Today (16 October 2014), the Home Office laid in the Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules (HC693) to the House of Commons

Today (16 October 2014), the Home Office laid in the Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules (HC693) to the House of Commons.

Consequently the following changes will be introduced on the 6th of November 2014 onwards.

Tier 1 (Investor) visa category.

The Tier 1 (Investor) category was reviewed by the Migration Advisory Committee and their report was published on 28 February 2014. As a result of the report, the following changes have been made to the immigration rules which will be enforced on the 6th of November 2014.

• The current £1 million minimum investment threshold is being raised to £2 million. A change is being made to require the full investment sum to be invested in prescribed forms of investments (share or loan capital in active and trading UK companies, or UK Government bonds), rather than 75% of the sum as at present);
• The current requirement that the migrant’s investment must be “topped up” if its market value falls is being removed; instead Tier 1 (Investor) Migrants will only need to purchase new qualifying investments if they sell part of their portfolios and need to replace them in order to maintain the investment threshold;
• The existing provision under which the required investment sum can be sourced as a loan is being removed;
• Transitional arrangements are being applied, so that Tier 1 (Investor) Migrants who have already entered the route before these changes are introduced will not be subject to these changes when they apply for extensions or for indefinite leave to remain;
• Entry Clearance Officers and UK Visas & Immigration caseworkers are being empowered to refuse a Tier 1 (Investor) application if they have reasonable grounds to believe that: the applicant is not in control of the investment funds; the funds were obtained unlawfully (or by means which would be unlawful if they happened in the UK); or the character, conduct or associations of a party providing the funds mean that approving the application is not conducive to the public good.

Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa category.

There are two main changes to this category which are:

• For applications made in the UK, a new requirement is being added that the funds to be invested in the business must also be in the UK, to assist in verifying that the funds are genuine;
• A change is being made to require applicants for indefinite leave to remain to show they have invested their funds, if they have not been required to do so in a previous application. This change will apply to applicants for accelerated indefinite leave to remain, who have not made an extension application before applying for indefinite leave.

The significant change is in increasing the minimum threshold from £1million to £2million.Therefore, there is anyone who wants to apply for the Tier 1 Investor visa with the £1million option, it is highly recommended to do so by the 5th of November 2014. We are happy to advice further and assist on this matter.

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statement-of-changes-to-the-immigration-rules-hc693-16-october-2014

Source : Changes to Tier 1 (Investor) and Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa categories effective from 6 November 2014.