Last week the Home Office issued revised guidance surrounding the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) route for the second time this year. Whilst we covered the earlier changes to this route briefly in a general posting on the rule changes in December, this article will discuss these changes in more detail and also examine the effect of the latest revised guidance.

Job creation requirement

Further clarification for the job creation rule which is intended to help people that have jobs created for at least 12 months before the date of the current application:

  • The job creation rules previously required jobs to have existed for at least 12 month during the applicant’s most recent period of leave. The new change enables applicants to apply even if their current leave was granted less than 12 months ago; in such cases the jobs must have existed for at least 12 months before the current application

A new transitional arrangement in the rules regarding job creation for people that entered the route before 06 April 2014:

  • A transitional arrangement relating to the job creation requirement for applicant’s who entered the category before 06 April 2014, currently set out in published guidance, is being incorporated into the Immigration Rules. This transitional arrangement will only apply to extension and settlement applications made before 06 April 2019.

Clarity on hours that employees have worked and been paid for so errors on the calculations can be reduced:

  • Applicants will now be asked to confirm the paid hours of the employees in jobs they created as well as the hourly rate.

Change on the Real Time Full Payment Submission requirement:

  • An amendment has been made to the requirement relating to Real Time Full Payment Submissions, to reflect the fact that these documents do not state the employment start date.

An amendment on the job creation dates in question:

  • An amendment has been made to the requirements relating to job creation, so that the required evidence relates to the period before the applicant joined the business, rather than the period before jobs were created. This provides a clearer demonstration of the net increase in jobs.

Other changes

Clarity on Third Party Funding from another Company:

  • Clarifications have been made to make clear that, where funds are currently held by another business, which is not the business the applicant is using to score points, that business is considered to be a third party providing funding.

Clarity on Venture Capitalist Firms providing funding to applicants:

  • Applicant’s relying on investment from a venture capital firm are now be required to also provide a letter from the firm confirming the date(s) the funds were transferred to the applicant or invested in their business and that the firm was registered with the Financial Conduct Authority at the time. This requirement is added to counter ongoing abuse relating to venture capital funding.

Further changes to cover any abuse of the rules especially to prevent recycling of funds between applicants:

  • To prevent recycling of funds between applicants, a change is being made so that applicants cannot rely on funds or investments that have been provided by another Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) migrant or migrant’s business or close family member. Who is considered to be a close family member will depend on the facts in an individual application.

Change to the Directors Loan Agreement related transactions which would only apply to investments made after 19 November 2015:

  • On 19 November 2015, Statement of Changes HC535 introduced a requirement that investments made in the form of directors’ loans must be evidenced through readily identifiable transactions in the applicants’ business bank statements. A further change has now been made so that this requirement only applies to investments after 19 November 2015.

A change to the date that you have to be registered with Companies House for Limited Companies, this will change from 6 months to within 8 months:

  • A provision is being removed because it contradicts the rule requiring applicants to be registered with Companies House within 6 months of the date the applicant entered the category. The removed provision requires that such registration has to be effected within 8 months of the same date.

Guidance revisions April 2018

Whilst the latest revision of the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) guidance does not amount to any substantive change in the immigration rules, it is useful to note these amendments.

In the context of what the Home Office consider to be a full-time job, the guidance has been changed from:

  • “We consider full-time to be 30 hours per week/120 hours per month. Each job will be assessed separately unless you indicate below that you wish to combine one job with another job.”

to

  • “We consider full-time to be 30 hours per week. Each job will be assessed separately unless you indicate below that you wish to combine one job with another job.”

The reason for this revision is clearly to stop abuses of the system whereby migrants are meeting the requirements of a full time job simply by working 120 hours a month, without working on a weekly basis.

The following accountancy bodies have also been added to the accepted accountancy body list:

  • The Institute of Financial Accountants
  • The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy

Our immigration solicitors often consult with Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) applicants looking to navigate the complexity of the points based system Immigration Rules. If you would like further assistance with your Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) application, please contact us for comprehensive, fully up-to-date advice.