Immigration Solicitors

The Home Office released Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules on 26th February 2015 (HC1025).

Four key changes came out of the Statement in respect to the Tier 1 Investor category.

The first change will have a major impact on initial visa applications, whereby prospective investors will need to open a “UK regulated investment account” before even making the visa application. This change is to ensure UK banks will first carry out the relevant due diligence checks on investors before they apply for entry clearance or leave to remain, not after.

The second change is that the minimum age of applicants in this category will increase from 16 years old to 18. The Home Office’s reasoning is that this is to reflect the fact that it is not normally possible for 16- and 17- year old applicants to be wholly in control of their own funds and investments.

The third change is that applicants will need to maintain their investments. The changes will mean applicants will no longer need to invest additional capital if they sell part of their investments at a loss, but they will be required to maintain all their capital within their investment portfolios. Applicants will still be permitted to buy and sell investments, provided the investor does not withdraw any capital. This change is intended to remove an unintended incentive for investors to invest in UK government bonds rather than to invest in UK companies.

The final and fourth change is that the restrictions on investing companies primarily concerned with property investment, property development or property management is being amended slightly, for consistency with the Rules for the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) category.

These changes will apply to any visa applications made after the 6th of April 2015.

At Duncan Lewis Solicitors, our team of specialist UK immigration solicitors are at the forefront of any immigration rule changes.

We will be providing further updates on the new rule changes as and when they are released.