Difference between the UK Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa and the UK Representative of Overseas Business Visa

People quite often get confused between Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa and Representative of Overseas Business Visa. Let understand these both visas and difference between them.

What is Representative of Overseas Business Visa?

The representative of Overseas Business is also called as UK Sole Representative Visa.

The representative of Overseas Business is a non-point based category of visa for businesses that are being posted to the UK to establish a registered branch or subsidiary of the company and representatives of overseas media organizations being posted to the UK on a long-term assignment.

What is UK Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa?

UK Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa is a part of Tier 1 Visa UK. Entrepreneur Visa is a point based system for individuals investing in the UK by setting up or taking over and being actively involved in the running of one or more businesses in the UK.

There few differences in the eligibility requirements in both the visas. Let us understand the differences:

Eligibility Requirements for Sole Representative Visa

In order to apply for Sole Representative Visa the applicant must fulfill the following requirements:

• They must be recruited and employed outside the UK by a company whose headquarters and principal place of business are outside the UK.
• They must hold a senior position within the overseas business.
• They are in receipt of a salary from their employer for at least 12 months
• They must have full authority to take operational decisions on behalf of the overseas business for the purpose of representing it in the UK.
• They must not be a major shareholder of the overseas business (the applicant’s shareholdings cannot be over 50%).
• They must intend to work full time as the representative of the overseas business.
• They must not intend to take any other employment.
• They should be applying to be the sole representative in the UK of an overseas employer who intends to establish and operate a registered branch or wholly-owned subsidiary of that overseas business in the UK and that branch or subsidiary will operate in the same type of business activity as the overseas business.
• They must not take recourse to public funds.
• They just need the required standard in the English Language

Eligibility requirements for Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa

In order to apply for Entrepreneur Visa, the applicant must score the 95 points which are as follows

• 25 Points: To score these 25 points you need to demonstrate that you have access to funds of either £200,000 or £50,000 from :
  1. One or more UK entrepreneurial seed funding competitions which are listed as endorsed on the Department for International Trade (DIT) pages of the GOV.UK website
  2. One or more UK Government Departments or Devolved Government Departments in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland
• One or more registered venture capital firms regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) (Please note that this is not available to applicants who are switching from a Tier 4 category)
• 25 Points: The money is held in one or more regulated financial institutions.
• 25 Points: The money is disposable in the United Kingdom.
• 10 Points: The applicant must need the required Standard English Language.
• 10 Points: The applicant must be able to demonstrate that he/she meet the maintenance of funds requirement.

We hope this guide clarified some of your doubts regarding which Visa to choose for your own UK business purposes.

For any further inquiries or a start-to-end guidance with your Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa or Sole Representative Visa application, contact The SmartMove2UK, a niche immigration law firm with offices in Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore. Ph: +919819127002. Email: Info@Smartmove2uk.com

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