
category, you may use this investment to claim points if it satisfies the requirements. If all of
the money needed has been invested, all of the points needed for attributes can be awarded
(75 points).
65. The investment must have been made in the 12 calendar months before the date of
application, or 24 months if you were last granted leave as a Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur).
Any investment made more than 12 months (or 24 months if you were last a Tier 1 (Graduate
Entrepreneur) migrant) before your application will not be counted.
66. We recognise that, as an entrepreneur, you may have moved on to other activities and no
longer be involved in the business in which you initially invested, but we still require this
evidence to show that the money was invested.
67. The amount of money invested should not:
• include the value of any residential accommodation or property development, or property

management; or
• be in the form of a director’s loan, unless it is unsecured and is subordinated in favour of
the third-party creditors.
68. If you have bought property for your business which includes residential accommodation, we
will not accept the value of this part of the property as investment in the business. The value
of this part of the property should be deducted from the amount of your investment. You must
provide an estimate of the value of this living accommodation from a surveyor who is a member
of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). This valuation must be produced
and dated within the three months prior to the date of application. For more information on
membership of RICS please see www.rics.org.
Money available for investment must be in a regulated financial institution

69. Confirmation of the money available to you must come from a financial institution that is
regulated by the home regulator. The home regulator is an official financial regulatory body, in
the country where the financial institution operates and the funds are located. The regulatory
body must be appropriate for the type of financial transaction.
70. Money held in the UK must be held in an institution that is regulated by the FCA and the
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). The PRA website is at www.bankofengland.co.uk/pra/
Pages/default.aspx.
71. We will not accept evidence of your money from a financial institution with which the Home
Office is unable to make satisfactory verification checks. A list of financial institutions which
do not satisfactorily verify financial statements can be found in Appendix P of the Immigration
Rules at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-rules-appendix-p.
Money available for investment must be disposable in the UK

72. If the money is not held in the UK, all of the funds required must be freely transferable to the
UK and able to be converted to pounds sterling.
73. Money held in an overseas account but in a financial institution that is regulated by the FCA/
PRA will satisfy this requirement.
74. Money held overseas in an institution that is not regulated by the FCA/PRA must have
confirmation that the money can be transferred into the UK. This can be a document from your
financial institution. Please note that if the institution holding the money does not have the
same name as one listed by the FCA/PRA, evidence that the money can be transferred to the
UK must be provided.
You should also read the English and maintenance sections of this guidance.

Attributes for extension applications
75. In order to obtain an extension to your leave to remain as a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) migrant you
must score enough points and send supporting evidence where appropriate.
76. Points available for attributes are in the table below. This table applies to you if your previous
leave was as a
• Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) migrant, a Businessperson or Innovator in the 12 months
immediately before the date of this application; or
• You are applying for leave to remain and have or were last granted, entry
clearance, leave to enter or leave to remain as a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) migrant, a
Businessperson or an Innovator.
Attributes table for extension applications
Attributes: pass mark = 75 points

Points available
A. You have invested, or had invested on your behalf, not less than £200,000 (or 20
£50,000 if, in your last grant of leave, you were awarded points for funds of £50,000)
directly into one or more businesses in the UK.
B. You have: 20
• registered with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) as self-employed; or
• registered a new business in which you are a director; or

• registered as a director of an existing business.
Where your last grant of entry clearance, leave to enter or leave to remain was as a Tier
1 (Entrepreneur) migrant, one of the above conditions must have been met within six
months of the specified date. The specified date being either:
The date of your entry to the UK, where you were granted entry clearance as a
Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) migrant and where there is evidence to establish your date
of entry to the UK; or
The date of your grant of entry clearance, where you were granted entry clearance
as a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) migrant and where there is no evidence to establish
your date of entry to the UK; or
The date of your grant of leave to remain, in any other case.
This does not apply where your last grant of leave prior to the grant of leave that
you currently have was as a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) migrant, a Businessperson or an
Innovator.
C. You are engaged in business activity at the time of your application to extend your 15
leave to remain and you provide the specified evidence to show that on a date no earlier
than three months prior to the date of application, you were:
(a) registered with HMRC as self-employed, or

(b) registered a new business in which you are a director, or
(c) registered as a director of an existing business.

D. You have: 20
• established a new business or businesses that has/have created the equivalent
of at least two new full-time jobs for persons settled in the UK;
OR
• taken over or invested in an existing business or businesses and your services
or investment have resulted in a net increase in the employment provided
by the business or businesses for persons settled in the UK by creating the
equivalent of at least two new full time jobs for persons settled in the UK.
Where your last grant of entry clearance or leave was as a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur)
migrant, the jobs must have existed for at least 12 months for the period for which the
previous leave was granted.
English language: pass mark = 10
Evidence to prove that you speak English to the required standard and meet the 10
requirements explained in this guidance. Please see the relevant section below.
Maintenance: pass mark = 10

A certain amount of funds to support yourself (and any dependants) in the UK. Please 10
see the relevant section below
77. You will find explanations of some of the terms we use in Annex A.
Entrepreneur teams
78. The money for investment can be shared by a team of up to two entrepreneurs. Each member
of the team may work in the UK as a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) using the same investment funds. A
maximum of 2 people in an entrepreneurial team is allowed. Neither applicant must have used
the same funds with any other applicant.
Claiming points for attributes
Section A: investment of funds

79. You must show that either the full amount of £200,000, or of £50,000 if appropriate, in cash has
been invested in business in the UK. You must supply documentary evidence as specified in
the Immigration Rules and the ‘Documents we require’ section below.
80. If you provided evidence of the funds as part of your last successful application you do not
need to provide that evidence again.
81. We recognise that, as an entrepreneur, you may have moved on to other activities and no
longer be involved in the business in which you initially invested, but we still require this
evidence to show that the money was invested.
82. If you entered the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) category as part of an entrepreneurial team, both team
members can use the same evidence for creating employment.
83. The amount of money invested should not:
• include the value of any residential accommodation or property development, or
property management; or
• be in the form of a director’s loan, unless it is unsecured and is subordinated in favour
of the third-party creditors.
84. If you have bought property for your business which includes residential accommodation, we

will not accept the value of this part of the property as investment in the business. The value
of this part of the property should be deducted from the amount of your investment. You must
provide an estimate of the value of this living accommodation from a surveyor who is a member
of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). This valuation must be produced
and dated within the three months prior to the date of application. For more information on
membership of RICS please see www.rics.org.
Section B registered within six months of entering
85. You must have been registered as self-employed with HMRC, registered a new company in
which you are a Director, or been registered as a Director of an existing company within the
six months after entering the category (your specified date is defined in the glossary). You
must meet the requirement if your previous leave was as a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur), and supply
documentary evidence as specified in the Immigration Rules and the ‘Documents we require’
section below. You must provide this evidence even if you were registered as self-employed
or as a director before you entered the route. Your leave may be curtailed (removed) if you are
found not to have fulfilled this requirement.
86. If your last grant of leave, prior to the grant of leave that you currently have, was as a
Businessperson, or Innovator, you will not need to fulfil this requirement. These points will
be awarded if you tick the appropriate box in the extension application form, and if you are
registered at the time of your application to extend your leave (see section C below).
87. You must have been registered within six months of your specified date. If you wish your
specified date to be the date you entered the UK you must provide evidence to establish
this date. Otherwise the six months will be calculated from the date you were granted entry
clearance or leave to enter the category. Evidence we will accept includes: Passport containing
the Visa stamped on entry to the UK; flight tickets and boarding card, but where you can not
provide either of these pieces of evidence you can supply other documents for consideration
which prove the date you entered the UK.
88. We recognise that you may have moved on and no longer be engaged in the business in
which you were originally working when you first entered the Entrepreneur category, but we still
require evidence that you were engaged in business within six months of entering the route.
Section C registered when you apply for the extension
89. You must be engaged in business activity at the time of your application to extend your leave
and provide the specified evidence to show that you were registered as self-employed, or as
a director in the three months before you apply. You must supply documentary evidence as
specified in the Immigration Rules and in the ‘Documents we require’ section below
90. You may change from being self-employed to being a Director, or from Director to self-
employed, as long as you are engaging in business in the UK as one or the other.
91. The evidence must be dated within 3 months of making the application to extend your leave.
92. You may choose which evidence to supply if you have acted in both capacities, but we will only
award points for one registration.
Section D job creation
93. If you have established new businesses, those businesses must have, between them, created
the equivalent of two extra full-time paid jobs for at least two people who are settled in the UK
and those jobs must have existed for at least 12 months each. You must supply documentary
evidence as specified in the Immigration Rules and in the ‘Documents we require’ section
below.
94. Where you have taken over or invested in an existing business, your services and investment
must have resulted in the businesses providing, between them, the equivalent of two extra
full-time jobs during the period when you held leave as a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) migrant. These
jobs must have been taken by people who are settled in the UK and those jobs must have
existed for at least 12 months each.
95. We consider a 30-hour working week to be full-time. Part-time work can form part of the total
number of hours of employment created.
96. If your previous leave, prior to the grant of leave that you currently have, was given under one
of the former Businessperson or Innovator categories, you are only required to show that you
have created two extra full-time jobs. You do not need to show that the employment has been
for 30 hours per week or for a continuous 12-month period.
97. If you are self-employed you must employ the workers directly. If you are a Director of a
business you must show that your business has created two new posts.
98. If you entered the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) route as part of an entrepreneurial team, both team
members can use the same evidence for creating employment.
The employment created:
• does not need to be in a single period. It can be made up of shorter periods; and
• must comply with the UK regulations, including the working time directive. You can find
more information on the Gov. UK website: www.gov.uk/.
99. Only employees of your business will qualify. Self-employed contractors who are working for
your business will not qualify for the award of points.
100. EXAMPLES: We would consider the following as acceptable employment:

• The working hours of two part-time workers can be combined to add up to 30 hours a
week or more and form the equivalent of one full-time post.
• A worker who is employed for part of a year and then leaves the post can be replaced
by another worker so that the employment as a whole adds up to 12 months. However,
if there is a gap between one worker leaving a post and another worker starting
employment, the period when the post is not filled will not be counted. Only periods
during which a worker is employed in a post will be considered.
The policy guidance previously included these examples:
• A single worker can be employed for 24 months. The employment can also be made up
of a six-month period for one worker and an 18-month period for another.
• If four workers are employed for 26 weeks (six months) each, their hours of employment
may be added together.
These examples go further than the Immigration Rules. The Immigration Rules at Appendix A
Tables 5 and 6 state that you must create the equivalent of two or more full-time jobs that have
existed for a total of at least 12 months during your last period of leave as an Entrepreneur in
order to extend your leave or meet the settlement criteria. Appendix A, paragraphs 49 and 50
provide additional explanation.
For those applying for entry clearance or switching into the route from 6 April 2014, the
employment must be for at least two separate jobs, and must exist for at least a full 12 months

each.
Transitional arrangement – people who successfully applied to enter the route before 6 April
2014 may continue to employ:
• a single worker for 24 months; or
• one worker for 6 months and one for 18 months; or
• four workers for six months each
and still meet the requirements when they apply for extensions and for settlement. Anyone
applying to enter the route on or after 6 April 2014 must create employment for at least two
separate people and the jobs must exist for at least a full 12 months each.
Documents we require
101. Paragraphs 39B of the Immigration Rules states that only specified documents will be accepted
as evidence for applications for Tier 1 (Entrepreneur). The specified documents are given
below.
102. Where specified documents provided are not in English or Welsh you must provide the original
and a full translation that can be independently verified. The translation must:
• confirm that it is an accurate translation of the original document; and

• be dated; and
• include the full name and original signature of the translator or an authorised official
of the translation company; and
• include the translator or translation company’s contact details; and
• if you are applying in the UK, be fully certified and include details of the translator or
translation company’s credentials.
103. Where we have concerns about whether you are genuinely intending to pursue a business
in the UK, we reserve the right to ask for more information and may ask you to attend
an interview. We may ask for information about your business intentions, your previous
educational and business experience and your immigration history and previous activity in the
UK. If you have already registered in the UK as self-employed or as the director of a business,
we may check any compliance with requirements for your sector, and we may request
additional information and evidence to support the assessment. Any requested documents
must be received by the Home Office at the address specified in the request within 28 working
days of the date of the request. We will not carry out the assessment if your application
already falls for refusal on other grounds, but we reserve the right to carry out this assessment
in any reconsideration of our decision.
Evidence of the amount of money available to invest

104. You should use this evidence of funds available to invest for your initial application under
sections a; b; c and d (see the attributes table for initial applicants).
105. You must provide one or more of the following documents:

• a letter from a financial institution;
• for money held in the UK only, an account statement;
• for money from a venture capital firm, seed funding competition or UK
Government Department or Devolved Government Department, a letter from an
authorised accountant.
We will not accept evidence of your money from a financial institution with which the Home
Office is unable to make satisfactory verification checks. A list of financial institutions which do
not satisfactorily verify financial statements can be found on our website in Appendix P of the
Immigration Rules at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-rules-appendix-p.
More information is set out below.
106. A letter from a financial institution holding the funds, to confirm the amount of money available
to you, your business (or your team if you have formed an entrepreneurial team).
The total amount of available money must be either at least £200,000; or at least £50,000
as applicable. If the money is held in several financial institutions, you must supply a recent
letter from each institution. If the money is not held in pounds sterling, we will use the rate of
conversion on the Oanda website at www.oanda.com to convert the money into pounds sterling,
using the exchange rate that applies on the date of the application.
Each letter must:
• be an original document and not a copy;
• be on the institution’s official headed paper;
• have been issued by an authorised official of that institution; and
• have been produced within the three months immediately before the date of your
application.
Each letter must also confirm each of the following details:
• the account number;
• that the institution is regulated by the appropriate body;
• your name, and your team member’s name if you have formed a entrepreneurial team;
• the date of the document;
• the amount of money available from your own funds (if applicable) that are held in that
institution;
• the amount of money available to your business. If the money is available to your
business rather than to you by name, you must be registered as a director of
that business in the UK, and provide a Companies House document showing the
address of the registered office in the UK, or head office in the UK. The Companies
House document must also show your name (and the name of your team member if
appropriate) as it appears on the application form, as a director;
• 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;
• the name of each third party and their contact details. These must include their full
address including postal code, and where available a landline phone number and email
address;
• that if the money is not in an institution regulated by the FCA/PRA, the money can be
transferred into the UK.
Please note: it is important to ensure that any letter from the third party’s financial institution
states that the third party has confirmed that they intend to make the money available to you.
This is to ensure that the funds are made available to you (and your team member, if applicable)
and not to anyone else.
A template is included in Annex E at the end of this guidance (document 1) for your convenience
if you wish to use it.
107. For money held in the UK only, a recent personal bank or building society statement from the
UK financial institution holding the funds, which confirms the amount of money available to
you or your entrepreneurial team.
108. The total amount of available money must be either at least £200,000; or at least £50,000, as
applicable. If the money is held in several financial institutions, you must supply a statement
from each institution.
• The statements must be original documents and not a copy.
• The bank or building society holding the money must be based in the UK and regulated by
the FCA/PRA;
• The money must be in cash in the account. We will not accept Individual Savings
Accounts (ISAs) or assets such as stocks and shares;
• The account must be in your own name only (or both names for an entrepreneurial team)
only. You may use your money that is held in a joint account with your husband, wife, civil
partner or unmarried or same-sex partner, but only if they are not applying to be a Tier
1 (Entrepreneur) migrant. Accounts in the name of a business or third party will not be
accepted;
• Each bank or building society statement must be on the institution’s official stationery and
confirm each of the following details:
o Your name, the name of your team member if you have formed an entrepreneurial
team or the name of your business;
o The account number;
o The date of the statement;
o The financial institution’s name and logo;
• The bank or building society statement must have been issued by an authorised official of
that institution.
Electronic statements: We will not accept printouts of electronic statements without either a
supporting letter from the bank, on the bank’s headed paper, confirming the authenticity of the
statements, or without the official stamp of the bank in question on each page of the statement.
109. For £50,000 from a venture capital firm, seed funding competition or UK Government
Department/Devolved Government Department, a recent letter from an accountant confirming
the amount of money made available to you or your business.
Each letter must:
• be an original document and not a copy;
• on the institution’s official headed paper;
• have been issued by an accountant engaged by the venture capital firm, Seed funding
competition or UK Government Department/Devolved Government Department to
provide the information. If a UK Government Department/Devolved Government
Department is providing the funds, the letter does not need to be issued by an
accountant and can be issued by an authorised official instead; and
• have been produced within the three months immediately before the date of the
application.
Each letter must also confirm each of the following details:
• your name, the name of your team member if you have formed an entrepreneurial team
or the name of your business;
• the amount of money available to your business. If the money is available to your
business rather than to you by name, you must be registered as a director of that
business in the UK, and provide a Companies House document showing the address
of the registered office in the UK, or head office in the UK. The Companies House
document must also show your name (and your team member’s name if appropriate) as
it appears on the application form, as a director;
• the date of the document;
• the amount of money available to you or your business from the venture capital firm,
seed funding competition or UK Government Department or Devolved Government
Department in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland;
• the name of the venture capital firm, Seed funding competition or UK Government
Department or Devolved Government Department in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland
and the contact details of an official of that organisation. These must include their full
address including postal code, and where available a landline phone number and email
address;
The accountant must be a member of a recognised UK supervisory body. If they are not, we will
not accept this item of evidence and will not award any points for this evidence.
Additional evidence for third-party funding

110. You should use this for your initial application under sections a; b; c and d (see the
attributes table for initial applicants) if you are relying on money made available from someone
else. This is in addition to the evidence of the money available to you to invest, as set out in
the section above.
111. If you are relying on third-party funding, and the money is not in the name of your business,
your name, or joint names with you as a signatory on the account you must also supply each of
the following documents:
i. A declaration from every third party that they have made the money available for you to
invest in a business in the United Kingdom
This declaration must be an original document and not a copy. It must contain:
• the names of the third party and your name, your team member’s name if you have formed
an entrepreneurial team or the name of your business;
• the date of the declaration;
• your signature and the signature of the third party (where you have formed an
entrepreneurial team, you and your team member must both sign);
• the amount of money available to you or your business from the third party in pounds
sterling;
• a confirmation that the money will remain available to you until it is transferred to you or
your business;
• the relationship(s) of the third party to you.
• For a venture capital firm only, confirmation of whether this body is an FCA-registered
venture capital firm, in the form of a document confirming the award and the amount of
money, and including the FCA registration number that the firm’s permission to operate as
a venture capital firm is listed as permitted under, and/or
• For a UK entrepreneurial seed funding competition only, a document confirming that you
have been awarded money and that the competition is listed as endorsed on the UKTI
website, together with the amount of the award and naming you as a winner, and/or
• For a UK Government Department or Devolved Government Department, a document
confirming that it has made money available to you for the specific purpose of establishing
or expanding a UK business, and the amount.
You or your business must be able to have access to and dispose of the money freely in the UK.
Where you are part of an entrepreneurial team sharing investment funds both entrepreneurs must
have equal access to, and be able to dispose of, the money in the UK.
A template is included in Annex E for the convenience of applicants who wish to use it (document
2).
In addition you must also provide
ii) A letter from a legal representative who is independent from the third party or parties
confirming the validity of signatures on each third-party declaration provided.
This must confirm that the declaration from the third party contains the signatures of the people
stated. It can be a single letter covering all third-party permissions, or several letters from several
legal representatives. It must be an original letter and not a copy, and it must be from a legal
representative permitted to practise in the country where the third party or the money is.
The letter must clearly show the following:
• the name of the legal representative confirming the details;
• the registration or authority of the legal representative to practise legally in the country in
which the permission or permissions was/were given;
• the date of the confirmation letter;
• your name (and your entrepreneurial team member’s name if appropriate) and third
party’s name. The third party cannot be the legal representative themselves or their
client;
• that the declaration from the third party is signed and valid;
• For individuals who are third party donors only, the number of the third party’s identity
document (for example a passport or national identity card), the place of issue and
dates of issue and expiry. This is not needed from a venture capital firm, seed funding
competition or UK Government Department or Devolved Government Department in
Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
Money that has been invested in business
112. You should use this for initial applications under sections a; b; c and d (see the attributes
table for initial applicants) or for section A of your extension application if applicable.
Evidence to show how much has been invested

113. You must provide all the appropriate specified documents needed to establish the amount you
have already invested from the following list.
i) Audited accounts
Registered companies that are required to produce audited accounts must do so. For
information on who needs to produce these accounts please refer to the Companies House
website on www.companieshouse.gov.uk/about/gbhtml/gba3.shtml.

ii) Unaudited accounts and an accountant’s certificate of confirmation
Businesses that are not required to produce audited accounts must provide unaudited
accounts, sometimes called management accounts, together with an accounts compilation
report from a suitably regulated accountant (see below).
Audited or unaudited accounts must be prepared and signed off in accordance with statutory
requirements and must clearly show the investment in money made directly by you, in your own
name, or on your behalf and showing your name. You should indicate where this is shown on
your evidence. If you have invested by way of share capital the business accounts must show the
shareholders, the amount and value of the shares (on the date of purchase) in your name as it
appears on your application. If the value of your share capital is not shown in the accounts, then
share certificates should be submitted in addition to the accounts as documentary evidence.
The accounts should clearly show the name of the accountant and the date the accounts
were produced. The accountant must be a member of a recognised UK supervisory body (see
glossary); if not, we will not accept this evidence. The accounts must show how much you have
invested in the business.
iii) Director’s loan

If you have made the investment in the form of a director’s loan, it must be shown in the relevant
set of accounts provided, and you must also provide a legal agreement, between you (in the
name that appears on the application) and the company.
This agreement should show:
• the terms of the loan;
• any interest that is payable;
• the period of the loan; and
• that the loan is unsecured and subordinated in favour of third-party creditors.
If it is not clear from the information provided that the loan is unsecured and subordinated in
favour of third-party creditors, we will not accept the loan for the award of points.
iv) If you are claiming points for investing £50,000 from a seed funding competition or UK
Government department, and have not been awarded points in a previous application
for having those funds available, you must provide a letter as evidence of the source of
those funds. This letter must contain all of the information set out in paragraph 109 - but
the letter does not need to have been produced within the three months immediately
before the date of the application.
Evidence that it is a UK business

114. For each business you are providing evidence of investment in, you must supply the
appropriate evidence from the lists below to prove that it is a UK business. One piece of
evidence from each of rows 1, 2 and 3 in the table should be provided for each business or
company. The required evidence differs depending on whether you were self-employed or a
director of the company.
Please see table on next page.

Type of
Self-employed applicants Directors of companies
business
Printout of a Companies
Not all self-employed
House document showing
applicants will have a business
Business the address of the registered
office. If you had no business
premises in office, or head office if it has
1. premises we will use your
the United no registered office, and
registration with HMRC to
Kingdom your name, as it appears on
show that the business is
the application form, as a
based in the UK.
director.
a) Personal bank statement

showing transactions for your a) Company bank statement
Business business; showing that the company
has a United
b) Business bank statement; or has a UK account; or
2. Kingdom
bank account b) Letter from a UK bank
c) Letter from a UK bank
confirming that you have a confirming that the company
business and act through that has a bank account.
bank.
You must be registered as

self-employed for National
Insurance (NI) assessment. Business must be registered
You must supply one of the for corporation tax and you
following: must provide documentation
Business from HMRC) which confirms
must be a) the welcome letter from this. For exmple, form
subject HMRC; CT41G from HMRC or a
3. to United completed HMRC tax return
Kingdom b) an HMRC Exception
document showing the tax
taxation certificate;
reference number for the
c) a copy of the NI bill from company. If the reporting
HMRC; or is done online, you should
provide a printout of the form
d) your bank statement and sign it as correct.
showing that NI is taken by
HMRC by direct debit.
Investment in business premises that also includes residential accommodation

115. If you have bought property that includes residential accommodation the value of this part of
the property will not be counted towards the investment. The value of this part of the property
should be deducted from the amount of the business investment. You must provide an estimate
of the value of the living accommodation if it is part of the premises also used for the business,
from a surveyor who is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
This valuation must be produced in the three months prior to the date of application. For more
information on membership of RICS please see www.rics.org.

Initial applications under sections a; b; c and d (see the attributes table for initial applicants)
116. If some of the money has been invested into a business in the UK, the balance of funds
must be held in a regulated financial institution and disposable in the UK. In this case you
should use the evidence required for the previous investment of money together with the
evidence required for your access to the balance of sufficient funds to meet the requirement.
Evidence of registration as self-employed or as a director – extension

applications only
117. You should use this for section B of your extension application. You must provide evidence
of your registration within the 6 months after your specified date. Your specified date can be
the date of entry to the UK (if you were given Entry Clearance and have the evidence of your
date of entry), or the date of your grant of entry clearance, or the date of your grant of leave to
remain if you applied in the UK.
118. If your last grant of leave, prior to the grant of leave that you currently have, was as a
Businessperson, or Innovator, you will not need to fulfil this requirement. These points will
be awarded if you tick the appropriate box in the extension application form, and if you are
registered at the time of your application to extend your leave.
Self-employed applicants
119. If you were self-employed you must provide one of the following:
i) Original welcome letter from HMRC: If you registered as self-employed you will have
received a welcome letter from HMRC containing your unique taxpayer reference
number. The original, dated document should be provided.
ii) An Exception Certificate from HMRC: If you took advantage of the HMRC exception
provision you will have received a certificate. The original, dated document should be
provided.
HMRC will issue the welcome letter or the exception certificate at any time up to six weeks from
the date of first contact with a self-employed worker. We will accept a letter or certificate that is
dated up to eight calendar months from your specified date. For example, if your grant of leave is
dated 1 May 2011, the letter or certificate must be dated on or before 30 December 2011. If your
letter or certificate is dated more than eight calendar months after your specified date we will not
consider it.
iii) A National Insurance (NI) bill from the HMRC dated in the 6 months after the specified
date. This must be an original document and not a copy.
iv) Your bank statement dated in the 6 months after the specified date, showing the direct
debit payment of NI to HMRC.
Director of a new or existing company

120. If you were a director of a new or existing company you must provide the following:
Current Appointment Report from Companies House: This will list the Directors of a company and
the dates of their appointment. Even if you are no longer a Director of the same company, we
require the Current Appointment Report for the date that you became a Director of that company.
If the date on the Current Appointment Report was more than 8 months after your specified date
we will not award any points for this section.

Evidence of current registration as self-employed or as a director
121. You should use this for initial applications under section d (see the attributes table for initial
applicants) and for section C for extension applications.
Self-employed applicants
122. If you are self-employed when you apply, you must provide evidence that you are paying
Class 2 National Insurance (NI) contributions. You may also pay Class 4 NI, but we only need
to see evidence of Class 2 payments.
123. NI contributions may be paid by bill or direct debit, or you may have applied for a small
earnings exception certificate. If you have registered recently you will have a welcome letter.
124. You must provide one of the following documents, according to your individual
circumstances.
If you receive a NI bill:
You must provide the bill from the billing period immediately before the
application. This must be an original document and not a copy.
If your NI is paid by direct debit:
You must provide a copy of your most recent bank statement issued before the
application, showing the direct debit payment of NI to HMRC.
If you have very low earnings and have applied for an HMRC exception certificate:
You should provide an original exception certificate issued by HMRC for the most
recent return date.
If you have recently registered and have not yet paid a contribution:
You should provide the original, dated welcome letter from HMRC containing your
unique taxpayer reference number.
Directors
125. If you are a Director of a UK company when you apply you must provide:
A Current Appointment Report from Companies House:
A current appointment report will list the Directors of a company and the dates of
their appointment. You must obtain a printout of the Current Appointment Report
from Companies House.
126. The date of this document should be within the three months immediately before the date of
this application.
127. The report must show your name, as named in your application form, as the Director of a
business that is actively trading and not struck-off, or dissolved or in liquidation on the date that
the printout was produced.
128. Note that Directors who are on the list of disqualified Directors provided by Companies
House will not be awarded points, as they are not able to continue as Directors in the United
Kingdom. We will check this list before awarding points. You can see the list of disqualified
Directors on the Companies House website: www.companieshouse.gov.uk/ddir/.

Evidence of graduate level occupation
129. You should use this for your initial application under section d (see the attributes table for
initial applicants).
130. You must show that you have been working in an occupation which appears on the list of
occupations skilled to National Qualifications Framework (NQF) level 4 or above, as stated in
the Codes of Practice on our website. “Working” in this context means that the core service
your business provides to its customers or clients involves the business delivering a service
in an occupation at this level. It excludes any work involved in administration, marketing or
website functions for the business.
131. You must provide the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code of the occupation
that you are working in, and confirm that this appears on the list of occupations skilled to NQF
level 4 or above, as stated in the Codes of Practice.
More information on selecting this occupation is given on our website at www.gov.uk/
government/publications/sponsorship-codes-of-practice-for-skilled-workers.
To find the relevant code of practice for your occupation, you must first identify the SOC
code that most closely matches your work (other than the work that you do to administer
your business). You must also check that this SOC code is listed in the Codes of Practice as
being skilled to at least NQF level 4. The SOC codes are published by the Office for National
Statistics. Please do not ask us to match a job title or a job description to a SOC code for you,
you must make this decision based on your own duties and responsibilities.
132. You must confirm your business activity and that you are trading.
Business activity
You must provide one or more documents from the following list to confirm your business activity:
• Advertising or marketing material that has been published locally or nationally,
showing your name (and the name of the business if applicable) together with the
business activity. This can include printouts of internet advertising or, where your
business is trading online, confirmation of your ownership of the domain name of the
business’s website;
• Article(s) in a newspaper or other publication showing your name (and the name
of the business if applicable) together with the business activity. This can include an
online link to the publication;
• Information from a trade fair(s) that you have had a stand or given a presentation
to market your business. This must show your name (and the name of the business if
applicable) together with the business activity;
• Personal registration with a trade body linked to your occupation.
AND
Trading activity
You must also provide one or more of the following documents showing trading:
i) Contracts for work. We will accept original documents or copies, but if it is a copy you
must sign each page of the contract. The contract must show each of the following:
• Your name and the name of the business;
• the service provided by your business;

• the name of the other party/parties involved in the contract and their contact details.
These must include their full address including postal code, and where available a
landline phone number and email address.
ii) an original letter from a UK-regulated financial institution with which you have a business
bank account, on the institution’s headed paper, confirming that the business is trading.
Employment creation
133. Use this for section D of your extension application.
134. Other partners or directors in your business/es

If you are not the sole partner or sole director in your business or businesses, you must
provide all of the following:
• The names of the other partners or directors
• Whether any of the other partners or directors are also Tier 1 (Entrepreneur)
migrants;
• The dates that any other Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) migrant became a partner or director
of the business;
• Whether you and the other Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) migrant are team members who will
be sharing evidence of job creation; and
• If they have made (or are making) an application for an extension you must provide
the names of the jobholders they are claiming points for.
135. You may use evidence from your business if you have been self-employed or a director, or
a combination of the two towards evidence of having created two full time posts.
Section 1: Evidence that the employee is a settled worker:
136. Only jobs that are given to people who are settled in the UK will qualify for the award of
points.
137. Documents kept by an employer as evidence that an employee is a settled worker will often
be the passport pages from a UK passport that contain the employee’s personal details, and
the page containing the UK Government stamp or endorsement, if appropriate. It may also be
the worker’s full birth certificate, showing the name of at least one parent.
138. Full guidance on the documents is in the section on employing legal workers, which can be
found on the gov.uk website at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-illegal-working-
in-the-uk.
Section 2: Number of hours worked by an employee
139. You must have the appropriate evidence to support your claims about every employment.
140. Employers must register with HMRC notify HMRC of the employment, and the earnings,
of their employees. We are not able to offer advice on registering as an employer or on the
records that an employer must keep. You can find advice on the HMRC website at www.hmrc.
gov.uk or through the sponsorship and employers’ helpline on 0845 7143 143.
141. You must supply evidence to prove you have created no less than two new full-time posts,
and provide the following documents for each worker as evidence. (If the business employed
workers before you joined it, we will also require the extra documents detailed in the ‘Extra
documents needed if you took over or joined an existing business’ section below):
i) an Employee Payment Record that you have signed and dated (for example a P11);
ii) an original form P45 or P46: This need only be submitted in cases where the employee
payment record does not show the start date for the worker; and
iii) duplicate payslips or wage slips issued to the worker covering the full period of employment of
the worker used as evidence for this application.
i) Employee Payment Record

142. The hours claimed for the award of points must be supported by an Employee Rayment
Record entry.
143. The employer must keep a record of the Employee Payment Record for at least three
years. This form will show details of the earnings for the employee for each week that he/she
worked for the employer.
144. The Employee Payment Record (as used to report to HMRC) is the employer’s record of
the earnings of each separate employee. These details will remain confidential and will be used
to assess the applicant’s claim for points.
145. You must also provide any changes to the worker’s hourly rate and the dates of this
change. This enables the hours worked to be accurately calculated by dividing the earnings by
the hourly rate.
ii) Form P45 and P46 (also called a Full Payment Submission)
146. If the date of the start of the employment is not shown in the employee payment record you
must provide a print out of the Full Payment Submission (FPS), sent to HMRC, which includes
the start date of the worker. This forms part of submission under the Real Time Initiative (RTI).
In this case you should initial each of the print outs.
iii) Pay statements (wage slips)

147. You must provide duplicate pay statement documents, often known as pay slips or wage
slips, for each worker for whom points are being claimed. These must cover the full period of
the employment for which points are being claimed.
Hourly rate
148. For the purposes of the extension application you are also required to state the hourly rate
for each employee used to claim points, including any changes in the hourly rate and the dates
of the changes. This will enable us to calculate how many hours of work were created for each
worker.
Assessing the date that you joined the business

149. You can only use employment created when you were engaged in the business. If you
joined an existing company as a Director you may only submit hours of employment created
after you joined the company
150. For Directors of a company: the information from the Companies House Current
Appointment Report will be used for two assessments: We will check that you were a Director
of the company that employed the worker; and we will also check that you were a Director of
the specific employing company at the time that the settled worker was employed.
151. For self-employed applicants: We will cross-check the details of the business with the
evidence you provide to show that it was a UK business. This will include the dates that you
became self-employed, the names on the Employee Payment Record and bank account, and
the address of the business.
152. For new businesses, established after you entered the UK, we will accept that the posts
created are additional to jobs that existed in the UK before you arrived.
Extra documents needed if you took over or joined an existing business

153. If you have taken over or joined a business that employed workers before you joined it, you
must provide extra evidence to support a claim for points for creating jobs in the business. In
addition to the evidence specified for the number of hours of work created, you must show that
you have created new posts.
154. You must provide payroll information in the form of:

• a duplicate form P35 document or Full Payment Submission (FPS); and
• an original accountant’s letter verifying that the new posts have been created.
155. If your previous permission to stay in the UK was made under one of the former
Businessperson or Innovator categories you do not need to provide these documents unless
you choose to.
iv) Full Payment Submission (FPS)
156. Following the introduction of the Real Time Initiative (RTI), form P35 is no longer used. You
should instead provide a signed and dated print out of the FPS to HMRC for the business used
to provide evidence of employment.
• You must provide a document for the year before the jobs were created and the year that
the jobs were created.
• You must sign and date each of the print outs to confirm their content.
• If you used a form P35 to record this information you must provide the P35 for the year
before the jobs were created and the year that the jobs were created.
• You only need to provide this information for any business that you are using for
evidence of your creation of employment.
• The documents should show the net increase of two posts. This means that the total
number of employees should have increased by the number of posts that you claim to
have created. If other posts have been lost, points will not be awarded unless the total
number of posts has increased by the number claimed.
• To assess the net creation of jobs, we will compare the number of workers before you
joined the business with the number of workers afterwards.
• If the posts were created too recently for a P35 to have been produced, you should
provide a signed and dated draft copy or a FPS.
v) Accountant’s letter verifying that the new posts have been created
157. This letter should verify that there has been a net creation of jobs, and confirm the number
of posts. The accountant must be a member of one of the following professional bodies: The
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), the Institute of Chartered
Accountants in Scotland (ICAS), the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI); the
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA); and the Association of Authorised
Public Accountants (AAPA). The letter must be an original document and contain the following
details:
• the name and contact details of the business;
• your status in the business;
• the number of posts created in the business and the hours worked;
• the dates of the employment created;
• the registration or permission of the accountant to operate in the United Kingdom;
• the date that the accountant created the letter on your behalf; and
• that the accountant will confirm the content of the letter to us at our request.
English language requirement

English language assessment
158. English is the most widely spoken language of the UK. The ability to speak English to a
competent level promotes success in the UK labour market and assists in integration into the
UK.
159. You must provide the specified documents to show that you have a good knowledge of
English.
160. There are three ways in which you can show you meet the English language requirement.
These include:
• being a national of a majority English speaking country; or
• passing an English language test detailed in this guidance; or
• holding a degree that was taught in English and is equivalent to a UK bachelor’s degree
or above.
Claiming points
161. You can also meet the English language requirement, without the need to provide evidence, if
you were last given permission to stay in the UK:
• under Tier 1 (General) or Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) and are applying for an extension of leave
to remain; or
• as a Businessperson (under Paragraphs 200-210 of the Immigration Rules); or
• as a Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) participant under the Immigration Rules
which came into force on 5 December 2006 and you are applying for an extension of
leave to remain under a Tier 1 category; or
You can also meet the English language requirement without the need to provide evidence if
you have ever been given leave to remain (permission to stay):
• as a Tier 2 (General) migrant under the Rules in place on or after 6 April 2011, provided
that when you were granted that leave you obtained points for having a knowledge of
English equivalent to level B1 of the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework
(CEFR) for Language Learning or above; or
• as a Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) migrant providing you scored points for your English
language ability in that application; or
• as a Tier 4 (General) student, and the Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS)
used to support that application was assigned on or after 21 April 2011; or
• leave as a Minister of Religion (not as a Tier 2 (Minister of Religion) migrant) under the
Rules in place on or after 19 April 2007; or
• as a Tier 2 (Minister of Religion) migrant, provided that when you had that leave you
obtained points for English language for being a national of a majority English speaking
country, a degree taught in English, or passing an English language test;
provided that when you were granted that leave you obtained points for having a knowledge
of English equivalent to level B1 (or above) of the Council of Europe’s Common European
Framework for Language Learning.
162. Applications from people who are unable to score 10 points in the section for English
language requirements will be refused. Under Appendix B of the Immigration Rules, we will
refuse these applications even if you have attained the pass mark of 75 for attributes and
have met all the other requirements of the Immigration Rules for permission to stay as a Tier 1
migrant.
National of a majority English speaking country

163. Nationals of the majority English-speaking countries listed below automatically meet the
English language requirement:
• Antigua and Barbuda;
• Australia;
• The Bahamas;
• Barbados;
• Belize;
• Canada;
• Dominica;
• Grenada;
• Guyana;
• Jamaica;
• New Zealand;
• St Kitts and Nevis;
• St Lucia;
• St Vincent and the Grenadines;
• Trinidad and Tobago; and
• the United States of America.
164. Appendix B of the Immigration Rules states that only specified documents will be accepted as
evidence of this requirement. The specified documents are:
i) Current valid original passport or travel document
If you are unable to submit your current original passport or travel document at the time of
the application you must give full reasons for this in the Passport Information section of the
application form.
The only valid exceptional circumstances in which alternative specified documents may be
provided are where your current passport or travel document has:
• been lost;
• been stolen;
• expired and been returned to the relevant authorities;
• been sent to another part of the Home Office.
If your passport or travel document is not available for one of the reasons above, you may
exceptionally provide the following alternative specified documents:
ii) Current national identity document
iii) Original letter from your home government or embassy. This document must be original, on
the letter-headed paper of the government or embassy and must bear the official stamp of
that institution. It must have been issued by an authorised official of that institution and must
confirm your:
• full name;
• date of birth; and
• nationality.
English language test

165. We will only accept test certificates from providers that have been assessed as meeting our
requirements. Details are available on the gov.uk website at: www.gov.uk/tier-1-entrepreneur/
knowledge-of-english. You must check that you have passed an English language test that
is still within its validity period, and have achieved or exceeded level B1 of the Council of
Europe’s Common European Framework for Language learning in all four components
(reading, writing, speaking and listening).
166. You must provide the documents given in Appendix O of the Immigration Rules with your
application to confirm your qualification. The documents should clearly show:
• your name;
• that you have achieved or exceeded level B1 of the Council of Europe’s
Common European Framework for Language learning in all four
components (reading, writing, speaking and listening), unless you
are exempted from sitting a component on the basis of a disability he
qualification obtained;
• that where two or more components (reading, writing, speaking and
listening) of an English language test are examined and awarded
together, for example a combined exam and certificate for reading and
writing skills, the specified evidence you submit must show that you
achieved the required scores in all the relevant components during
a single sitting of that examination, unless exempted from sitting a
component on the basis of your disability;
• the date of the award; and
• that your test documents are still valid and have not expired.

Degree taught in English
167. You may provide evidence that you hold a degree which is equivalent to a UK Bachelors
level or higher and which was taught or researched in English to a particular level as evidence
of your English language ability.
168. Your degree must:

• be recognised by National Academic Recognition Information Centre for the United
Kingdom (UK NARIC) as equivalent to at least a UK Bachelor’s degree; and
• have been taught in English to a standard comparable to that of level C1 on the Council
of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning,
Teaching, Assessment. Details can be found on the Council of Europe website at www.
coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/DNR_EN.asp.
169. Where the degree was taken in a majority English speaking country, listed below, we will
assume it to have been taught in English:
• Antigua and Barbuda;
• Australia;
• The Bahamas;
• Barbados;
• Belize;
• Dominica;
• Grenada;
• Guyana;
• Ireland;
• Jamaica;
• New Zealand;
• St Kitts and Nevis;
• St Lucia;
• St Vincent and the Grenadines;
• Trinidad and Tobago;
• the United Kingdom;
• the United States of America. (Please note that Canada is not on this list.)
170. Where the degree was taken in a country that is not on the list above, we will always assess
it using the points based calculator on our website. The calculator contains information from UK
NARIC on whether overseas qualifications are equivalent to UK Bachelors level or higher.
171. You can claim points when the points based calculator confirms that the degree:
• meets or exceeds the equivalent level to UK Bachelors degree; and
• was taught to a competent standard of English equivalent to level C1 on the Council
of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning,
Teaching, Assessment.

Checking qualifications
172. You should check your degree by referring to the points based calculator on our website at:
www.points.homeoffice.gov.uk/gui-migrant-jsf/SelfAssessment/SelfAssessment.faces.
173. Where the points based calculator is unable to confirm these details, points will not be
awarded for the qualification in question.
174. Where you are unable to find details of your qualification on the points based calculator,
UK NARIC will not be able to verify whether a qualification satisfies the English language
requirement. In these circumstances, you should either present an alternative qualification from
the points based calculator if you possess one, or select an alternative means of satisfying the
English language requirement.
175. Only the following specified documents will be accepted as evidence of this requirement:
i) Original certificate of award.
This document must be original and must clearly show:
• your name;
• the title of the award;
• the date of the award; and,
• the name of the awarding institution.
Please note that original provisional certificates are not acceptable.
This document must always be provided unless you are awaiting graduation but have
successfully completed your degree or no longer have the certificate and the awarding institution
is unable to issue a replacement, in which case the following should be sent
ii) Original academic transcript.
If you are awaiting graduation but have successfully completed the degree, we can consider an
original academic transcript, or original letter in the case of a PhD qualification.
The academic transcript must be on the institution’s official headed paper and must show:
• Your name;
• the name of the academic institution;
• the title of the award;
• confirmation that the qualification has been or will be awarded; and
• the date that the certificate will be issued (if you have not yet graduated) or confirmation
that the institution is unable to reissue the original certificate or award.
This evidence must be an official document, on the official stationery of the organisation and bear
the official stamp of that organisation. It must have been issued by an authorised official of that
organisation.
You should ensure that the contact details for the awarding body are up-to-date, because if we
need to verify the details and are unable to contact the institution we will not accept this evidence
and may therefore refuse the application.

Maintenance (funds)
Maintenance requirement – all applications
176. One of the requirements of Tier 1 is that an applicant coming to the UK must be able to
support themself for the entire duration of his/her stay in the UK without use of public funds
(benefits provided by the state). An applicant who is unable to support themself could face
financial hardship because they will not have access to most state benefits.
177. In order to qualify for entry clearance under Tier 1, you must show that you have enough
money to support yourself (and any dependants). The maintenance requirement is detailed
below:
• For applications received before 1 July 2014, if you are outside the UK seeking entry
clearance you must have at least £3,100 of personal savings which you must have held
for a consecutive 90 day period before the date of your application;
• For applications received on or after 1 July 2014, if you are outside the UK seeking entry
clearance you must have at least £3,310 of personal savings which you must have held
for a consecutive 90 day period before the date of your application;
• For applications received before 1 July 2014, if you are in the UK seeking further leave
to remain you must have at least £900 of personal savings which must have held for a
consecutive 90 day period prior to the date of your application;
• For applications received on or after 1 July 2014, if you are in the UK seeking further
leave to remain you must have at least £945 of personal savings which must have held
for a consecutive 90 day period prior to the date of your application.
178. You may not use the same funds to score points for investment funds and to score points for
maintenance funds for yourself or your dependants.
179. The conversion of overseas currency will be made using the OANDA exchange rate on the
date of application on www.oanda.com.
180. You may want to check the potential costs of living in the United Kingdom. If you do not
expect to get any income from your work in the UK after the first month, you may want to check
that you have enough money to support yourself and any dependants.
181. Any dependants wishing to join you must also provide evidence that they have sufficient
funds. Please refer to the Dependants guidance which can be found on the gov.uk website
at: www.gov.uk/tier-1-entrepreneur/family-members. Where your application is made at the
same time as applications by your partner or child, each applicant must have the total requisite
funds specified in the relevant parts of Appendices C and E of the Immigration Rules. If
each applicant does not individually meet the requirements of Appendices C and / or E, as
appropriate, all the applications (the application by the Relevant Points Based System migrant
and applications as the partner or child of that Relevant Points Based System migrant) will be
refused.
182. We will not consider money earned during a time that an applicant was in breach of the UK
immigration laws as evidence of maintenance funds.
For example: Earnings made from UK employment will only be considered if you had leave to
enter or remain in the UK at the time they were earned, and in a category which permitted you to
take that employment.
183. The evidence used to support personal savings for at least a consecutive 90 day period
must be original, and issued by an authorised official of that organisation.
184. Evidence must be in the form of cash funds held in an account (this includes savings
accounts and current accounts even when notice must be given). Other accounts or financial
instruments such as shares, bonds, overdrafts, credit cards, pension funds etc, are not
acceptable, regardless of notice period.
185. Where you are providing evidence of maintenance from a single account, we will always
assess the funds available to you from the closing balance given on the document provided.
186. Where two or more pieces of evidence from a single account are submitted (for example
two consecutive bank statements) we will assess the funds available to you from the closing
balance of the most recent document.
187. Where evidence from two or more accounts are submitted, we will assess the funds available
to you using:
• the most recent closing balance of one account, plus
• any additional money available to you on the date of that closing balance, for which you
have provided the required evidence.
We will always use the closing balance date from the account that most favours you.
188. No points will be awarded where the specified documents show that the funds are held in
a financial institution with which the Home Office is unable to make satisfactory verification
checks. A list of financial institutions which do not satisfactorily verify financial statements
is published on the gov.uk website in Appendix P of the Immigration Rules at: www.gov.uk/
government/collections/immigration-rules#immigration-rules-appendices.
189. If you wish to rely on a joint account as evidence of available funds, you must be named on
the account along with one or more other named individual
190. Only the following specified documents will be accepted as evidence of this requirement:
i) Personal bank or building society statements covering a consecutive 90 day period:
The most recent statement must be dated no more than 31 days before the date of application.
The personal bank or building society statements should clearly show:
• your name;
• the date of the statement;
• the financial institution’s name and logo;
• any transactions during the 90 day period;
• that there are enough funds present in the account. For applications received before 1
July 2014, the balance must always be at least £3,100 or £900 (as appropriate), covering
the 90 day period before the date of application.
• For applications received on or after 1 July 2014, the balance must always be £3,310 or
£945 (as appropriate), covering the 90 day period before the date of application.

All statements must be on the bank’s stationery, unless you are submitting electronic statements.
Ad hoc bank statements printed on the bank’s letterhead are admissible as evidence (this
excludes mini-statements from cash points (ATMS)).
If you wish to submit electronic bank statements these must contain all of the details listed above.
In addition, you will need to provide either:
• a supporting letter from your bank, on the bank’s headed paper, confirming the authenticity
of the statements; or
• an electronic bank statement bearing the official stamp of the bank in question will be
accepted. This stamp should appear on every page of the statement.
We will not accept statements which show the balance in the account on a particular day as these
documents do not show that you have held enough funds for the full period needed.
ii) Building society pass book covering a consecutive 90 day period, ending no more than 31
days before the date of application:
The building society pass book should clearly show:
• your name;
• any transactions during the 90 day period;
• that there are enough funds present in the account. For applications received before
1 July 2014, the balance must always be at least £3,100 or £900 (as appropriate),
covering the 90 day period before the date of application;
• For applications received on or after 1 July 2014, the balance must always be £3,310
or £945 (as appropriate), covering the 90 day period before the date of application.
iii) Letter from bank confirming funds and that they have been in the bank for at least 90 days:
The letter from a bank or building society should show:
• your name;
• the date of the letter;
• the funds held in your account;
• for applications received before 1 July 2014, that the funds of £3,100 or £900 (as
appropriate), have been in the bank for at least a consecutive 90 day period on and
immediately before the date of the letter;
• for applications received on or after 1 July 2014, that the funds of £3,310 or £945 (as
immediately before the date of the letter.
The letter must be dated no more than 31 days before the date of application.
All statements must be on the bank’s letterhead/official stationery
We will not accept letters which show the balance in the account on a particular day as these
documents do not show that you have held enough funds for the full period needed.

iv) Letter from a financial institution
The letter(s) from a regulated financial institution that you send us must cover a consecutive 90
day period ending no more than 31 days before the date of your application. The letter(s) must be
the original (not a copy) and must clearly show:
• your name; and
• the account number; and
• the date of the letter; and
• the financial institution’s name and logo; and
• the money in the account; and
• for applications received before 1 July 2014, that the funds of £3,100 or £900 (as
immediately before the date of the letter;
• for applications received on or after 1 July 2014, that the funds of £3,310 or £945 (as
immediately before the date of the letter.
The financial institution must be regulated by either the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA),
the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) or, in the case of overseas accounts, by the home
regulator (the official regulatory body for the country the financial institution is in and where the
money is held) for the purpose of personal savings accounts.
We will not accept letters which show the balance in the account on a particular day as these
documents do not show that you have held sufficient funds for the full period needed.
Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) - Indefinite Leave to Remain

191. If you wish to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (Settlement) in the UK you can find the
information needed for the application on the gov.uk website at:
www.gov.uk/government/collections/chapter-6a-settlement-immigration-directorate-instructions.

Annex A - Glossary of Terms and Further Information
A business
A1. A business means an enterprise which is a sole trader; or a partnership; or a company
registered in the United Kingdom.
Currency Conversion
A2. The exchange rate used for overseas currency will be a rate conversion made using the
exchange rate shown on the OANDA website on www.oanda.com on the date the application was
made. This is an independent website, for which we are not responsible.
A new investment is required

A3. The money used will only qualify for the award of points if it will be new investment in the
United Kingdom. A new investment is one made within the 12 calendar months before the date of
application.
A4. If you have already legally established a business that complies with relevant UK legislation
in the UK while here under a different immigration category, you must satisfy the full requirements
for the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) initial application before you can be considered for approval. This
means that if you made the investment in the business more than 12 months before applying to
enter the category, you must make a further investment of £200,000.
If you were previously a Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) migrant and you invested your money
more than 24 months before applying to enter the category, you must make a further investment of
£50,000.
Assets or possessions will not be accepted for the award of points

A5. Funds that you claim are available but that have not been converted to money will not
be accepted for the award of points. For example, this includes estimates of the money that
will become available when assets are sold. This is because until the sale of these assets is
complete, and money transferred to the seller, there is no guarantee that the estimated value of
the assets will be realised.
Financial institutions
A6. For the purposes of this guidance, a financial institution is one that acts as an agent that
provides financial services for its clients. Common types of financial institutions include banks,
building societies, credit unions, stock brokerages and asset management firms. This is not
intended to be an exhaustive list. Financial institutions are responsible for transferring funds from
investors to companies in need of those funds. Financial institutions fall under financial regulation
from a government authority.
Financial regulation
A7. Financial regulations are a form of control or supervision, which subjects financial
institutions to local requirements, restrictions and guidelines, aiming to maintain the integrity
of the financial system. This may be handled by either a government or non-government
organisation. In the UK, by law, most financial service firms must be authorised by the Financial
Conduct Authority (FCA) and/or the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) to do business in the
UK.
The home regulator

A8. The home regulator is an official financial regulatory body, appropriate to the type of
financial transaction, in the country of operation where the transaction was made.

Only money held in a regulated financial institution will be accepted for the award of
points
A9. The money must be held in one or more financial institutions (for example a bank or
building society), each of which must be regulated by the appropriate regulator in the country
where they are operating. In order for a firm to hold money on someone’s behalf the financial
institution must first be authorised by its home regulator and meet the minimum requirements to
safeguard these funds. This activity is usually referred to as ‘deposit taking’.
Money held in a financial institution that is not regulated by the home regulator will not be
accepted for the award of points.
Confirmation that the financial institution is regulated by the home regulator

A10. We may seek to confirm that a financial institution is regulated by the home regulator. We
may do this by accessing the appropriate website and/or by contacting the institution directly.
A11. We will access the Financial Services Register at first, through its website at www.fca.org.
uk/firms/systems-reporting/register/search. Institutions are registered as ‘firms’ under the name
of the institution or as ‘individuals’ if a person is the authorised body.
The FCA and PRA listing process

A12. The authorisation process has been split between FCA and PRA. Firms carrying out PRA
regulated activities as a bank, credit union, insurer, or managing agent of a Lloyds syndicate
need to apply to the PRA for authorisation, but authorisation will not be granted unless the FCA
is also satisfied that it should be. Firms that will be dual regulated should apply to the PRA
unless directed otherwise. Solo regulated firms e.g. e-money institutions and payments service
institutions and other providers will need to apply to the FCA for authorisation. Firms that have
applied to the FCA/PRA for registration may not carry on regulated activities until their registration
is complete. This may take three months or longer in some cases.
Overseas institutions not regulated by the FCA/PRA

A13. For overseas companies not registered with the FCA/PRA, we will use the information
available from the Companies House list of overseas regulatory institutions under Worldwide
registries at www.companieshouse.gov.uk/links/introduction.shtml .
Alternatively for overseas institutions not registered with the FCA/PRA, we may also use the
International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) general membership lists at: www.
iosco.org/.
Ordinary, associate and affiliate members make up a very high percentage of all overseas
financial regulatory bodies on this site. Enquirers searching for a regulatory body may need to
look under all three membership categories. For example, Canada’s regulatory bodies are listed
under affiliate bodies.
Central banks may also have supervision over some financial markets. For a list of international
central banks not registered with the FCA/PRA, we will use the list of central bank websites on the
Bank for International Settlements website at: www.bis.org/central_bank_hub_overview.htm.
A14. Overseas regulatory bodies appearing on any of these websites will be accepted as an
appropriate regulatory body. Only overseas regulatory bodies appearing on the websites listed
may be accepted for the purpose of this guidance. If an application relies on money held in a
financial institution not regulated by one of these bodies, it will not be accepted for the award of
points.
European Economic Area (EEA) financial institutions

A15. If the EEA firm is already operating in the UK it will be on the Financial Services Register. If
not, the firm must be registered for operations in the country in which it operates (see the lists of
regulatory bodies on the IOSCO website under A13 above). Under what is termed ‘passporting’
agreements, an EEA firm can provide financial services in the United Kingdom if it is entitled to
carry on an activity in another EEA state, but in this case the firm must still be regulated by the
appropriate overseas authority.
Financial exchanges are not responsible for control.

A16. Financial exchanges are a form of market for the financial industry, and may be in charge
of some of the listing and disclosure requirements for traded financial products on stock markets.
These exchanges are not likely, however, to operate any form of control or monitoring of firms.
Therefore listing on a financial exchange cannot be accepted as an appropriate form of regulation
of an overseas firm. For example if a bank is listed on a recognised stock exchange, this is no
guarantee that the bank is properly regulated and authorised. We will need to seek evidence of
registration from an authority on one of the websites listed above.
Accounting periods
A17. You can find more information on accounting periods at www.gov.uk.
Recognised United Kingdom supervisory bodies for accountants

A18. Evidence submitted from accountants must be members one of the following supervisory
bodies: the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), the Institute of
Chartered Accountants in Scotland (ICAS), the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland
(ICAI); the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA); and the Association of
Authorised Public Accountants (AAPA).
Types of investment accepted for the award of points

A19. Direct cash investment In order to ensure that the money is used by the business, you
should provide the accounts of that business for assessment. These accounts must show the
investment in money made directly by you, in your own name.
Share capital This only applies to migrants with a company structure that can raise money
through shares.
You must give us business accounts showing the shareholders in the business. The amount and
value of the shares (on the date of purchase) owned by you (in your name as it appears on your
application) must be shown. If the value of your share capital is not shown in the accounts, then
share certificates should be submitted as documentary evidence.
Director’s loan This only applies to migrants who become directors of a company. A director’s
loan to the company will be considered for the award of points as long as it is unsecured and
subordinated in favour of third-party creditors. (For the purposes of this guidance an unsecured
loan is where you have loaned money to the business that is not secured by property or assets
that become subject to seizure on default. Third-party creditors are those individuals or companies
that the business owes money to, not including you.)
Types of investment excluded from the award of points

A20. A loan to the business will not be accepted The investment should not be in the form of
a Director’s loan, unless it is unsecured and subordinated in favour of third-party creditors. We
will use any legal agreement between you and the company to assess this. If no legal agreement
is provided or if the investment appears to be in the form of a loan which does not meet these
conditions, no points will be awarded for this investment.
Property development and property management are excluded from the types of
investment accepted for the award of points Investment in property development and
management will not be taken into account for the award of points. This is because it is not the
intention of this category to allow you to set up as a landlord and let properties in the United
Kingdom. The intention is to promote United Kingdom competitiveness in business and to focus
the investment on promoting business beneficial to the United Kingdom economy.
A person involved in property development makes improvements of some kind to immovable
property (real estate), which increases its value. A person involved in property management
is charged with operating immovable property (real estate) for a fee, on behalf of the owner.
The restrictions on investment in property development and property management are intended
to ensure that the Entrepreneur route is used to promote United Kingdom competitiveness in
business.
There is no objection, however, to you investing in companies that are mainly involved in
construction.
Money should be fully used in the business and not held in the business bank account in order to
qualify for the award of points
Money deposited in a bank account, even if it is in a United Kingdom business bank account, is
not counted as investment in business. The money should be used in the business to encourage
growth or expansion, to improve services or products and to ensure the business is profitable.
What is a business in the UK?

A21. For the purposes of this application, you must have made a capital investment in a business
operating within the UK economy and subject to UK taxation. We will consider a United Kingdom
business to be one that:
1. has its business premises (unless you are self-employed and do not have a premises) or its
registered office or, if it has no registered office, its head office (for a Director of a company)
in the UK;
2. has a UK bank account showing transactions for the business that are current (this may be
either a business bank account, or a personal bank account for sole traders); and
3. is subject to UK taxation.
Any business that benefits from your £200,000 (or £50,000) investment used for the purposes of
claiming points for this application must be this type of business.
Multinational companies that are registered as UK companies with either a registered office or
head office in the UK are acceptable.
Registration as self-employed
A22. A person setting up as self-employed must register as such with HMRC within six months of
starting up. For more information on the legal requirements see the section Business and Self-
employed at www.gov.uk/browse/business.
Current appointment report from Companies House

A23. You must obtain the report from Companies House, for a fee, and send it with your
application. This document shows when you became a director of a company. This will be the
same document for a new business as for those becoming directors of an existing business.
For more information on registration with Companies House, please contact Companies House
www.companieshouse.gov.uk/contact/contactUs.shtml For information on obtaining the current
appointment report please see www.companieshouse.gov.uk/toolsToHelp/findCompanyInfo.shtml.
Franchises
A24. Businesses that are set up as franchises can be accepted for the award of points. You will
either be self-employed or employed, depending on how you decide to structure the franchise
business, and should provide the appropriate evidence.
New employment created

A25. The jobs created must meet United Kingdom legislation. We are not able to offer you advice
on compliance with employment legislation. You should see Employing people at www.gov.uk/
Other information is available from HMRC at www.hmrc.gov.uk or from its new employer helpline
on 0845 607 0143, Monday to Friday 0800 – 2000 or Saturday and Sunday 0800 – 1700, or
textphone 0845 602 1380.
What is an employee?
A26. Not everyone who works for someone else is an employee.
You can claim points for employees who are:
• part-time and full-time workers; or
• workers under an employment contract.
However, you cannot claim points for a self-employed worker who is contracted to work for you.
In this case the person will have a contract for service and will not be accepted for the award of
points as an employee.
It is your responsibility to consider the status of employees, and advice on this should be sought
from the HMRC website www.hmrc.gov.uk/employment-status/index.htm ) or from the Gov. UK
website.(www.gov.uk/ ) The HMRC employer helpline can also offer advice, on 0845 714 3143.
You should not contact us for advice on employee status.
What is a settled worker?

A27. Only jobs that are given to people with settled status in the UK will qualify for the award
of points. Paragraph 6 of the Immigration Rules defines what we mean by “settled in the United
Kingdom” This can be viewed on www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/policyandlaw/immigrationlaw/
immigrationrules/introduction/ .
For the purposes of these guidance notes a ‘settled worker’ is a person who is:
• A national of the UK;
• A national of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Latvia,
Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden or Switzerland who is exercising an EC
Treaty Right in the UK;
• British overseas territories citizens except those from Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus.
Those included are Anguilla, Bermuda, British Antarctic Territory, British Virgin Islands,
British Indian Ocean Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands and dependencies,
Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, St. Helena and Dependencies and Turks and
Caicos Islands;
• Commonwealth citizens who were allowed to enter or to remain in the UK on the basis
that a grandparent was born here;
• Settled in the UK within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971, as amended by the
Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, and the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002.
Note that workers requiring approval to work in the UK, such as holders of an immigration
employment document under the work permit arrangements, will not count towards the award of
points even if they have permission to work for your business. Any holder of a letter of permission
to work under Tier 1 of the Points Based System such as under the Tier 1 (General) category will
not count for the award of points.
Evidence of settled worker status

A28. When you or your business employs a worker for whom points will be claimed, the
employer is responsible for checking that the worker is not an illegal worker. The employer is
required to copy certain documents and keep them. These documents are listed in the Summary
guidance for employers on preventing illegal working, which you can

download from www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-illegal-working-in-the-uk .
Why is full-time work set at 30 hours a week?

A29. Posts which are less than 30 hours a week are regarded as part-time by the Department for
Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and on the National Statistics Online records. Therefore we
consider 30 hours a week to be the minimum that qualifies as full-time.
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) registration forms

A30. Every employer must register with HMRC and notify it of the employment, and the earnings,
of theri employees. We are not able to offer advice on registering as an employer or on the
records that an employer must keep. You can find this advice on the HMRC website on www.
hmrc.gov.uk or from its employer helpline on 0845 714 3143.
HMRC requires an employer to keep an Employee Payment Record for at least three years. This
record will show details of the earnings for the employee for each week that he/she worked for the
employer.
If you employ more workers but do not use their employment to support their claim of points,
you do not need to send information on those workers. We only need details of the employment
created and used to claim points for this application.
How to assess the dates of the employment from the Full Payment Submission
(FPS)
A31. In order to qualify for points the post must be created as a result of your contribution to the
United Kingdom economy. The posts you have created or have been created by your business,
must be new posts.
A32. If you are joining an existing business you must create posts as a result of your contribution.
When awarding points, we will only accept evidence of posts created after the date that you
started work in the business.
A33. The FPS shows the dates of employment of the worker. You must supply the printout of the
FPS showing the dates of starting employment.
Pay statement (wage slip)

A34. You must provide copies of pay statements, often known as pay slips or wage slips, that
have been issued to the workers used to claim points. These must cover the full period for which
the points are claimed. For more information on pay statements see www.gov.uk/ We cannot
advise on employer obligations on pay statements. You should contact the Department for
Business, Innovation and Skills (www.bis.gov.uk) with any queries on legal requirements.
Legal representative
A35. This is a person who oversees the legal affairs of someone else. Examples include the
executor or administrator of an estate and a court-appointed guardian of a child or incompetent
person. We will accept a lawyer or a notary public as a legal representative.
Lawyer A professional person authorised to practise law, conduct lawsuits or give legal advice.
Notary public A public official whose main powers include administering oaths and confirming
signatures.
What is notarisation?
A36. Notarisation is the certification by a notary public that the signature appearing on
a document is genuine. Notaries assess documents and confirm that copies are exact
representations of the original. A notarisation should include a notary’s signature and an official
stamp.
What is the specified date?

A37. A Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) migrant must have met the conditions of the category within six
months (26 weeks) of either:
• The date of your entry to the UK if you were granted entry clearance as a Tier 1
(Entrepreneur) migrant and where there is evidence to establish the date of your entry to
the UK; or
• The date of your grant of entry clearance, if you were granted entry clearance as a Tier 1
(Entrepreneur) migrant and where there is no evidence to establish the date of your entry
to the UK; or
• The date of the your grant of leave to remain , in any other case.
This does not apply where your last grant of leave prior to the grant of leave that you currently
have was as a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) migrant, a Businessperson or an Innovator.
Where you have been found not to have fulfilled one or more of the following within six months of
the specified date you may have their leave curtailed:
• Registered with the HMRC as self-employed;
• Registered as a new business in which you are a director; or
• Registered as director of an existing business.
Entrepreneurial teams
A40. You may claim points for the same investment and business activity with another person if
you have formed an entrepreneurial team. In this case you must both have equal level of control
over the investment funds and/or business(es) formed.
Both members of the entrepreneurial team must be shown by name in each other’s applications,
and in the evidence of funds.
Neither of the team members must have previously been granted leave as a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur)
migrant on the basis of investment and/or business activity linked in this way with any applicant
other than each other if the same funds are being relied on as in a previous application.

Annex B - Administrative Review
(Entry clearance applications only)
1. What is Administrative Review?

Administrative Review is the mechanism for reviewing refusal decisions made under the Points
Based System where an applicant believes an error has been made in the decision. The
Administrative Review is free of charge.
Administrative Review is an entitlement but the request must be made within 28 days from
the date the refusal notice is received by you. For time limits for making a request, see further
paragraphs 6 and 7 below.
Administrative Review is a non-statutory scheme; that is there is no legislation setting out what it
covers or who is eligible to apply. The policy is contained in this guidance.
2. What if the Administrative Review request refers to matters outside the scope of
the Administrative Review?
Where this occurs the matters should be dealt with under the normal complaints procedure. In
such cases you will be advised in writing.
3. Who conducts the Administrative Review?

An Entry Clearance Manager will conduct the administrative review. This may mean that in some
cases, an Entry Clearance Manager from another Post will conduct the Administrative Review.
You may receive the result of the Administrative Review from an entry clearance post that is
different to the one that considered the original entry clearance application.
4. Who can apply for Administrative Review?

Anyone refused entry clearance under the Points Based System, where they believe the Entry
Clearance Officer has made an incorrect decision.
5. How does the applicant apply?

You will receive the Administrative Review Request Notice with the entry clearance refusal notice.
You must complete the Request Notice in full and send it directly to the address stated on the
Request Notice.
You must not send any additional documents such as passport or supporting documents with the
Administrative Review request notice. If the refusal is subsequently overturned, you will be asked
to send in your passport.
6. What is the deadline for applying for Administrative Review?

You have 28 days from the date of receipt of the refusal notice, to submit a request for
Administrative Review.
7. What if an application is submitted late?

Where an Administrative Review request is received outside the 28-day period, the administrative
reviewer will consider if there are exceptional circumstances to accept the application outside of
the deadline.
If the Administrative Review request is late and the administrative reviewer decides not to perform
the Administrative Review, the request notice will be returned to you with a letter explaining why it
is not being accepted.

8. How many times can you request an Administrative Review?
You may request only one Administrative Review per refusal decision. Any further review requests
received for the same refusal decision will not be accepted. They will be returned to you.
However, where the Administrative Review upholds a refusal but with different refusal grounds,
you may request an administrative review of these new refusal grounds.
If you have new or further information, documents or other paperwork that you failed to submit
with your original application, you will need to make a new application and pay the appropriate
fee.
9. How long will the Administrative Review take?

The administrative reviewer will complete their review and notify you in writing of their decision
within 28 days from the date of receipt of the Administrative Review request notice.
If, in exceptional circumstances, the administrative reviewer is unable to complete the
Administrative Review within the 28 days, they will notify you in writing as to when to expect a
decision.
10. What will the administrative reviewer look at?

The administrative reviewer will examine the evidence submitted with the original application,
copies of which will be kept at the refusal post.
You are not allowed to provide new evidence. Any new evidence must be disregarded unless
you were refused under paragraph 320 (7A) or 320 (7B) of the Immigration Rules on General
Grounds for Refusal (see paragraph 12).
Any new evidence you submit will be returned to you together with the outcome of the
Administrative Review.
11. How are Administrative Review decisions made?

The administrative reviewer should focus on the areas which you have asked to be reviewed.
They will check that:
• points have been correctly awarded;
• documents have been correctly assessed; and
• verification checks have been properly carried out.
The administrative reviewer may recommend that the reason for refusal should be overturned, if
they find that the Entry Clearance Officer:
• failed to properly consider evidence submitted with the original application;
• failed to apply the Immigration Rules correctly;
• made a mistake in processing the application;
• failed to give adequate reasons for refusing entry clearance. In this case, the
administrative reviewer will recommend the Entry Clearance Officer revoke the original
refusal and serve a new refusal notice giving a full explanation for the refusal.
Where the administrative reviewer recommends in line with the above, that the reasons for
refusal should be revoked, you may still be refused but with new grounds for refusal.
The administrative reviewer will not recommend that the original decision is overturned simply
because you claim there is a fault with the Home Office’s underlying processes or policies.

12. Does Administrative Review cover General Grounds for Refusal?
Yes. Administrative Review will also look at refusals on the basis of paragraph 320 of the
Immigration Rules on “General Grounds for Refusal.”
Reviews of refusals made under paragraphs 320(7A) and 320(7B) of the Immigration Rules
You may submit further information with the Administrative Review request, if the refusal is based
on paragraph 320 (7A) or 320 (7B) of the Immigration Rules on General Grounds for Refusal.
If an application has been refused because a false document was used or a false representation
was made, you may claim that you were unaware of the false documents or false representations.
The refusal will still stand but you would have to prove that you did not know that false documents
or false representations were used, if you are not to have any future applications automatically
refused for 10 years. Where the documents related directly to you (for example, employment
references, qualifications or financial details), such a claim would be likely to fail unless you have
clear evidence that an error has been made (for example, written confirmation from an employer,
financial institution or educational establishment that you have supplied us with incorrect
information at the time we verified the original documentation).
If the administrative reviewer does accept that you did not knowingly use false documents or
false representations, the refusal will still stand, but you will not automatically have any future
applications refused under the rules (paragraph 320 (7B) where false documents or false
representations were used.
13. Does Administrative Review cover verification?

Yes. As part of the administrative review process the administrative reviewer will ensure that the
Entry Clearance Officer has followed the correct verification procedures.
14. What are the possible outcomes of Administrative Review?
There are three possible outcomes of Administrative Review:

• Uphold decision, reasons for refusal remain the same;
• Uphold decision, with revised reasons for refusal;
• Overturn decision and issue entry clearance.
15. How are you informed of the result of the Administrative Review?
Decision upheld and the reasons for refusal remain the same:
• the administrative reviewer will notify you by letter. You will not be entitled to a further
Administrative Review as the grounds for refusal has not changed.
Decision upheld but with revised reasons for refusal:
• A new refusal notice (GV51) will be served along with the Administrative Review letter from
the administrative reviewer stating why the refusal has still been upheld. If there are fresh
reasons for refusal which were not notified originally, you will be able to submit a further
Administrative Review request limited to those fresh reasons.
Decision overturned and entry clearance to issue:
• The administrative reviewer will notify you by letter and request your passport.
16. Limited Right of Appeal

You can only appeal on any or all of the grounds referred to in section 84 (1)(b) and (c) of the
Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. These are that the decision is unlawful by virtue of
section 29 of the Equality Act 2010 (discrimination in the exercise of public functions etc) so far as
relating to race as defined by section 9(1) of that Act, and/or that the decision is unlawful under
section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 (public authority not to act contrary to Human Rights
Convention) as being incompatible with the appellant’s Convention rights.
All entry clearance applicants under the Points Based System who are refused will be limited to
residual grounds of appeal stated above.
The process for dealing with limited rights of appeal remains unchanged.

Annex C - Verification and other checks
1. What may be checked?
We may want to check the supporting documents you send with your application. Therefore, you
must ensure that all the evidence comes from a source that can be clearly identified and that it can
be independently confirmed as being genuine.
These checks may delay our decision on an application so we will only make them when we have
clear reasons to do so.
2. When will verification checks be made?
Where we have reasonable doubts that a specified document is genuine we may want to verify the
document with an independent person or government agency.
What we consider to be a reasonable doubt will depend on an individual application. However, our
judgments will be based on the facts we have.
The purpose of these checks is to ensure that the document provided is genuine and accurately
reflects statements made in the application. If the document is being used as evidence to score
points, we also want to ensure that it entitles you to claim those points.
3. When will other checks be made?
We will make other checks where, for example, we have doubts about an application or the
documents sent with the application but these are not serious enough for us to make a verification
check.
This may be because previous verification checks have found that some supporting evidence is
invalid and some is genuine, or where evidence provided contradicts information we already have.
In these cases, we may carry out more checks.
4. What are the possible outcomes of checks?
There are four possible outcomes of a check:
• Document confirmed as genuine. If we conclude that the document is genuine, we will
consider the application as normal.
• Document confirmed as false. If we conclude that the document is false, we will refuse
the application, whether or not the document is essential to the application. If a document
is confirmed as false we will normally refuse the application for more than one reason.
For example, if you send us a bank statement to show that you have enough funds
available, and we have evidence that the statement is false, we will refuse the application
because you do not meet the funds requirement and because you have sent a false
document. Where we confirm that a document is false it will be retained by the Home
Office and is likely to jeopardise any future application.
• Check inconclusive (verification checks). If we cannot verify that the document is
either genuine or false then we will ignore it as evidence for scoring points. If you have
sent other specified documents as evidence for scoring the relevant points, we will
consider these as normal. If you have not sent any other documents, we will award zero
points in that area.
• Check inconclusive (other checks). If we cannot verify that the document is either
genuine or false then we will consider the application as if the document is genuine.
• Check gives us cause to have reasonable doubt about the genuineness of a
specified document (other checks). If we cannot determine that the document is
either genuine or false but as a result of the checks we find other reasons to doubt the
genuineness of a particular specified document, we may decide to make a verification
check.

5. When would an application be refused without making verification checks?
We may refuse an application without making verification checks where:
• We are concerned about a piece of evidence but would in any event refuse the
application for other reasons, those reasons will form the basis of the refusal. We will
not make verification checks in these circumstances. However, we will always verify
passports if we doubt they are genuine.
• There is evidence that proves a particular document is false without verification
checks.
6. What is the procedure for verification and other checks?
The procedures for both verification checks and other checks will vary from case-to-case, but they
may involve:
• checking the details or genuineness of documents with employers, the relevant
embassy or high commission, other government departments (in the United Kingdom
and overseas); and
• checking the accuracy and authenticity of documents with banks, universities and
professional bodies.
We record the results of our enquiries.
If we cannot obtain an immediate answer to enquiries, we will normally wait for up to a maximum
of four weeks for the necessary information.
Our compliance team may visit your employer or educational institution (if you are a student)
before we make a decision on the application.

Annex D - Additional evidence for sponsored students
1. For the purposes of this section of the guidance, ‘sponsored’ means ‘wholly supported by an
award that covers both fees and living costs’.
2. If you have had permission to be in the United Kingdom in one of the following categories,
within the last 12 months, you may have been sponsored in your studies by a Government
or an international scholarship agency:
• Student; or
• Tier 4; or
• Student nurse; or
• Student re-sitting an examination; or
• Student writing up a thesis; or
• Postgraduate Doctor or Dentist.
3. If you are currently sponsored by a Government or an international scholarship agency,

or such sponsorship ended within the past 12 months of this application being made,
you must provide us with the sponsor’s unconditional consent in writing to us, giving you
their permission to remain in or re-enter the United Kingdom. If the sponsor does not give
unconditional consent or gives permission for a limited time, we will refuse the application.
4. The evidence must be original, on the official letter-headed paper or stationery of the
organisation and have the official stamp of that organisation. It must have been issued by an
authorised official of that organisation.
5. If you have received private sponsorship during your studies (for example from an employer
or relative), we do not require the sponsor’s consent.
6. For more advice on sponsored students, see the chapter on Restrictions for some Students
with Official Financial Sponsorship in the Tier 4 Policy guidance, which you can find on the
gov.uk website at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-application-for-uk-visa-
as-tier-4-student.

Annex E - Templates
Document 1
Letter for AFI, this should be submitted as an original document, and not a copy, on the letter-
headed paper of the financial institution
CONFIDENTIAL
For the attention of the Home Office
In regards to the application of Mr/Mrs/Ms [Name] for Entrepreneur status in the United Kingdom:
I have the consent of [name] to share these findings with the Agency. I will confirm the contents
of this letter to the Agency at their request.
[name/s] has £ available for investment in the United Kingdom on deposit with this financial
institution.
On this date [give date]
The applicant has the following amount of money IN THEIR OWN NAME available for investment
in a business in the United Kingdom [£ ] if applicable. Or, the applicant has agreed to form
an entrepreneurial team with [name] and has the following amount of money IN THEIR OWN
NAMES available for investment in a business in the United Kingdom [£ ] if applicable. If these
funds are already in the United Kingdom, please give the date of entry to the United Kingdom
[date of entry of money into the United Kingdom dd/mm/yyyy]
The applicant/s has/have the following amount of money available for investment in a business in
the United Kingdom, held in this institution under the names of [please enter details in the table
provided if applicable].
I am not aware of [name of the funds holder] having promised to make that money available to
any other person.
Name of Relationship Contact Amount of money If these funds are
third party to applicant or details from the third already in the
contributor each applicant party available to United Kingdom,
the applicant or the date of entry to
both applicants the United Kingdom
must be given
Name and address of Authorised Financial Institution:

This institution is regulated by the FCA/PRA [state form of registration]
Name and contact details of the Author of this document:
Signature of authorised person of the Authorised Financial Institution

Document 2
Declaration of availability of third party funds used for an application for Entrepreneur status. This
must be an original document and not a copy.
CONFIDENTIAL
For the attention of the Home Office
I agree that this letter may be shown to the Home Office. I will confirm the contents of this letter at
the request of the Agency.
In regards to the application/s of Mr/Mrs/Ms [applicant’s name or names] for Entrepreneur status
in the United Kingdom:
I [name] am the [state relationship] of [name] who has made an application for Entrepreneur
status in the United Kingdom. I am willing to share this information with the Home Office.
I have £ (please give amount in Pounds Sterling) and I will make it available to [name of applicant
or applicants who have agreed to form an entrepreneurial team] or the business they run in the
United Kingdom.
I confirm that this money will remain available to [name of applicant or applicants who have
agreed to form an entrepreneurial team] until it is transferred to them or to their business.
OR
I [name] represent [corporate body] which has £ (please give amount in pounds sterling) and will
make it available to [name of applicant] or the business they run in the United Kingdom. I confirm
that this money will remain available to [name of applicant or applicants who have agreed to form
an entrepreneurial team] until it is transferred to them or to their business.
Contact details of third party, including: Full address including postal code Landline telephone
number Email address if available. Third party’s identity document number (e.g. passport or
national identity card), place of issue and dates of issue and expiry
Signature of third party
Signature of applicant
Signature of both applicants who have agreed to form an entrepreneurial team (if applicable)
Date that the declaration was made [dd/mm/yyyy]
Extra information needed where the £50,000 investment provision is used;
For Venture capital firms –the name and registration number that they are listed under with the
FCA as permitted to operate as a venture capital firm and confirmation of the funding agreement;
or
For Seed funding Competition – confirmation that the competition is listed by the UK Trade and
Industry and the name that it is listed under or
For UK Government Departments or Devolved Government Departments in Scotland, Wales or
Northern Ireland funding made available for the specific purpose of establishing or expanding a
UK business – confirmation that the Department is contributing funds directly to the applicant/s or
applicant’s business.

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TIER 1

This document gives the policy guidance for Entrepreneurs

It is correct at the time of publication but may change, so

For more information on how to apply, go to the visa and

General information on making an application 1

When should you apply 1

Verification and other checks 2

Outcome of the decision 2

Administrative review (entry clearance applications only) 2

Appeal Rights (in-country applications) 3

Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) overview of terms and conditions 4

Eligibility to apply in the UK 5

Care Arrangements for Children 5

Private Foster Care Arrangements 6

Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) - points scoring 6

Points scoring requirements 6

Attributes for initial entry 7

Attributes table for initial applications 8

Genuine Entrepreneur Test 9

Claiming points for attributes 10

Attributes for extension applications 15

Claiming points for attributes 16

Evidence of the amount of money available to invest 19

Additional evidence for third-party funding 22

Money that has been invested in business 23

Evidence of registration as self-employed or as a director – extension applications only 26

Evidence of current registration as self-employed or as a director 27

Evidence of graduate level occupation 28

English language requirement 32

English language assessment 32

National of a majority English speaking country 33

English language test 34

Degree taught in English 35

Maintenance requirement – all applications 37

Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) - Indefinite Leave to Remain 40

Annex A - Glossary of Terms and Further Information 41

Annex B - Administrative Review 48

Annex C - Verification and other checks 52

Annex D - Additional evidence for sponsored students 54

Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) Policy Guidance version 04/2014 page ii of ii

5. When we refer to a grant of leave, we mean permission stay in the UK.

General information on making an application

When should you apply

Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) Policy Guidance version 04/2014 Page 1 of 56

• the end of the last period of leave to enter or remain granted;

Verification and other checks

Outcome of the decision

Administrative review (entry clearance applications only)

To change your: If your current grant of leave was made by

18. If you have submitted specified documents in which:

• where a specified document has been completely omitted.

o other documents submitted with the application; or

Additional evidence for sponsored students

Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) overview of terms and conditions

Type of leave: Length of grant:

Entry clearance Three years plus four

Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) Policy Guidance version 04/2014 Page 4 of 56

24. You must be at least 16 years old to use this route.