As part of your Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) application, the Home Office reserves the right to ask for more information and may ask you to attend an interview if they have concerns about whether you are genuinely intending to pursue a business in the UK.
They may ask for information about your business intentions, your previous educational and business experience, your knowledge of the business plan, your immigration history and previous activity in the UK.
Qualifications and Experience
You will need to prove that with your experience, education and skills you will be able to execute your business plan.
- Looking at your CV, can you explain how your previous experience will help you with your business venture?
- How is your educational background linked to the business?
- If your experience or degree is not linked to your business, what transferrable skills will you employ in your business?
- Why do you only want to do this business?
- Why you want to do business in UK?
- During your last period of leave, what genuine credible steps have you taken to prepare, plan, develop and launch your business in the UK?
- Are there any team members in your business plan?
- How did you become a team?
- What will be the role for each team member in the business?
- How will each team member contribute to the business?
Business Plan
You must study the business plan in depth as you are expected to have clear understanding of the business.
- Who wrote the Business Plan?
- What is your business plan? (explain the business)
- What sort of Insurance and how much coverage do you require for your business?
- As you are providing services to the public, have you already gained your employers liability insurance?
- What is the minimum wage in the UK? (if hiring staff)
- What kind of premises would you acquire/let and what are their dimensions?
- Would you mortgage, Lease, freehold or Rent it and what will be the estimated rental cost of your business premises?
- How many employees do you intend to recruit at the start of business and what annual salaries and wages do you intend to pay them?
- What is your marketing strategy and what means of marketing you will use?
Your future plans for business? - Have you registered your business with the appropriate UK bodies? If so, who?
Chance of Success
You will need to prove that you have studied the market, competitors and financial projections, which have given you the confidence that your business venture will be a success.
- In your business plan, how will profits change from year 1 to year 2 and why?
- How much profit will you make per sale?
- How many competitors to your company are there in the UK?
- What market research have you undertaken in relation to the area in which your business will be located?
- What part of UK do you intend to establish this business and why specifically this area why not somewhere else?
- How will you cover unexpected additional running cost for your business?
- Would you then sell its shares to public and for how much?
- How confident are you that the business will generate profits in first year?
- What advantage or edge would you have over them and where do you see yourself or your Business in three years time?
- There is serious competition in the specified business area, there are people doing business brilliantly. What makes you think you will survive or thrive?
Immigration History
You will need to discuss your immigration history.
- Why did you stay in the UK in previous years? How many times have you visited the UK and for what reasons?
- Did you ever contemplate extending your existing visa?
- What have you done since you moved away from the UK?
- What was the last time you travelled to UK?
- What was the purpose of stay?
- Do you have any relatives in the UK?
- Who helped you put in the application?
- Can you give me a brief history of your immigration status in the UK?
- What are your long-term aims of remaining in the UK?
- Do you intend to apply for settlement or do you plan on returning to your country of origin?
