General requirements for the UK TIER-1 Entrepreneur Visa Extension:
For fulfilling the basic requirements of having extension on your UK TIER-1 Entrepreneur visa, firstly you have to successfully go through ‘Genuine Entrepreneur test’ according to which following criteria guidelines must be fulfilled:
- You have established, taken over or become a director of one or more genuine businesses in the UK, and have genuinely operated that business
- You have genuinely invested the necessary funds into one or more genuine businesses in the UK
- You intend to continue operating one or more businesses in the UK
- You do not intend to take employment other than working for the business or businesses that you have established, joined or taken over
Moreover, you have to score 75 points under the Home Office extension applications points table on the basis of registration, investment and job creation as explained below:
Registration:
If you have registered with HM Revenue & Customs as self-employed or alternatively registered with Companies House as a director of a UK company or member of a UK partnership, usually no more than six months from the date you were given permission to stay in the UK under a UK TIER-1 Entrepreneur visa, you would be able to achieve the necessary 20 points under this category. As far as further essential 15 points under this category are concerned, they could be awarded in the case of you being self-employed, or working as a director of a business or member of a UK partnership no more than the three months before the applicant has applied for the UK TIER-1 Entrepreneur visa extension.
Investment:
If you have made an investment either yourself or by one or more third-parties worth of £200,000 minimally directly into one or more UK businesses, you would be able to score necessary 20 points under this category for attaining extension on your UK TIER-1 Entrepreneur visa. However, the investment value could be decreased to £50,000 in case of having awarded points for this lower sum under your last grant of leave.
Job creation:
You would be able to score the remaining 20 scores required for attaining UK TIER-1 Entrepreneur visa extension in case of having established a new business that has created the equivalent of at least two new full time jobs for settled workers. Another way to achieve these 20 scores is in case of your joining or taking over an already existing business while you have sufficiently created more employments for settled workers via developing the equivalent of two new full time jobs minimally.
Processing of the UK TIER-1 Entrepreneur Visa Extension application:
You need to apply for extension of your UK TIER-1 Entrepreneur visa prior to the expiry date of the former visa whereas you would be permitted to stay in the UK during the time period of your visa extension processing only in the case that you have applied prior to your former visa expiry date. It is highly recommended that you should apply at least a month before the visa expiry date.
You would have to apply online for having an extension to your UK TIER-1 Entrepreneur visa for which you would have to first arrange an appointment at a UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services (UKVCAS) service point in order to submit your biometric information via fingerprints scan as well as a digital photograph of your face. In addition, you must provide your supporting documents as well by uploading them on online service or having them scanned at your UKVCAS appointment.
In order to extend your UK TIER-1 Entrepreneur visa, the required cost for its application would be £1,277 with an additional payment of £19.20 for conferring your biometric information.
Time duration required for the processing of your UK TIER-1 Entrepreneur visa extension:
The time period required for application processing of UK TIER-1 Entrepreneur visa extension is usually 8 weeks while it can be further delayed in case of certain situations including incomplete verification of your supporting documents, an impending interview or your personal circumstances like having a faulty criminal history etc.