Questions on applying & processing time

[alexip]

Hi,

My plan is to arrive UK on Mar 2020 via a Tier1E Visa.

When I check on the GOV website, it states "The earliest you can apply is 3 months before you travel." and "You should get a decision on your visa within 3 weeks."
However, when I come across with the post regarding processing time in this forum, I find it is quite often the processing time took more than half year!

So, I am a bit confused on when should I hand in my application if I am intended to arrive on Mar 2020.

The second question is I was on Tier5 visa from 2015-2017, will home office check my previous immigration record?
During those two years, I "worked" for a travel company as a tour helper while they provided me with hotels, meals, attraction tickets and some "pocket money", which was not up to income tax/NI threshold. Therefore, I did not make any contribution to either income tax or NI and I did not claim myself as self-employed to HMRC, as I did not know I have to.
Will my Tier1 application be affected? I am not intended to any tax fraud
My plan is to run a luxury tour operator based on my experience previously.

Thanks in advance.

[marcnath]

Hi,

My plan is to arrive UK on Mar 2020 via a Tier1E Visa.

When I check on the GOV website, it states "The earliest you can apply is 3 months before you travel." and "You should get a decision on your visa within 3 weeks."
However, when I come across with the post regarding processing time in this forum, I find it is quite often the processing time took more than half year!

So, I am a bit confused on when should I hand in my application if I am intended to arrive on Mar 2020.

The second question is I was on Tier5 visa from 2015-2017, will home office check my previous immigration record?
During those two years, I "worked" for a travel company as a tour helper while they provided me with hotels, meals, attraction tickets and some "pocket money", which was not up to income tax/NI threshold. Therefore, I did not make any contribution to either income tax or NI and I did not claim myself as self-employed to HMRC, as I did not know I have to.
Will my Tier1 application be affected? I am not intended to any tax fraud
My plan is to run a luxury tour operator based on my experience previously.

Thanks in advance.

As I often have to repeat, most people who post in this forum are people who have had some problems with their visa including delays - so don't generalise based on the posts here.

You should check the statistics for your country here. It looks like in the last couple of months, all applications were decided within 60 days.

There will always be exceptions, but if you do all your documentation correctly, the decision should come quite fast.

Yes, your previous immigration records will most likely be checked.

It doesn't look like you violated any terms and if you haven't, there should be no reason for it to impact your T1

[alexip]

Hi,

My plan is to arrive UK on Mar 2020 via a Tier1E Visa.

When I check on the GOV website, it states "The earliest you can apply is 3 months before you travel." and "You should get a decision on your visa within 3 weeks."
However, when I come across with the post regarding processing time in this forum, I find it is quite often the processing time took more than half year!

So, I am a bit confused on when should I hand in my application if I am intended to arrive on Mar 2020.

The second question is I was on Tier5 visa from 2015-2017, will home office check my previous immigration record?
During those two years, I "worked" for a travel company as a tour helper while they provided me with hotels, meals, attraction tickets and some "pocket money", which was not up to income tax/NI threshold. Therefore, I did not make any contribution to either income tax or NI and I did not claim myself as self-employed to HMRC, as I did not know I have to.
Will my Tier1 application be affected? I am not intended to any tax fraud
My plan is to run a luxury tour operator based on my experience previously.

Thanks in advance.

As I often have to repeat, most people who post in this forum are people who have had some problems with their visa including delays - so don't generalise based on the posts here.

You should check the statistics for your country here. It looks like in the last couple of months, all applications were decided within 60 days.

There will always be exceptions, but if you do all your documentation correctly, the decision should come quite fast.

Yes, your previous immigration records will most likely be checked.

It doesn't look like you violated any terms and if you haven't, there should be no reason for it to impact your T1

Hi Marcnath,

Thanks for your kind help.

Didn't realize can check the processing time in the Gov website.

Do you suggest I only state myself travel for 2years with my T5 visa and gained some insights with the travel industry, instead of honestly saying I forgot to declare as self-employed?

There is another question.
When I come across with this post.

uk-tier-1-entrepreneur-visas/director-s ... 06-80.html

Regarding the definition of being employed, while I am running a tour operation business, If My company own the vehicle, hire driver & tour guide then run the tour for another company as a service provider or more like a contractor. Will it be fully complied with the HO rules?
Take Golden tour in London as example, I may be providing a UK touring service for their clients and it will be a white label service. They pay to my company on a fixed rate, let say 2000 GBP for 3 days tour.
I guess it will not break the rules? From my view, I am clearly not employed by Golden Tour but only a service provider as most of the asset, such as, vehicle, driver, guides are all provided by my company. Does my assumption correct?

Thanks again.

[alexip]

Sorry for some missing information.
I will be the driver or tour guide occasionally, so there is a bit concern.

[marcnath]

I can't tell you what to reply except to say that you should reply to all questions honestly. That does not mean that you need to provide information that is not specifically asked just in case.

I guess the specific question you have to answer is
D9. Have you ever worked in the United Kingdom without immigration permission to do so (that is, contrary to your conditions of stay)?

I don't know all the conditions of your T5 visa at the time you got it, but I believe it did allow you to work. If so, then the answer to this question is No and that would be a truthful answer.

Is there any other specific question you are concerned about ?

[alexip]

I can't tell you what to reply except to say that you should reply to all questions honestly. That does not mean that you need to provide information that is not specifically asked just in case.

I guess the specific question you have to answer is
D9. Have you ever worked in the United Kingdom without immigration permission to do so (that is, contrary to your conditions of stay)?

I don't know all the conditions of your T5 visa at the time you got it, but I believe it did allow you to work. If so, then the answer to this question is No and that would be a truthful answer.

Is there any other specific question you are concerned about ?

Thanks again

Can I also have your advice on below please.

Regarding 200K investment.
When i check the guidelines by HO. It states "Money deposited in a bank account, even if it is in a UK business bank account, is not counted as investment in business."
When I come across with many of your replies to other posts, I can see you mentioning deposit money in a UK business account is fine enough. Can I say HO is not strict on the rule? By my calculation, I believe my company will only need 120-150K within the first three years.

[marcnath]

I can't tell you what to reply except to say that you should reply to all questions honestly. That does not mean that you need to provide information that is not specifically asked just in case.

I guess the specific question you have to answer is
D9. Have you ever worked in the United Kingdom without immigration permission to do so (that is, contrary to your conditions of stay)?

I don't know all the conditions of your T5 visa at the time you got it, but I believe it did allow you to work. If so, then the answer to this question is No and that would be a truthful answer.

Is there any other specific question you are concerned about ?

Thanks again

Can I also have your advice on below please.

Regarding 200K investment.
When i check the guidelines by HO. It states "Money deposited in a bank account, even if it is in a UK business bank account, is not counted as investment in business."
When I come across with many of your replies to other posts, I can see you mentioning deposit money in a UK business account is fine enough. Can I say HO is not strict on the rule? By my calculation, I believe my company will only need 120-150K within the first three years.

Yes, that note has been there for ever. But there is no reference to anything similar that I can find in the immigration rules. And that is possibly the reason I haven't seen that used by HO in cases I have seen in this forum.

It will be tough for HO to argue that if you have anyway spent a large amount of it.

I suspect it is there to dissuade anyone from thinking that just having money can get them a way to migrate to UK

[alexip]

I can't tell you what to reply except to say that you should reply to all questions honestly. That does not mean that you need to provide information that is not specifically asked just in case.

I guess the specific question you have to answer is
D9. Have you ever worked in the United Kingdom without immigration permission to do so (that is, contrary to your conditions of stay)?

I don't know all the conditions of your T5 visa at the time you got it, but I believe it did allow you to work. If so, then the answer to this question is No and that would be a truthful answer.

Is there any other specific question you are concerned about ?

Thanks again

Can I also have your advice on below please.

Regarding 200K investment.
When i check the guidelines by HO. It states "Money deposited in a bank account, even if it is in a UK business bank account, is not counted as investment in business."
When I come across with many of your replies to other posts, I can see you mentioning deposit money in a UK business account is fine enough. Can I say HO is not strict on the rule? By my calculation, I believe my company will only need 120-150K within the first three years.

Yes, that note has been there for ever. But there is no reference to anything similar that I can find in the immigration rules. And that is possibly the reason I haven't seen that used by HO in cases I have seen in this forum.

It will be tough for HO to argue that if you have anyway spent a large amount of it.

I suspect it is there to dissuade anyone from thinking that just having money can get them a way to migrate to UK

So, can i say there are many cases from this forum where the applicant successfully extended their visa without "spending" 200K ?

As my immigrant advisor keep saying I have to spent 200K before the extension and persuading me to purchase their accounting package. I am thinking they told me that just because they want the sales.

[marcnath]

So, can i say there are many cases from this forum where the applicant successfully extended their visa without "spending" 200K ?

As my immigrant advisor keep saying I have to spent 200K before the extension and persuading me to purchase their accounting package. I am thinking they told me that just because they want the sales.

Clearly people don't share their accounts on this forum to show whether they spend or not. All I can say is I haven't come across a refusal because money was not spent.

Any "advisor" who is selling stuff is not giving advice - they are selling. Keep as far away as you can from them.

Ask the advisor which clause in the immigration rules (not guidance document) specifies this - an immigration advisor should be able to tell you that. I would be interested in knowing if I have missed something.

[alexip]

So, can i say there are many cases from this forum where the applicant successfully extended their visa without "spending" 200K ?

As my immigrant advisor keep saying I have to spent 200K before the extension and persuading me to purchase their accounting package. I am thinking they told me that just because they want the sales.

Clearly people don't share their accounts on this forum to show whether they spend or not. All I can say is I haven't come across a refusal because money was not spent.

Any "advisor" who is selling stuff is not giving advice - they are selling. Keep as far away as you can from them.

Ask the advisor which clause in the immigration rules (not guidance document) specifies this - an immigration advisor should be able to tell you that. I would be interested in knowing if I have missed something.

Thanks a lot!

[alexip]

Hi,

I am going to apply for a T1E visa with my wife as dependant.
From the guidelines, it is suggested that any dependant shall apply at the same time with the main applicant.
I know if my application is refused, both of our IHS fee can be refunded.
How about my wife's application fee?
Clearly mine will not be refunded but it is a bit unfair for HO to charge "processing fee" on my wife visa as they will not start to process her visa if mine is turned down.
How is the case in the reality?
I saw some posts from this forum suggesting applying dependant visa right after the T1E visa is approved. However, it seems it goes the other way round from HO guidelines.

Thank you.

[CR001]

She does not have to apply with you.

If she does and it is refused, the visa fee is not refunded.