A fiancé(e) is a person who wishes to enter the UK with a view to marriage to a sponsor who is either:

• already present and settled in the UK; or
• will be admitted for settlement in the UK when arriving there, and,
• intends permanent settlement in the UK.

In a fiancé(e) visa application the term ‘sponsor’ refers to the person whom the applicant is intending to marry in the UK upon entry in the UK as a fiancé(e).

Both the applicant and the UK fiancé(e) of the applicant must be aged 18 or over for fiancé(e) visa application to succeed. In cases where the applicant is within a couple of months of their 18^th birthday, and the other party is 18 or over, the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) has discretion to issue UK visa entry clearance but valid only from when the person under 18 has reached their 18^th birthday.

Intention to live permanently with the other means an intention to live together, evidenced by a clear commitment from both parties that they will live together permanently in the UK immediately following the outcome of the application in question or as soon as circumstances permit.

In a case considered in the High Court in November 1996, Keen J held that:

‘The concept of intention is no doubt a complex one, but it appears to me that one can indeed have a genuine intention, notwithstanding that the carrying out of that intention is dependent on, or could be frustrated by, some extraneous event.’

He went on to conclude that the requirement of the Rules relating to the intention of the parties to the marriage could be met where the British citizen (or legally resident foreign national) spouse insisted on remaining in the UK. In other words, a conditional intention to live together could be sufficient to meet the ‘intention to live together permanently’ requirement.

Yes, the Immigration Rules for fiancé(e) visa application require that both the applicant and the UK sponsor must have met each other in person otherwise the application for fiancé(e) visa can be refused by the Entry Clearance Oficer (ECO) for this reason.

In case of Abdulmajid Esmail Jaffer, the Tribunal held that ‘to have met’ meant something more than a mutual sighting. They also felt that a mere coming face-to-face followed by telephone or written contact would be insufficient to satisfy the rule, as would a family background together with such a face-to-face meeting. In their view the essential test of whether the rule had been satisfied was whether the couple had had a face-to-face meeting which in itself had resulted in the making of mutual acquaintance.

A relationship that has developed over the Internet would not satisfy the ‘to have met’ requirement unless the relationship included a personal face-to-face meeting between the couple concerned. Evidence of a face-to-face meeting might include a travel history, relevant email exchanges etc.

For single adults, the Registrar normally accepts the parties’ declaration that they are free to marry. The ECO may, therefore, accept a similar verbal statement by an applicant, together with any supporting correspondence from the person he / she is going to marry. This is unless there are strong grounds to believe that one of the parties is still married/in a civil partnership or has been married / in a civil partnership previously and is concealing this fact. In such cases the ECO may make whatever enquiries as seem appropriate.

Where the ECO has doubts about an applicant’s intention to marry, the ECO may ask to see evidence of freedom to marry before issuing an entry clearance which may include:

• Widowed person: death certificate of the late spouse.
• Surviving civil partner: death certificate of the deceased civil partner.
• Divorced person: evidence of divorce e.g. a divorce certificate.
• Dissolved civil partnership: evidence of the dissolution, for example, dissolution certificate.

The Home Office UKVI fee for fiancé(e) visa UK is £1523.

In addition to the UK visa fee, you will also have to pay the legal costs of solicitors if you are getting professional services for your fiancé(e) visa UK. Fixed fees charged by our expert team of fiancé(e) visa solicitors are given in the table below:

The agreed fixed fee will depend on the complexity of the fiancé(e) visa entry clearance application and the volume of casework involved in the application.

Fiancé(e) visa UK fee is paid to the Home Office UKVI at the time of online submission of the fiancé(e) visa application.

Applicants for fiancé(e) visa UK do not have to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) for their fiancé(e) visa application.

In the event of refusal of fiancé(e) visa application, the applicant will lose his/her UK visa fee because the fiancé(e) visa fee will not be refunded to the applicant. It is therefore important to have proper legal help and assistance with the preparation and submission of the fiancé(e) visa application.

A proposed civil partner is a person who wishes to legally register his / her partnership with another person of the same sex.

In an application as a proposed civil partner, the ‘sponsor’ is the person with whom the applicant intends to register a civil partnership.

Both the applicant and the UK proposed civil partner of the applicant must be aged 18 or over for proposed civil partner visa application to succeed. In cases where the applicant is within a couple of months of their 18^th birthday, and the other party is 18 or over, the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) has discretion to issue UK visa entry clearance but valid only from when the person under 18 has reached their 18^th birthday.

Intention to live permanently with the other means an intention to live together, evidenced by a clear commitment from both parties that they will live together permanently in the UK immediately following the outcome of the application in question or as soon as circumstances permit.

In a case considered in the High Court in November 1996, Keen J held that:

‘The concept of intention is no doubt a complex one, but it appears to me that one can indeed have a genuine intention, notwithstanding that the carrying out of that intention is dependent on, or could be frustrated by, some extraneous event.’

He went on to conclude that the requirement of the Rules relating to the intention of the parties to the marriage could be met where the British citizen (or legally resident foreign national) spouse insisted on remaining in the UK. In other words, a conditional intention to live together could be sufficient to meet the ‘intention to live together permanently’ requirement.

Yes, the Immigration Rules for proposed civil partner visa application require that both the applicant and the UK sponsor must have met each other in person otherwise the application for proposed civil partner visa can be refused by the Entry Clearance Oficer (ECO) for this reason.

In case of Abdulmajid Esmail Jaffer, the Tribunal held that ‘to have met’ meant something more than a mutual sighting. They also felt that a mere coming face-to-face followed by telephone or written contact would be insufficient to satisfy the rule, as would a family background together with such a face-to-face meeting. In their view the essential test of whether the rule had been satisfied was whether the couple had had a face-to-face meeting which in itself had resulted in the making of mutual acquaintance.

A relationship that has developed over the Internet would not satisfy the ‘to have met’ requirement unless the relationship included a personal face-to-face meeting between the couple concerned. Evidence of a face-to-face meeting might include a travel history, relevant email exchanges etc.

For single adults, the Registrar normally accepts the parties’ declaration that they are free to marry. The ECO may, therefore, accept a similar verbal statement by an applicant, together with any supporting correspondence from the person he / she is going to marry. This is unless there are strong grounds to believe that one of the parties is still married/in a civil partnership or has been married / in a civil partnership previously and is concealing this fact. In such cases the ECO may make whatever enquiries as seem appropriate.

Where the ECO has doubts about an applicant’s intention to marry, the ECO may ask to see evidence of freedom to marry before issuing an entry clearance which may include:

• Widowed person: death certificate of the late spouse.
• Surviving civil partner: death certificate of the deceased civil partner.
• Divorced person: evidence of divorce e.g. a divorce certificate.
• Dissolved civil partnership: evidence of the dissolution, for example, dissolution certificate.

The Home Office UKVI fee for proposed civil partner visa UK is £1523.

In addition to the UK visa fee, you will also have to pay the legal costs of solicitors if you are getting professional services for your proposed civil partner visa UK. Fixed fees charged by our expert team of proposed civil partner visa solicitors are given in the table below:

The agreed fixed fee will depend on the complexity of the proposed civil partner visa entry clearance application and the volume of casework involved in the application.

Proposed civil partner visa UK fee is paid to the Home Office UKVI at the time of online submissino of the proposed civil partner visa application.

Applicants for proposed civil partner visa UK do not have to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) for their proposed civil partner visa application.

In the event of refusal of proposed civil partner visa application, the applicant will lose his/her UK visa fee because the proposed civil partner visa fee will not be refunded to the applicant. It is therefore important to have proper legal help and assistance with the preparation and submission of the proposed civil partner visa application.

 You can rely on following useful online sources to find an answer to your question about UK spouse visa entry clearance application:

How To Apply For Switching Into Spouse Visa Online

The Home Office UKVI website gives you access to the online application form to apply for switching into spouse visa online from inside the UK.

Appendix FM: Immigration Rules

Appendix FM to the UK Immigration Rules sets out the requirements an applicant has to meet for switching into spouse visa from inside the UK.

Appendix FM SE: Immigration Rules

Appendix FM SE to the Immigration Rules sets out the specified documents to meet the financial requirement for switching into spouse visa from inside the UK.

Appendix FM Financial Requirement: Home Office Guidance

The Home Office UKVI guidance on meeting the financial requirement is a useful source of information and guidance on how to meet the financial requirement for switching into spouse visa from inside the UK.

Approved English Language Tests For Switching Into Spouse Visa

The Home Office UKVI page Applying for a UK visa: approved English language tests is a useful source of information about approved English language test centres in the UK and around the world for spouse visa application.

Partner, Divorce & Dissolution Guidance UKVI

The Home Office UKVI guidance: Partner, Divorce & Dissolution Guidance UKVI is a useful source of information and guidance about the validity of marriage, divorce, civil partnership or dissolution of civil partnership.

Upper Tribunal decision in CB (Brazil) (validity of marriage: proxy marriage) [2008] UKAIT 00080 on the recognition of proxy marriages in the UK

This case law deals with the validity of proxy marriages and whether or not such marriages are considered as legally recognised in the UK.

The documentary evidence to be submitted in support of the spouse visa entry clearance for UK varies from case to case depending on the personal circumstances of the applicant and the sponsor. Our specialist spouse visa solicitors can provide you a comprehensive list of supporting documents after fully assessing the personal circumstances of the applicant and the UK sponsor.

It is no longer possible to track the status of your spouse visa application online. To know the current status of your spouse visa application, you must use Home Office UKVI email or phone option, which unfortunately is NOT FREE. You must provide your GWF number when calling or emailing them.

As a result of your spouse visa entry clearance application being successful, you will be issued with vigenette endorsed on your passport valid for 30 days to facilitate your entry in the UK.

Within 10 working days after your entry in the UK during the given 30 days, you should collect your Biometric Resident Permit (BRP) card from the designated pre-selected post office. Your UK visa entry clearance will be valid for 33 months on your Biometric Resident Permit (BRP) card.

The processing time of the spouse visa entry clearance application are as follows:

Standard Service

An application under standard service is decided normally within 12 weeks after the enrolment of biometrics at the UK visa application centre.

Priority Service

An application under Priority Service is normally decided within 6 to 8 weeks after the enrolment of biometrics at the UK visa application centre.

Super Priority Service

An applicaton for spouse visa entry clearance under Super Priority Service is normally decided within 24 hours after the enrolment of biometrics at the UK visa application centre. The Super Priority Service is not available from most of the countries at present.

Your sponsor must be earning not less than £18,600 gross per year if you are applying for spouse visa with no dependent children.

If your spouse visa entry clearance application is refused by the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) of the Home Office UKVI, you will get a right of appeal to challenge the refusal of your spouse visa entry clearance application. You should file appeal against spouse visa entry clearance refusal within 28 days after receiving the refusal decision.

Yes, you will have right to work full time whilst living in the UK on spouse visa.

You can apply for Tier 2 General visa entry clearance for UK online. You’ll need to have your fingerprints and photograph taken at a visa application centre (to get a biometric residence permit) as part of your Tier 2 General visa entry clearance application.

You’ll have to collect your biometric residence permit within 10 days of when you said you’d arrive in the UK.

For Tier 2 General visa entry clearance, the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) assigned by your prospective employer must confirm that:

• the job is at RQF level 6 as stated in the codes of practice; or,
• the job is in a creative sector occupation, skilled to RQF level 4 as listed in Appendix A; or
• the job is an exception as shown in table 2A to Appendix J; or
• the job appears on the Shortage Occupation List (SOL).

The shortage occupation list is an official list of occupations as given in Appendix K of the Immigration Rules for which there are not enough resident workers to fill job vacancies. The shortage occupation lists are recommended by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) and are revised periodically.

You will be awarded 30 points if your job was on a shortage occupation list at the time your Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) was assigned by your Tier 2 General sponsor.

There is one list for the whole of the UK and a further additional list for Scotland. If you want to be awarded points for a job on the shortage occupation list in Scotland, you must be undertaking that job in Scotland.

You should confirm with your Tier 2 General sponsor that they have indicated that your job is a shortage occupation in the relevant field on the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS). You should also confirm with your Tier 2 General sponsor that the SOC code and job description on the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) show that the job is one of those included on the shortage occupation list.

In general, if a role is on the shortage occupation list, your sponsor is not required to advertise the position.

Yes, it is possible to apply for Tier 2 General visa entry clearance from outside the UK as a New Entrant. According to Appendix J of the Immigration Ruels, new entrant salary rate will apply if the Tier 2 General applicant:

• was under the age of 26 on the date the application was made; and
• is applying for entry clearance or leave to remain (not for indefinite leave to remain); and
• is not applying for a grant of leave that would extend his total stay in Tier 2 beyond 3 years and 1 month.

If you apply for Tier 2 General visa entry clearance using standard service, your Tier 2 General visa application is likely to be decided in about 3 weeks.

If you apply for Tier 2 General visa entry clearance using priority service, your Tier 2 General visa application is likely to be decided within 5 working days.

If your prospective employer does not have the Tier 2 General sponsor licence to sponsor you for your Tier 2 General visa entry clearance, our expert team of sponsor licence solicitors can help your prospective employer to apply for Tier 2 General sponsor licence so that your employer is able to sponsor you for Tier 2 General visa entry clearance for UK.

You’ll usually need to be paid at least £30,000 per year or the ‘appropriate rate’ for the job you’re offered - whichever is higher. Check the appropriate rate for the job you’ve been offered.

Check the Tier 2 General Policy Guidance for situations when you can be paid less - for example if:

• you’ll work as a medical radiographer, nurse, paramedic or secondary school teacher in some subjects
• you’ll work as a pre-registration nurse or midwife

A certificate of sponsorship (CoS) holds your personal details and information about the job you’ve been offered. It’s an electronic record, not a paper document. Your sponsor will give you a certificate of sponsorship (CoS) reference number to add to your Tier 2 General visa application.

You can only use your certificate of sponsorship (CoS) reference number once. You must use your Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) within 3 months of the date it is assigned to you.

Your dependants i.e. spouse or children under the age  of 18 can either apply at same time when you apply for Tier 2 General visa entry clearance to accompany you to the UK OR they can apply for entry clearance separately to join you in the UK later on.

The Home Office UKVI maintains a list of licenced Tier 2 General sponsors. The list of Tier 2 sponsors is also known as register of Tier 2 sponsors.

There is an annual limit on the number of Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) available under Tier 2 (General). This limit applies to Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) for those nationals seeking entry clearance to the UK under the Tier 2 (General) category and those who are applying to switch into the Tier 2 (General) category from within the UK as a dependant of a Tier 4 (General) student. Home Office UKVI refer to these as “restricted” Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS).

The applications below are not subject to annual limit. Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) for these applications are known as “unrestricted” and sponsors can assign these without first applying for permission:

• if you are sponsored for a job as a doctor or nurse (SOC codes 2211 and 2231)
• if you are sponsored for a job at PhD level listed in table 1 of Appendix J to the Immigration Rules
• if you are sponsored for a job with a salary of £159,600 or above
• if you are sponsored for a job connected with the inward investment provisions
• all in-country applications (with the exception of Tier 4 dependant switchers).

The annual limit on the number of Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) is applied by the Home Office UKVI through monthly allocation of restricted Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS).

Your job will satisfy the inward investment provisions if:

• it is connected with the relocation of a high value business to the UK or a significant new inward investment project, and
• your sponsor was registered in the UK with Companies House no earlier than three years before the date the Certificate of Sponsorship was assigned, and
• your sponsor is the registered branch or wholly owned subsidiary of a business which has its headquarters and principal place of business outside the UK, and
• the relocation or inward investment involves new capital expenditure of £27 million or the creation of at least 21 new UK jobs, and
• your job does not involve the supply of services to a third party client.

If you are applying for Tier 2 General worker visa to work in the UK as a nurse or midwife and are not yet registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), you must have passed the NMC’s Computer Based Test (CBT) or your Tier 2 General visa entry clearance application will be refused. You must provide evidence from the NMC to demonstrate this.

Furthermore, your Tier 2 General sponsor must also confirm that you will sit an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) within 3 months of your stated employment start date.

If you need to pass your OSCE, your Tier 2 General sponsor must tell the Home Office UKVI within 10 working days:

• If you fail your OSCE but arrange a re-sit and they still want to sponsor you if you pass. They must tell the Home Office UKVI the date of your re-sit.
• If you re-sit your OSCE and fail for the second time, they must tell the Home Office UKVI. They must also stop sponsoring you if you do not obtain full NMC registration within 8 months of the start date on your Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS). If you have moved sponsors but were previously granted Tier 2 General leave as a nurse or midwife, the 8 months will start from the start date of your previous employment.
• If you pass your OSCE, they must tell Home Office UKVI the date you will start working for them as a registered nurse or midwife.
• If they decide at any point that they no longer wish to sponsor you. For example, if you fail your first OSCE and they do not want to wait until you have done a re-sit.

You are able to make 3 attempts to pass the OSCE. If you fail your first attempt at OSCE, you can re-sit it after ten days. If you fail it a second time, you will have the opportunity to sit for a third time, waiting 3 months to allow for further preparation. If you fail for a third time, you will be unable to re-sit the OSCE until 6 months have passed since your previous unsuccessful test and will have to re-apply to the NMC.

If you are already in the UK with entry clearance or leave to remain and your sponsor stops sponsoring you, Home Office UKVI will reduce (curtail) your leave.

You will be granted Tier 2 General visa entry clearance according to the start date and end date of your job as given in your Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS). The maximum period for which your employer can sponsor you for your Tier 2 Geneal visa entry clearance application is 5 years. You can extend your Tier 2 General visa further for one more year after 5 years which means the maximum time a person can spend in the UK under Tier 2 General visa category is 6 years in total.

Normally, most applicants are able to apply for ILR as Tier 2 General Migrants 28 days before completion of 5 years in the UK with leave to remain as Tier 2 General Migrant.

Cooling off period for Tier 2 General for someone who has been in the UK in the past with Tier 2 visa is normally 12 months.

According to Home Office UKVI Tier 2 Policy Guidance, if you have had a grant of leave for entry clearance, leave to enter or remain as a Tier 2 Migrant at any time during the 12 months immediately before your date of application, unless you were only being sponsored in Tier 2 (as recorded by the Certificate of Sponsorship) for a period of 3 months or less, you will not be able to apply for further leave under Tier 2 unless one of the following applies:

• you were not in the UK with leave as a Tier 2 Migrant at any time during the above 12 month period immediately before your date of application and you can provide evidence to prove this; or
• the salary for the job that the Certificate of Sponsorship Checking Service shows you are being sponsored to do (including any allowances listed as acceptable for this purpose in paragraph 79 of Appendix A to the Immigration Rules) is £159,600 or higher.

In all cases where the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS)) was assigned for longer than 3 months, the cooling off period will apply, even in cases where your length of stay in the UK is less than 3 months. For instance, where you were assigned a Certificate of Sponsorship of 6 months in length and the Home Office UKVI were notified that you ceased working in the UK after 2 months, the cooling-off period will apply as the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) was assigned for more than 3 months.

If you are applying for Tier 2 (General) entry clearance and are coming to work in the education, health and social care sectors, you must provide an Overseas criminal Record Certificate as part of your application.

Overseas criminal Record Certificates must be provided for any country in which you have resided for 12 months or more (whether continuously or in total) in the last 10 years prior to your Tier 2 General entry clearance application, while aged 18 or over.

The requirement to provide Overseas criminal Record Certificate applies where your occupation is defined by one of the following Standard Occupation Classification (SOC) codes:

• 1181 - Health services and public health managers and directors
• 1184 - Social services managers and directors
• 2211 - Medical practitioners
• 2212 - Psychologists
• 2213 - Pharmacists
• 2214 - Ophthalmic opticians
• 2215 - Dental practitioners
• 2217 - Medical radiographers
• 2218 - Podiatrists
• 2219 - Health professionals not elsewhere classified
• 2221 - Physiotherapists
• 2222 - Occupational therapists
• 2223 - Speech and language therapists
• 2229 - Therapy professionals not elsewhere classified
• 2231 - Nurses
• 2232 - Midwives
• 2312 - Further education teaching professionals
• 2314 - Secondary education teaching professionals
• 2315 - Primary and nursery education teaching professionals
• 2316 - Special needs education teaching professionals
• 2317 - Senior professionals of educational establishments
• 2318 - Education advisers and school inspectors
• 2319 - Teaching and other educational professionals not elsewhere classified
• 2442 - Social workers
• 2443 - Probation officers
• 2449 - Welfare professionals not elsewhere classified

If the requirement to provide Overseas criminal Record Certificate is applicable, you must provide:

• a criminal record certificate for each country (excluding the UK) where you have resided for 12 months or more in the last 10 years (whether continuously or in total), while aged 18 or over, issued by the relevant overseas authority;
• a translated copy of any certificate that is not in English, in line with Home Office UKVI requirements.

Guidance on how you can obtain certificates is available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-for-overseas-applicants

Where a country is not included in the above guidance, you should not assume that there is no process for obtaining a certificate. You should contact the Embassy or High Commission in the relevant country for more information.

Certificates from your most recent country of residence will normally only be considered valid if they have been issued no earlier than 6 months before your application date. Certificates from countries prior to your most recent country of residence must normally cover the entire period of residency (up to 10 years prior the application date) but will otherwise be considered valid indefinitely.

If you are unable to obtain a certificate covering the required period, you must explain in your Tier 2 General entry clearance application what attempts you have made to obtain a certificate and why this has not been possible.

If you do not explain why you are unable to provide a certificate, the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) may contact you or your legal representative in writing and you must provide any further evidence within 28 calendar days.

You will be awarded the following points for the appropriate salary offered by your sponsor. These bands are before tax (gross) and yearly.

The Resident Labour Market Test does not apply if the job offer is:

• in a supernumerary research position where you have been issued a non-transferrable scientific research Award or Fellowship either:
  • by a third party organisation, and the Award or Fellowship cannot be transferred to anyone else; or
  • by your Sponsor if the following requirements are met:
    • you have been selected through a competitive process on the basis of your own research proposal; and
    • the funding of the research is secured in an agreement between your Sponsor and a third party organisation, which includes objectively justified requirements that effectively prohibit any settled worker from undertaking the role.

This exemption continues to apply after the relevant third party funding has ended, as long as you are being sponsored to continue to undertake the same research; or

• to continue working as a Doctor or Dentist in training, under the same NHS Training Number which was assigned to you for previous lawful employment as a Doctor or Dentist in Training in the UK, including where you are applying to return to your training after an out of programme experience; or
• as a Doctor in Speciality Training and your salary and the costs of your training are being met by the government of another country under an agreement with that country and the UK Government; or
• to resume a post in a Higher Education Institution, working for the same Sponsor as in a previous grant of entry clearance or leave to remain as a Tier 2 (General) Migrant, where the break in employment is due solely to a period of academic leave.
• to continue working as a member of an existing research team and:
  • the Sponsor is a Higher Education Institution or a Research Council, and
  • you have previously worked with the lead researcher as part of their team for a continuous 12 month period immediately before the date of the application (or for 12 months during the 24 months immediately before the date of the application, if you have been absent due to the reasons shown in paragraph 234 of the Tier 2 Policy Guidance during that time)
• connected with the inward investment provisions
• to do a job for which salary is not less than £159,600 gross per annum
• to do a job which is in the list of shortage occupations list.

Your sponsor must include full details of the why the exemption applies on the Certificate of Sponsorship.

When applying for Tier 2 General visa entry clearance, the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) must be satisfied that you are being sponsored to undertake a genuine vacancy and are capable of undertaking the role for which your Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) was assigned. The Home Office UKVI Guidance states that the requirements of the job must be reasonable and not have been tailored to exclude resident workers from being recruited.

In order to assess the genuineness of job vacancy, the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) may request additional information and evidence from you or your Tier 2 General sponsor, and refuse your Tier 2 General entry clearance application if the information or evidence is not provided. Any requested documents must be received by the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) at the address specified in the request within 10 business days of the date of the request.

Issues of genuineness of job vacancy normally arise only after the applicant has been interviewed by the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) and the applicant has failed to give satisfactory answers to address the concerns of the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO).

You cannot switch into representative of an overseas business visa from inside the UK and the initial application can only be made through an entry clearance from outside the UK.

As a result of successful entry clearance for sole representative visa UK, you will be granted UK visa as a sole representative of an overseas business for 3 years with an option to extend it for further 2 years to be eligible for ILR after 5 years.

The Home Office UKVI will take into account the following factors when considering whether the applicant can be treated as a sole representative under the representative of an overseas business category:

The sole representative must have:

• been employed by the parent company in a senior job role within the company
• a track record of setting up branches for other companies, if they have been employed specifically to undertake this role
• authority to take operational decisions once in the UK, as indicated by the role in the company hierarchy

Majority shareholders in the parent company are not eligible for entry as sole representatives. The Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) will refuse an application when an applicant’s shareholding is over 50 per cent.

You can apply for entry clearance as sole representative of an overseas employer who intends to establish a commercial presence by operating a registered branch or wholly-owned subsidiary of that overseas business in the UK: that branch or subsidiary will operate in the same type of business activity as the overseas business.

For you to make a successful application as a sole representative of an overseas business, you must:

• be recruited and employed outside the UK by the employer they intend to represent in the UK
• intend to work full-time for the organisation
• not intend to take any other employment
• be applying to be the sole representative in the UK of an overseas employer who intends to establish and operate a registered branch or wholly-owned subsidiary of that overseas business in the UK: that branch or subsidiary will operate in the same type of business activity as the overseas business
• not be a majority shareholder in that overseas business
• be a senior employee of the overseas company
• have full authority to take operational decisions on behalf of the overseas business for the purpose of representing it in the UK
• obtain entry clearance in this category before arrival in the UK and present it to an border force officer on arrival
• provide evidence that you can maintain and accommodate yourself and any dependants adequately without recourse to public funds
• meet the required standard in English language

You employer must have:

• its headquarters and principal place of business outside the UK
• no branch, subsidiary or other representative in the UK

If there is already a branch, subsidiary or other representative in the UK, employees must apply under the points-based system.

Leave to enter or remain under this route is subject to the following conditions:

• no recourse to public funds;
• must register with the police, if required by paragraph 326 of the Immigration Rules;
• work only as a representative for the business which they have been admitted to represent;
• study (with no limit on the number of study hours if it doesn’t interfere with the job they have been sponsored to do).

You can sponsor your dependants (spouse/partner and children under the age of 18) to accompany you to the UK or to join you later in the UK as your dependants.

You must consider the following information for a branch or subsidiary to meet the requirements of the representative of an overseas business category:

Branch Of An Overseas Company

A registered branch is part of a company organised to conduct business on behalf of the parent company. This enables someone in the UK to deal direct with the branch here instead of the company in its home country.

The sole representative must intend to, and then actually, establish the new branch in the UK. This must be the same type of business as the parent company overseas. For example, it must supply a similar product or service. An overseas manufacturing company can establish a UK branch for the sale or servicing of their products in the UK.
The UK branch must register with Companies House as a UK establishment within one month of opening.

You can apply for sole representative representative visa entry clearance after a branch is established in the UK, as long as that branch:

• exists only as a legal entity;
• has set up a bank account;
• has identified, and set up, premises.

Entry clearance as a sole representative will only be granted where:

• no staff are employed;
• the branch has not yet transacted any business.

An example might be when the company has set up as a legal entity in advance of the company’s expansion into the UK.

A Wholly-owned Subsidiary

If a parent company or holding company owns 100% of another company, that company is called a "wholly-owned subsidiary." Wholly-owned subsidiaries are 100 percent owned by the parent company.

Advantages of using wholly owned subsidiaries include vertical integration of supply chains, diversification, risk management, and favorable tax treatment abroad. Disadvantages include the possibility of multiple taxation, lack of business focus, and conflicting interest between subsidiaries and the parent company.

While a branch has no separate legal standing, a subsidiary company is a separate legal entity and has an identity different from its holding company. In case of branches, there may be the joint or separate maintenance of accounts, whereas the subsidiaries maintain their own separate accounts.

The most common form of company for a UK subsidiary is the private limited company, and setting up a company of that type involves going through the standard UK company registration process and applying to Companies House. A UK subsidiary has to have at least one named director.

The applicant must provide an employment contract which should lay down all the terms and conditions of employment of the sole representative. The terms and conditions of employment should entail, among other factors, the authority (job description) of the sole representative and the salary and hours of the sole representative.

Standard Service

An application for sole representative visa entry clearance made using standard service is normally granted within 3 to 4 weeks.

Priority Service

If the Prioirty Service is available in the country you’re applying from you can choose the ‘priority service’ when you apply. There will be an additional cost for this service. A decision will be made within 5 working days of your appointment at the visa application centre.

Check with your visa application centre to see if the priority visa service is available in the country you’re applying from. The priority visa service is available in most countries.

You might wait longer for a decision if your application is not straightforward and more information is required before a decision is made. If your application is delayed, you will be informed by the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) within the standard timescales for your visa.

You cannot switch into overseas media representative visa from inside the UK and the initial application can only be made through an entry clearance from outside the UK.

As a result of successful entry clearance for overseas media representative visa UK, you will be granted UK visa as a representative of an overseas media company for 3 years with an option to extend it for further 2 years to be eligible for ILR after 5 years.

Standard Service

An application for overseas media representative visa entry clearance made using standard service is normally granted within 3 to 4 weeks.

Priority Service

If the Prioirty Service is available in the country you’re applying from you can choose the ‘priority service’ when you apply. There will be an additional cost for this service. A decision will be made within 5 working days of your appointment at the visa application centre.

Check with your visa application centre to see if the priority visa service is available in the country you’re applying from. The priority visa service is available in most countries.

You might wait longer for a decision if your application is not straightforward and more information is required before a decision is made. If your application is delayed, you will be informed by the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) within the standard timescales for your visa.

You can apply for UK visa entry clearance if you are a representative of an overseas newspaper, news agency or broadcasting organisation and you are being posted by your overseas employer on a long-term assignment in the UK.

For you to make a successful application as a representative of an overseas newspaper, news agency or broadcasting organisation, you must:

• be recruited and employed outside the UK by the employer you intend to represent in the UK
• intend to work full-time for the organisation
• not intend to take any other employment
• be based mainly in the UK and working on a UK long-term assignment
• obtain entry clearance in this category before arrival in the UK and present it to a border force officer on arrival
• provide evidence you can maintain and accommodate yourself and any dependants adequately without recourse to public funds
• meet the required standard in English language

Leave to enter or remain under this route is subject to the following conditions:

• no recourse to public funds;
• must register with the police, if required by paragraph 326 of the Immigration Rules;
• work only as a representative for the business which they have been admitted to represent;
• study (with no limit on the number of study hours if it doesn’t interfere with the job they have been sponsored to do).

You can sponsor your dependants (spouse/partner and children under the age of 18) to accompany you to the UK or to join you later in the UK as your dependants.

Following are the useful online sources of information and advice relating to Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa entry clearance:

Home Office UKVI Guidance On Application For UK Visa As Tier 1 Entrepreneur

The Home Office UKVI guidance on application for UK visa as Tier 1 Entrepreneur is a useful source of information for applicants who are considering to apply for UK visa entry clearance as Tier 1 Entrepreneur.

245DB. Requirements For Entry Clearance

Paragraph 245DB in part 6A of the Immigration Rules lays down the requirements an applicant has to meet for UK visa entry clearance as Tier 1 Entrepreneur.

OANDA Currency Coverter

OANDA Currency Coverter is the Home Officer UKVI approved currency converter to convert foreign currency to Great Britain Pounds (GBP).

The Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa category has been closed by the Home Office UKVI from 30 March 2019 for initial applications and has been replaced by Innovator visa category. However, a person with Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur leave or someone who switched from Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur to Start-up visa can still make initial application for Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa. Also, a person who previously had Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur visa in last 12 months can apply for Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa entry clearance from outside the UK.

Standard Service

An application for Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa entry clearance made using standard service is normally granted within 3 to 4 weeks.

Priority Service

If the Prioirty Service is available in the country you’re applying from you can choose the ‘priority service’ when you apply. There will be an additional cost for this service. A decision will be made within 5 working days of your appointment at the visa application centre.

Check with your visa application centre to see if the priority visa service is available in the country you’re applying from. The priority visa service is available in most countries.

You might wait longer for a decision if your application is not straightforward and more information is required before a decision is made. If your application is delayed, you will be informed by the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) within the standard timescales for your visa.

You can apply for UK visa entry clearance for Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa if you have:

• a valid Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) visa
• a valid Start-up visa, and you switched from a Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) visa for your second year
• a Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) visa that expired less than 12 months ago
• a Start-up visa that expired less than 12 months ago, and you switched from a Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) visa for your second year

Permission to stay under Tier 1 Entrepreneur route will be subject to the following conditions:

• no recourse to public funds (which means you will not be able to claim most benefits paid by the state);
• registration with the police, if this is required by paragraph 326 of the Immigration Rules;
• no employment other than working for the business or businesses that you have established, joined or taken over, but working for such business(es) does not include any work you do which is effectively employment with another business;
• no employment as a professional sportsperson (including as a sports coach); and
• study subject to getting ATAS certificate, where required by the Rules.

You can sponsor your dependants (spouse/partner and children under the age of 18) to accompany you to the UK or to join you later in the UK as your dependants.

Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa is a Points Based visa category and points can be awarded for the Attributes Section, English language and funds for maintenance. A Tier 1 Entrepreneur migrant should score 95 points in total to qualify for entry clearance as a Tier 1 Entrepreneur migrant. The breakdown of the required points for Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa entry clearance is given in the table below:

If the applicant is making an initial Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa entry clearance application, they must provide a business plan, setting out their proposed business activities in the UK and how they expect to make their business succeed.

If you are applying for entry clearance as a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) migrant or as an adult dependant (over 18 years old) of the main applicant in this route, you must provide an overseas criminal record certificate for any country you have been present in continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more, in the 10 years prior to your application.

You must provide the following specified documents:

• The certificate, for each country (excluding the UK) where you resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the last 10 years, since aged 18 years old, issued by the overseas authority, and
• If the original is not in English, then you must provide a translated copy of certificate, in line with the requirements set out in the criminal records checks guidance on GOV.UK.

Certificates will only be considered valid if they have been issued within 6 months of the visa application or within the expressed validity period of the document, whichever is shorter. Current information on how to obtain certificates from various countries can be found in the criminal records checks guidance on GOV.UK.

If you are unable to obtain a certificate, for example, because the country does not produce such documents or because of any other reasons, you must provide a letter which details your attempts to obtain a certificate and confirm why this has not been possible. You should submit this letter with your other supporting documents when you apply. UKVI will consider your explanation against the situation in those countries and decide whether to waive the requirement. If UKVI concludes that it is possible for you to obtain a certificate but you have failed to do so, you will be asked again to provide a certificate.

If you fail to provide any certificates or an acceptable explanation, your application will be refused under paragraph 320 (2A) of the General Grounds for Refusal in Part 9 of the Immigration Rules. If you provide false or fraudulently obtained certificates your application will be refused. You may also be subject to a 10 year ban for any future entry clearance applications.

If your application for Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa is refused by the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO), you can apply for Administrative Review (AR) of the refusal decision within 28 days of receiving the refusal decision.

The Entry Clearance Manager (ECM) will consider your request for Administrative Review (AR) and give a decision on your request within 28 days of receiving the same. If the Entry Clearance Manager (ECM) maintains the decision to refuse your application in the Administrative Review decision, you then have the option of either re-applying for Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa or challenge the refusal decision by way of Pre Action Protocol (PAP) and Judicial Review (JR).