Tier 1 entrepreneurs ILR covid leave attempt to return asked

[divchopra]

Hi admins,
I’ve received a letter from UKVI regarding my Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa, asking me to provide evidence of attempts to return to the UK between 12 October 2020 and 11 August 2021.

I had already submitted a detailed letter earlier explaining that I was unwell and not in a condition to travel during that period. I had tested positive for covid through a home test and was advised to quarantine. But even after recovering, I remained sick and physically weak for a prolonged period and was told to avoid long-distance travel — especially with how dangerous the second covid wave in India was at that time.

I do understand that some people managed to return, but I personally wasn’t in a state to take that risk, especially with limited medical support and the uncertainty around flight operations.

The only flights available during that time were Vande Bharat bubble flights, and they were operating from just a few major cities, with very limited availability. It was hard to get tickets and thousands of people were stranded.

I also want to add that I had travelled to India with a one-way ticket in late 2020 to visit family after being away for a long time. My shoe-making work had also been affected, and I needed to assess it in person. My wedding, which was originally planned for February, had to be postponed to April due to my poor health and the strict covid restrictions at the time. We only held a small family gathering.

Now they are asking for evidence of "attempts" to return. I don’t have flight bookings or rejections to show because I wasn’t well enough to try booking or travelling. My question is:

If I’ve already submitted a detailed explanation about my health and the covid situation at the time, is that enough? Or do they expect something more?
What else can I share to help them understand the situation? Is an explanation would do?

Would really appreciate any advice from anyone who’s been through something similar or has insights into how UKVI looks at this.

Thanks in advance.

[zimba]

Travel was indeed disrupted but the UK borders were open and travel to the UK was possible. I remember during that time, the Indian nationals often refused to travel as they did not want to pay for the hotel quarantine fees. So the motivation to not travel was largely financial rather than medical. If you stayed outside the UK for a long time and made no attempt to return, it would be very unlikely that you can simply use the pandemic as an excuse. It is probably fair that people who travelled via different routes, paid for tests, hotel quarantine, etc to maintain their residence in the UK be treated differently than people who simply did not want the hassle.

It is up to the UKVI to choose to exercise discretion or not when you normally do not qualify for ILR

[divchopra]

Hi Zimba,

I completely get that but my reason to not travel was not money or quarantine. I wouldn't risk my ILR journey for £5000 tbh. My problem was being COVID positive and the implications on my health followed by a few attempts to book the flight. Only Limited flights were operating and from a handful of cities. It was difficult to reach to those cities amidst a horrible COVID wave. My state had a lot of lockdown and curfew rules. The flights operating from Delhi for example were booked most of the time as priority was given to British citizens first followed by Woman and old people etc. Travel agents were closed and none of the international flights were operating (except bubble flights). I simply couldn't book it and I was also adviced not to since travelling to Delhi meant a huge risk (100's were dying everyday) and millions of COVID cases. I don't know how to prove that It wasn't practical or logical or possible for me to come back. I returned the day things got better and I could book a flight. I flew emirates and till last moment it was not certain that it'll fly. In fact I had to book seperate tickets with two PNR from Ahm to Dubai and Dubai to Lhr since there was nothing to book to LHR . Also I went to India with a one way ticker for reasons that I wanted to stay there for a few months. My manufacturing was based in India which got impacted and I had to look for options when business was suffering. And then to spend time with family post COVID and get married. My plan was to come before 180 days but things changed in second wave and I just couldn't. How do I prove that? My immigration history have been good before and after, my business have been decent. And I plan to spend my life in the UK. I am also expecting my first born in November which is enough reason for me to build my life in the UK plus my business. How do i convince ukvi that my COVID absence had reasons beyong my control and just unfortunate.

[zimba]

I am afraid I cannot tell you how to convince the UKVI. They need to see evidence to exercise discretion. I suggest writing a detailed letter on this and expalin your case.

[divchopra]

Ok I'll do that. I've followed your suggestions in the past as well which have helped me get my previous visas. What do you suggest I write? I mean a background of what I should write in your humble experience? If there's anything specific you can suggest that will help with the case.

Also about other documents in the email:

I work from home and have a registered address for posts - I'll just be transparent with ukvi and hopefully they won't mind. My employees worked from home as well. Will that be okay? I can share pictures of my home desk. Our business also runs liek drop shopping in the sense shoes are directly delivered to customers from suppliers so no stocking either except a few samples I keep. Shall i take photo of them sample? And explain UKVi?

About current employees: I don't have any. But I have one ceo who joined us in July (He is on strategic basis and not salaried, he'll help me with investments and long term advice). But we did run few indeed ads for our new recruitment. This was back in January and we haven't recruited anyone yet. We just need one person who can help us go into the wholesale world of shoes especially our shoes stocked up in boutiques. One of my previous employee left on his own, he worked for about 13 months (telling this for the sake of job creation) and another for 12 months (to be honest, I asked her to leave since it was a burden on business, she wasn't brining much business. I kept her for 12 months so the job creation clause wouldn't hinder) And now we didn't have an employee almost all year but we're trying to find one especially with the changes we made in our vision. Will that be a reasonable thing in UKVI's sight? Cuz i don't want them to doubt the genuineity bcz I created jobs for only 12 months.

Sorry for the long questions Zimba. Just being cautious with my reply to UKVI.

[zimba]

Again, I do not think there is anything specific that you have to write. You have to be honest and forthcoming with them and explain everything in detail and provide the circumstances of your business and also try to explain your decision making logic.

[divchopra]

Alright! Cheers Zimba. I'll try to explain my business and leave and hopefully they should understand. And one last question. Say worst case scenario if my ILR is refused for COVID leave, do you think it's a good options to reapply? They can also see the decision date to take a call? And if I hypothetically reapply on 1st December or end of December, my decision may come after 15th Feb 2026 which means from that date my 5 previous years from 15th Feb 2021 won't have more than 180 days leave in any period..And even if they see the period between current leave rejected and. next decision (it won't have a 180 days gap too). Am i making sense?

[zimba]

Yes, assuming that you are refused only because of the gap

[divchopra]

Perfect! Hopefully they shouldn't be questioning business as such. I'll give my explanations. Them asking me these documents isn't them doubting right? Btw do ukvi sees AR decision date too? In case i prefer AR and then that decision comes after 15 Feb 2026? (Like re-applying thing)

[divchopra]

Yes, assuming that you are refused only because of the gap

Hi Zimba.

I'm happy to share that my ILR is approved. I was asked a lot of questions about my business but nothing I didn't have answers for. The only concern I had was COVID absence of 10 months from Oct 20-July 21. I presented my case, asked for discretion and gave whatever proof of attempt of return i could. They accepted it and grant me settlement. Thank you for all your help with all the questions throughout my ILR journey. You and Marcnath both.


Now I have more questions. So My baby was born last Nov (2025). I've got my ILR now so I understand we can apply for his citizenship by form MN1 etc. But the thing is we don't want to as yet. We don't want him to get a british citizenship and India doesn't allow dual citizenship. My family situation is a bit weird and I don't know if we'll settle back in india after a few years. We may, we may not. The baby has 18 years to decide anyway about this. So we want to get his Indian passport for now and get leave to remain in the UK. Now we'd ideally want to travel to India in a few months. My question is can i apply baby's ILR since he was born in the UK? (Context: My wife doesn't have ILR yet, only I do). Ideally we don't want to apply for his visa if we can get ILR straight away. Am i making sense?

[zimba]

Congratulations

No. ILR can only be granted when both parents are settled, as children do not have a residence requirement. The child will follow the immigration path of the less privileged parent, so he will have to apply for a visa in line with your spouse. This enables the child to be able to travel and return to the UK

Note that this does not change the child's entitlement to British citizenship at any time.

[divchopra]

Congratulations

No. ILR can only be granted when both parents are settled, as children do not have a residence requirement. The child will follow the immigration path of the less privileged parent, so he will have to apply for a visa in line with your spouse. This enables the child to be able to travel and return to the UK

Note that this does not change the child's entitlement to British citizenship at any time.

Thank you!

And okay. So we'll have to get dependant visa for child as well? Also will that be for 3 years? Or lesser?

We got an email from ukvi saying we'll have to pay more Ihs fee for my wife's dependent application. We paid it for two years thinking my wife is qualifying for ilr in literally few months from now. But Ho said we'll have to pay for whole 3 years. Can we fight that? Or request them?

Also for baby's application what form is it? If you can help. Btw the Ihs for children is lesser isn't it? Or no?

[zimba]

The dependant visa grant period is fixed (3 years when the main applicant has ILR). You cannot request a shorter term. The dependant visa rules stand on their own and grant periods are set by the rules.

The links to apply are all here: https://www.gov.uk/tier-1-entrepreneur/family-members

There is a reduced IHS rate for children under 18 -- > https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigrati ... w-much-pay

[divchopra]

The dependant visa grant period is fixed (3 years when the main applicant has ILR). You cannot request a shorter term. The dependant visa rules stand on their own and grant periods are set by the rules.

The links to apply are all here: https://www.gov.uk/tier-1-entrepreneur/family-members

There is a reduced IHS rate for children under 18 -- > https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigrati ... w-much-pay



Ah okay. Just two follow up questions:

The link you sent says tier 1 entrepreneur dependents. Does that apply to me now since I already have ILR? Like for baby, is there something called ILR dependent? Sorry just making sure I don't fill wrong forms.

And secondly the child will have his right to get British citizenship anytime before 18 right? Even if he has Indian passport and dependent visa. Does that come with conditions though? Like say continuos residency for MN1 and so on. Or any other condition.

Also to add, my wife already has her dependent visa application pending. She applied with me when i applied for ILR. Our child was born after. Someone told me we need to go for FLR (HRO) route for child since I have ILR and wife will have dependent visa in few days hopefully. I don't even know what's flr hro tbh

[CR001]

Child applies for the same visa route as your wife.

[divchopra]

Child applies for the same visa route as your wife.

Oh okay. Got it! Also I didn't know this would be our route so we don't have maintainence balance for 90 days. Does that mean we'll have to wait for 90 days to make application for my child born in the UK in Nov 2025? This is such a long time. Would it be possible to request ukvi to consider he was born in uk? I thought we don't need to maintain balance since my wife and I have been in the UK for years. But apparently child hasn't completed the 12 months threshold in the UK to get exemption on maintainence balance (

[zimba]

You seem to be all over the place, listening to multiple people from multiple sources who do not know what they are talking about. Your child and your spouse will be applying under the same route as advised (as PBS dependants)

Stick to the rules and the guides only. There is no maintenance requirement for them at all

Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) family members
Family members of Tier 1(Entrepreneur) lead applicants must have evidence of
available funds of £1,890 - if the applicant is either outside the UK or has been present in the UK for less than 12 months.
Dependants of Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) lead applicants cannot use the same funds the
Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) used to score points for attributes to meet the maintenance requirement.
Dependants of Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) lead applicants who have been in the UK for 12
months or more do not need to meet the maintenance requirement.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... gov-uk.pdf

[divchopra]

You seem to be all over the place, listening to multiple people from multiple sources who do not know what they are talking about. Your child and your spouse will be applying under the same route as advised (as PBS dependants)

Stick to the rules and the guides only. There is no maintenance requirement for them at all

Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) family members
Family members of Tier 1(Entrepreneur) lead applicants must have evidence of
available funds of £1,890 - if the applicant is either outside the UK or has been present in the UK for less than 12 months.
Dependants of Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) lead applicants cannot use the same funds the
Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) used to score points for attributes to meet the maintenance requirement.
Dependants of Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) lead applicants who have been in the UK for 12
months or more do not need to meet the maintenance requirement.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... gov-uk.pdf

Sorry. You're right. So just for the context my wife made application with me and our son wasn't born then. My wife will probably get her visa in a week or so. We'll get baby's Indian passport in maybe a month and then we'll apply dependent visa for him after that. Just for him since I'll have ILR and wife Dependent visa already hopefully. I understand there was no maintainence requirement for my wife as she was in the UK for more than 12 months. And she'll get her visa. But when we apply for our child later in a month, does he fulfill that condition? In the UK for more than 12 months. He's been in the UK (and the world for only 2 months) as yet. Lol. He was born in Nov 2025. So technically he hasn't spend 12 months in the UK. Sorry it may seem like a stupid question but you never know with technicalities of UKVI. They may reject saying he didn't spend more than 12 months in the UK so he'd need maintenance balance. And his application will be separate as an individual. So how does this work?

[divchopra]

You seem to be all over the place, listening to multiple people from multiple sources who do not know what they are talking about. Your child and your spouse will be applying under the same route as advised (as PBS dependants)

Stick to the rules and the guides only. There is no maintenance requirement for them at all

Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) family members
Family members of Tier 1(Entrepreneur) lead applicants must have evidence of
available funds of £1,890 - if the applicant is either outside the UK or has been present in the UK for less than 12 months.
Dependants of Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) lead applicants cannot use the same funds the
Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) used to score points for attributes to meet the maintenance requirement.
Dependants of Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) lead applicants who have been in the UK for 12
months or more do not need to meet the maintenance requirement.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... gov-uk.pdf

Oh my! Sorry. I misread it..got it. Dependent of Lead who's been in the UK for more than a year. Oops. Apologies for wasting your time