1 year left on my Entrepreneur Visa

[boomingaway]

Hey everyone,

I applied for a 200k entrepreneur visa 2 years ago and it was successful. Since then, I have started my own company, which has been doing well (over £100k per year in income). However, there was no initial investment needed. I have never transferred any of the 200k that I showed in the application to the business bank account.

I spoke to a lawyer recently and he said that I must do some kind of investment if I want to apply for an extension or switch to another visa category (might become employed after the year), even if my company doesn't actually need it.

Is he correct or is what I have done legally fine?

[zimba]

Hey everyone,

I applied for a 200k entrepreneur visa 2 years ago and it was successful. Since then, I have started my own company, which has been doing well (over £100k per year in income). However, there was no initial investment needed. I have never transferred any of the 200k that I showed in the application to the business bank account.

I spoke to a lawyer recently and he said that I must do some kind of investment if I want to apply for an extension or switch to another visa category (might become employed after the year), even if my company doesn't actually need it.

Is he correct or is what I have done legally fine?

You must invest 200k in a form of Director's loan or share capital in your business, to be eligible for extension under Tier 1 entrepreneur. This is clearly explained in the guide: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... 1_2015.pdf

[boomingaway]

You must invest 200k in a form of Director's loan or share capital in your business, to be eligible for extension under Tier 1 entrepreneur. This is clearly explained in the guide: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... 1_2015.pdf

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I do not want to apply for an extension. When this visa runs out, I will either leave the UK or switch to becoming an employee somewhere.

Do I still need to invest a sum of money in the company? I am just worried that by not investing anything in an entrepreneur visa, I am illegally staying here. Is that the case?

Thank you in advance

[zimba]

You must invest 200k in a form of Director's loan or share capital in your business, to be eligible for extension under Tier 1 entrepreneur. This is clearly explained in the guide: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... 1_2015.pdf

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I do not want to apply for an extension. When this visa runs out, I will either leave the UK or switch to becoming an employee somewhere.

Do I still need to invest a sum of money in the company? I am just worried that by not investing anything in an entrepreneur visa, I am illegally staying here. Is that the case?

Thank you in advance

Investment or job creation is NOT part of the conditions of your leave to stay so you don't become an illegal . However HO has the right to curtail your leave if you work outside the conditions of your visa or discovered not to be a genuine entrepreneur.
You can switch from Tier 1 to Tier 2 if you find a sponsor, however if you want your time spent during Tier 1 entrepreneur to be counted towards 5 years continuous stay (ILR), the conditions of extension(investment, job creation) must have been satisfied before you switched.