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Business Plan for UK Start Ups and Tier 1 Innovator Visa | ICS Legal

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Business Plan for UK Tier 1 Innovator Visa & Start-Up Visas | ICS Legal Project Team

Business Plan is needed for your Tier 1 visa. “Britain is open for business” – a campaign is driven by many successive UK governments attracting talented entrepreneurs worldwide to set up or invest in an existing business in the UK.

Since April 2019, the Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa route has been closed for new applicants and replaced with the new visa categories. 

Both the Start-Up and Tier 1 Innovator visas are the natural visa to obtain for those wishing to start or invest in a business they will actively be involved in running in the UK.

To qualify under the innovator visa route, you must show you have access to at least £50,000. Where you are applying under the start-up visa, then there are no financial investment required to be shown. 

Writing your business plan to meet the Tier 1 visa requirements

ICS Legal Project Team have unique business plan writers, each specialising in drafting and researching business plans for either the Start-Up visa or the Tier 1 Innovator visa. Our group comprises of UK immigration lawyers, qualified accountants and experienced economists - all of whom are experts in their fields - our writers have many, many years of drafting.

Our business plans have been used for a number of immigration applications since the Tier 1 visa was first introduced. E-mail us your details and the type of business you are intending to open and we will provide some initial advice to you. Click here to e-mail us on info@icslegal.com. 

Our service guarantees a response to your enquiries within 24 hours, no matter if you have an initial enquiry or if you are an existing client - ALL our clients are important to us. 

Our Project Team consists of writers that specialise in small-medium companies, as well as writers that have drafted for large corporate PLCs. These include restaurants, concierge services, spa lounges, IT consultants, car rentals, nurseries, food franchises, construction companies, import/export traders and much more! 

How the business market and Tier 1 visa work together

The injection of private sector talent and entrepreneurial vigour has boosted the growth of many industries in the UK and businesses such as tech start-ups have thrived in the era of Tech City mania.

While there is definitely encouragement for entrepreneurs to bring business to the UK, recent statistics show otherwise with a high number of refusal rates for business migrants. This is partly due to the introduction of the subjective “genuine entrepreneur test”, which is the UK government’s response to counter abuse under this immigration category.

However, the test can also be a challenging one for genuine entrepreneurs and the announcement of the Immigration Rule changes of 6 April 2015 has further tightened up the requirements:

  1. It will be a mandatory requirement for initial applicants to provide a business plan as part of their application. It was previously not compulsory, though caseworkers often requested the business plan to help establish if the applicant’s business proposal was a genuine one.

  2. Following the theme in protecting abuse under this immigration category, applicants will be required to provide evidence of the source of funds if the funds have been held in the applicant’s account for less than 90 days before the application is made.

The “genuineness test” has now been extended to applicants applying for extensions and indefinite leave to remain (settlement) applications. It is envisaged that applicants will need to be more creative with supplying additional evidence to demonstrate their business is “genuine” and that they are running a credible business in the UK.

The above is aimed to source the genuine entrepreneurs who can demonstrate they have sound business acumen; extensive background experience; and a viable business proposition. For individuals wishing to obtain either the Start-Up visas or the Tier 1 Innovator visa, the vibe seems to be “Britain is open for business”, but only if you can show a high degree of genuineness and entrepreneurialism.

So, let’s say you have ticked all the boxes with an amazing business plan and you can demonstrate you are the “genuine” entrepreneur the UK is looking for (and you even have an entrepreneur team member applying with you to jointly invest the £50,000) – you get the visa, but what next…

Have you established or invested in a business in the UK?

Before you establish or invest in a UK business, there are various matters that you will need to consider. Have you decided which structure or corporate vehicle is most appropriate for you and for your business?

If you wish to set up a small, owner-managed business but want to limit your liability, for example, you might consider incorporating a company limited by shares. We can advise on the most appropriate structure and put you in touch with an accountant/tax advisor who can advise in respect of tax and associated registrations from a company perspective.

If you wish to invest in an existing UK business, you need to ensure your interests are well protected. You should consider the existing constitutional documents (the articles of association, memorandum of association and any other associated documents) of the company and any shareholders’ agreement already in place.

If you are contemplating lending money to a company or making an equity investment, you should ensure that you fully understand your rights and that these are documented appropriately.

Call our Project Team on 020 7237 3388 and get some initial advice. 

Related FAQ's

We specialise in Immigration Law, Human Rights Law, British Nationality Law & European Law (post Brexit).

Our Lawyers provide honest, trusted legal advice and exceptional service to all our clients. In return, we would expect all our clients to treat our professionals with courtesy and respect. 

ICS Legal provides our clients with initial advice, to program management and compliance services - bringing in value to what we deliver. 

Our speciality lies in the field of Immigration, Nationality and EU Law, so it means we always are dealing with this side of the law. We are able to support you in making a correct decision, avoid delays on your case, save money and time, not forgetting the stress of any doubts with your application.

There are many routes available to come to the UK, extend or switch, some of them do not allow extension or even switching. Knowing what is right can be a difficult task and this is why we are here. Simple task of not using the prescribed forms can mean your application is invalid, which means if you have no valid stay, you would have to return back and there is no appeal rights.

Our initial consultations are a chargeable service. We initially discuss the requirements of the application to ensure you meet the requirements and have the documentation required at hand for the submission. It gives you an opportunity to meet us and ask questions.

Each case will be checked thoroughly, everything will be cross referenced so guidelines are met and we will also add our legal document which would outline the Immigration Rules and how the client has satisfied the rules. We use documents that are used by Home Office case workers, so we know exactly what they would look for in your case.

The most important fact is that law constantly changes, policy guidelines and requirements are always changing, so it is best that you always use specialised services to support you. We never compromise our services, our fees remain very competitive but our expertise is at the very highest standard.

We are regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA) - at the highest level which is Level 3 with JRCM licence. 

IAA which is the rebrand of OISC is the UK Government Regulated Body and it is a criminal offence if someone is providing Immigration advice without being regulated by the IAA.

Please visit our regulatory bodes page to find more information of government and other agencies which we listed by. Click here. 

Your Lawyer would take some background information regarding yourself. Relevant questions would be asked to ascertain whether your case can be handled by our team.

You will also be able to ask questions, understand what is required to meet the Immigration Rules, Nationality Law and EU Law where relevant.

Should we be able to provide assistance, your case worker will give you a customer care letter whereby it would outline the service agreement and the cost associated.

After each consultation we aim to provide a consultation report which would outline what was discussed, the action plan and what to do next.

We have a procedure in place for ensuring client confidentiality.

We keep the affairs of our clients and all information relating to our clients confidential, except where we are compelled to disclose information by reason of a legal or regulatory obligation.

A customer care letter from us will ensure that we outline the service we would be providing, it would also provide a break down of the costs associated so you can rest assure that there are no hidden charges and that fees do not go up unless changes are made (i.e. Home Office fees etc).

We place our clients first, so when you sign the customer care letter and we go through your case file, and we believe that the case would not be successful, we will terminate the agreement and return your documents.

We will also provide alternative solutions with no added costs. We also have a cancellation period should you feel you want to withdraw your file.

Please note that all cases cannot be guaranteed as circumstances depends and whether you met guidelines, however the Home Office caseworker can still refuse cases on the balance of probabilities and other factors.

Our job would be to prepare your case in the best possible way.

Yes, we do. ICS Legal other than fixed costs, offer our client's priority services in what we do including retainer services. 

As a private legal firm, we want to ensure we can provide the service you want. Our fees are very competitive and that is why we do not provide a No Win No Fee service as we do not feel the need to over charge our clients with such schemes.

With us, you will know exactly what we would be charging.

The fees are to be paid through cash or bank transfer. 

Home Office, third party including other costs not charged by us, will be confirmed when that is possible and are subject to changes. 

Our commitment to our clients is that we will update you every time we get an update from the Home Office. The waiting period can be a very daunting time as decisions can be life changing however the Home Office do set some guidelines on waiting times, but we intend to keep you updated throughout the process.
No, and this is the same even if you use a no win no fee service, it would be impossible for anyone to guarantee a successful application. The likelihood of an application being successful can be given based on previous cases or success rates, however we do not operate such a policy of selling our services based on previous applications.
We aim to ensure that this service is not used by any of our clients, but there are times where even with the best possible applications are unsuccessful. As we take our clients cases personally, we would like to provide a helping hand. We have designed an aftercare service whereby if your case fails, then your case worker would be able to help you look at other formalities of staying in the UK should you have valid leave still remaining or help you make an out country application. Please note should you require appealing on your matter, we can only deal with the initial appeal and your application will be straight away referred to an advisor who deals with representations.
It is vital that all our clients can provide honest feedback, we would encourage this and this helps us to become better on our service delivery.

No, we do not offer any services to find work or sponsorship. 

When you instruct ICS Legal, we will set out the scope of work. This will tell you the work we have agreed to complete and set out the charges. 

This means, we will tell you the services that are covered by the fixed costs work which we would set out in our email to you and the Client Care Letter (CCL). 

1. Our Terms of Business (TOB) can be found by clicking here. 

We are transparent in the ways we work. Please note, as you are buying professional legal advice, its important you understand our terms of working and what is being offered. 

ICS Legal operating model is line with how law firms operate - however please note each firm have their own process and policies. 

If you are unsure of what the scope of the work is or require more tailored advice & help, please email us at info@icslegal.com. We value our client's feedback. 

 

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