Tier 1 Team Entrepreneur application

Marwan El Gazzer made this Freedom of Information request to Home Office This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was successful.

Marwan El Gazzer

Dear Home Office,

Hi,

I am currently in the process of applying for a team entrepreneur application for myself and my father on an entry clearance basis. I have a UK bank account in which I have deposited £200,000. Is it necessary for my father to be added on as a joint account holder to meet with the funding requirement or can I provide a third party declaration in the format you have stiupulated that the funds are avaiable to him.

I have read the section on the team entrepreneur visa which i have reproduced below;
52. Two applicants, but no more than two applicants, may claim points for the same investment, available funds, jobs created and business activity in Tables 4, 5 or 6 provided all of the following requirements are met:
(a) The applicants have equal level of control over the funds and (where relevant) equal status as owners, directors and/or members of the business or businesses in question.
(b) The applicants are both shown by name, passport number and (where relevant) Points-Based System reference number in each other’s applications and in the specified evidence required in the relevant table.
(c) Neither applicant has 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 were relied on in a previous application.

I have also read the specified evidence section in the immigration rules and also reproduced this below;
(vi) An original written declaration from each third party that they have made the money available to invest in the applicant’s business in the UK, containing:
(1) the names of the third party and the applicant (and their entrepreneurial team partner’s name where relevant), or the name of the applicant’s business,
(2) the date of the declaration,
(3) the applicant’s signature and the signature of the third party (and the signature of the applicant’s entrepreneurial team partner where relevant),
(4) the amount of money available in pounds sterling,
(5) the relationship(s) of the third party to the applicant,
(6) if the third party is another business in which the applicant is self-employed or a director, evidence of the applicant’s status within that business and that the applicant is the sole controller of that business’s finances, or, where the applicant is not the sole controller, the letter must be signed by another authorised official of that business who is not the applicant, and
(7) confirmation that the money will remain available until such time as it is transferred to the applicant, the entrepreneurial team or the applicant’s business.
(vii) A letter (or letters) from one or more legal representatives, who are not the applicant or the third party, which confirm(s) that the declaration(s) from the third party or parties mentioned in (vi) and letters from financial institutions mentioned in (viii) contain the genuine signatures of the required signatories. The letter(s) must clearly show the registration or authority of the legal representative to practise legally in the country where the third party or the money is.
(viii) A letter from each financial institution holding the funds, issued by an authorised official of that institution, confirming in each case the amount of money that the third party 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 available.

Can you please advice on the documentary specified evidence requirment. By interpretation of the above leads me to conclude that I meet with the criterea by submitting the evidence listed above. Is this correct? Or will I need to hold the funds in a joint account with my father.

Yours faithfully,

Marwan

FOI Requests, Home Office

Marwan,

Please be aware that we have decided to handle your correspondence of 21 March outside the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. This is because it does not meet the criteria for a Freedom of Information request, as it does not ask for recorded information.

Below is a link to the ICO guidance for the criteria for valid requests under the Act:
https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisatio...

We will provide an answer to your query, but it will be answer outside of the provisions of the Act.  You should expect to receive a response in due course.

Thank you,

P. Zebedee
FOI Requests
Home Office

show quoted sections

Digital Correspondence Allocation Team, Home Office

Dear Sir / Madam,

 

Thank you for your e-mail of 21 March.

 

Please see the information below, provided to us from the Economic
Migration Policy team in response to your enquiry:

 

"Dear Marwan,

 

Where a migrant wishes to apply for a Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa as part of
a two person entrepreneurial team they must demonstrate that both team
members have equal control of the funds that are being invested. We would
expect that both applicants would have equal control of the companies
funds and as such both applicants should have access to a company's
account. This applies irrespective of whether a team are related.

 

If the funds have not yet been invested in the business one applicant can
make available the whole sum for the team however as stated above both
team members must be able to show that they will have equal control of the
funds when that money is invested into the business".

 

I hope this is helpful.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Customer Correspondence Hub

UK Visas and Immigration

 

 

show quoted sections