The Home Office introduced of a new “startup visas” for people who want to start their own business in the United Kingdom. The new visa is expected to be a hybrid between a Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) visa and Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa and Post-Study Visa, and is expected to be open to a wider pool of people.
Under current proposals, the Start Up Visa will be available to individuals who want to set up business in the UK. Initial plans are that the visa will replace the existing Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur visa by widening availability to non-graduates, and by introducing faster processing and decision-making. The Start Up Visa will require endorsement of the applicant and their business idea. The list of approved endorsers is to be made broader than under the existing Graduate Entrepreneur visa to include approved business sponsors, as well as universities.
The new visa is being designed to encourage more foreign entrepreneurs to come to the UK and contribute to the British economy, with particular ambitions to accelerate growth in sectors such as technology sector.
As a result, Home Office decision-making is expected to become ‘faster and smoother’ with the business viability requirement being taken away from case workers to be dealt under the preliminary endorsement stage.
The expanded route will launch in spring 2019, further details will be announced in due course.
“Given that the Home Office has not announced detailed requirements for this new visa it is difficult to assess how it will work and what advantages it would offer to the applicants. However, if the Home Office removes the subjectivity which is attached to the current Entrepreneur visa than the new visa would be introduce a welcome and much-needed change”
Yuliya Andresyuk,
Head of Legal Oracle Capital Group
