Tier1 Extension Refused based on Interview- Really confused

[Ay dot]

I applied for my Tier1 Entrepreneur extension in August 2016.
Interview Granted January 2017
Application Rejected October 31 2017
Letter received November 03 2017

Reason: Based on interview
'The Secretary of State is not satisfied on the balance of probabilities that:
1) You have genuinely invested the money referred to in Table 5 of Appendix A into one or more genuine businesses in the UK and
2) you do not intend to take employment other than under the terms of paragraph 245DE'

I made £25k investment 1 month prior to making application (June 2016). This is because although i had initially in 2013 invested all £50k, there was a mix up in my bank statement so accountant advised me to re-invest the £25k for more transparency.
How can i counter this please? IS there any requirement that investment must be made sooner?

Also, I have never visited the business premises of my clients. They said ' We would expect someone who is providing business consultancy services to have visited their premises to gain understanding of how it works' - At interview, i said no i have not visited their premises - I should have added that we do regular Skype meetings.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated guys - I have only 6 days left to make Administrative Review. Thank you

[Hiuk77777]

Hi, do You mind posting the refusal letter ?

1. How much you invested in your director loan

2. Why they cannot believe you have employees

Thanks

[zamaha]

I have also applied in Aug 2016 and no result yet.
It is strange! If they wanted to refuse you based on interview, why it took this long!!

Did you contact MP or send any letter?

Is your business in profit or loss? Did you take any salaries or wages?

[marcnath]

I applied for my Tier1 Entrepreneur extension in August 2016.
Interview Granted January 2017
Application Rejected October 31 2017
Letter received November 03 2017

Reason: Based on interview
'The Secretary of State is not satisfied on the balance of probabilities that:
1) You have genuinely invested the money referred to in Table 5 of Appendix A into one or more genuine businesses in the UK and
2) you do not intend to take employment other than under the terms of paragraph 245DE'

I made £25k investment 1 month prior to making application (June 2016). This is because although i had initially in 2013 invested all £50k, there was a mix up in my bank statement so accountant advised me to re-invest the £25k for more transparency.
How can i counter this please? IS there any requirement that investment must be made sooner?

Also, I have never visited the business premises of my clients. They said ' We would expect someone who is providing business consultancy services to have visited their premises to gain understanding of how it works' - At interview, i said no i have not visited their premises - I should have added that we do regular Skype meetings.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated guys - I have only 6 days left to make Administrative Review. Thank you

1. What are the evidence you provided for your investment?
2. What is the nature of your business ? It appears they are concerned it is quite close to providing your own time
3. How many employees did you have , what were their roles and hourly pay rate?

[teddybear79]

The home office is sick, refusing someone after 14 months on grounds that could have been determined in 1 day after the interview.

Wish we could sue them for this, they charge a heavy fee for checking our application and then return with incompetent decisions after 112 weeks instead of 8 weeks.

[sassybee]

I applied for my Tier1 Entrepreneur extension in August 2016.
Interview Granted January 2017
Application Rejected October 31 2017
Letter received November 03 2017

Reason: Based on interview
'The Secretary of State is not satisfied on the balance of probabilities that:
1) You have genuinely invested the money referred to in Table 5 of Appendix A into one or more genuine businesses in the UK and
2) you do not intend to take employment other than under the terms of paragraph 245DE'

I made £25k investment 1 month prior to making application (June 2016). This is because although i had initially in 2013 invested all £50k, there was a mix up in my bank statement so accountant advised me to re-invest the £25k for more transparency.
How can i counter this please? IS there any requirement that investment must be made sooner?

Also, I have never visited the business premises of my clients. They said ' We would expect someone who is providing business consultancy services to have visited their premises to gain understanding of how it works' - At interview, i said no i have not visited their premises - I should have added that we do regular Skype meetings.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated guys - I have only 6 days left to make Administrative Review. Thank you

Hi Ay,

So sorry to hear about this. You will really need to make a strong case with your AR. But this means you will be submitting additional documents which most likely will not be considered. I will say put all your supporting documents together i.e documents to counter the refusal points.
And while in AR put in motion contingency plans should AR be refused.

I know its frustrating but you need to be calm and put things together.

Cheers

[Capri]

I applied for my Tier1 Entrepreneur extension in August 2016.
Interview Granted January 2017
Application Rejected October 31 2017
Letter received November 03 2017

Reason: Based on interview
'The Secretary of State is not satisfied on the balance of probabilities that:
1) You have genuinely invested the money referred to in Table 5 of Appendix A into one or more genuine businesses in the UK and
2) you do not intend to take employment other than under the terms of paragraph 245DE'

I made £25k investment 1 month prior to making application (June 2016). This is because although i had initially in 2013 invested all £50k, there was a mix up in my bank statement so accountant advised me to re-invest the £25k for more transparency.
How can i counter this please? IS there any requirement that investment must be made sooner?

Also, I have never visited the business premises of my clients. They said ' We would expect someone who is providing business consultancy services to have visited their premises to gain understanding of how it works' - At interview, i said no i have not visited their premises - I should have added that we do regular Skype meetings.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated guys - I have only 6 days left to make Administrative Review. Thank you

Soooo sad, can't believe these type of questions related to clients, because sometimes employees and senior staff can visit client premixes, also as I understand you have invested 75k in total, isn't it?

[miumiuuk]

the most horrible reasons for refusing a visa. I wish my case was not in this officer's hand.

1) Did you show your personal bank statements and business bank statements to prove your investment?
2) What evidences that you submitted to prove your employment?

[PeterLove2008]

Maybe re-prepare all documents and make a fresh new application is better to go with AR?

[Ay dot]

The home office is sick, refusing someone after 14 months on grounds that could have been determined in 1 day after the interview.

Wish we could sue them for this, they charge a heavy fee for checking our application and then return with incompetent decisions after 112 weeks instead of 8 weeks.

You are quite right. It's horrible

[Ay dot]

I applied for my Tier1 Entrepreneur extension in August 2016.
Interview Granted January 2017
Application Rejected October 31 2017
Letter received November 03 2017

Reason: Based on interview
'The Secretary of State is not satisfied on the balance of probabilities that:
1) You have genuinely invested the money referred to in Table 5 of Appendix A into one or more genuine businesses in the UK and
2) you do not intend to take employment other than under the terms of paragraph 245DE'

I made £25k investment 1 month prior to making application (June 2016). This is because although i had initially in 2013 invested all £50k, there was a mix up in my bank statement so accountant advised me to re-invest the £25k for more transparency.
How can i counter this please? IS there any requirement that investment must be made sooner?

Also, I have never visited the business premises of my clients. They said ' We would expect someone who is providing business consultancy services to have visited their premises to gain understanding of how it works' - At interview, i said no i have not visited their premises - I should have added that we do regular Skype meetings.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated guys - I have only 6 days left to make Administrative Review. Thank you

Hi Ay,

So sorry to hear about this. You will really need to make a strong case with your AR. But this means you will be submitting additional documents which most likely will not be considered. I will say put all your supporting documents together i.e documents to counter the refusal points.
And while in AR put in motion contingency plans should AR be refused.

I know its frustrating but you need to be calm and put things together.

Cheers

Aw thank you so much. This was re-assuring. Thank you!

[sm12]

Very sorry to hear about this.

What was it that you submitted to show your transactions?

[innocent_sinner123]

Hi AO,

In your interview did you tell them you invested 75k in total?

I have a similar situation I invested 50K initially and I was granted points for investment in my initial application. But due to some. Ussiness requirment I had to invest another 50k and my solicitor advised to attach eveidence of the further investment and made error in my application by not claiming points awarded in initial application.

They called interview and I made it clear to them that my total investment is 100k now.

But I haven't heard anything back yet.

Any help on this would be appreciated.

[Hiuk77777]

I was refused based my yhe interview as well.

The same reason as yours

[piercebody]

I was refused based my yhe interview as well.

The same reason as yours

Have you submitted any Administrative Review.? thanks

[zimba]

DO NOT TAG YOUR QUESTIONS HERE As they are NOT relevant to OP post

[Ay dot]

DO NOT TAG YOUR QUESTIONS HERE As they are NOT relevant to OP post

Hi Zimba, can i possibly contact you directly for direct help with this. It's quite complicated and AR just came and was rejected.

Thank you so much.

[CR001]

DO NOT TAG YOUR QUESTIONS HERE As they are NOT relevant to OP post

Hi Zimba, can i possibly contact you directly for direct help with this. It's quite complicated and AR just came and was rejected.

Thank you so much.

Members should post in public so that all can benefit and any incorrect advice can be rectified.

[Hiuk77777]

Do you mind post your refusal point here. I refused for interview as well and now waiting for AR. I found barrister who helped me drafted the grounds. If you post here, I can tell you my grounds and maybe can help you

[Ay dot]

I applied for my Tier1 Entrepreneur extension in August 2016.
Interview Granted January 2017
Application Rejected October 31 2017
Letter received November 03 2017

Reason: Based on interview
'The Secretary of State is not satisfied on the balance of probabilities that:
1) You have genuinely invested the money referred to in Table 5 of Appendix A into one or more genuine businesses in the UK and
2) you do not intend to take employment other than under the terms of paragraph 245DE'

I made £25k investment 1 month prior to making application (June 2016). This is because although i had initially in 2013 invested all £50k, there was a mix up in my bank statement so accountant advised me to re-invest the £25k for more transparency.
How can i counter this please? IS there any requirement that investment must be made sooner?

Also, I have never visited the business premises of my clients. They said ' We would expect someone who is providing business consultancy services to have visited their premises to gain understanding of how it works' - At interview, i said no i have not visited their premises - I should have added that we do regular Skype meetings.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated guys - I have only 6 days left to make Administrative Review. Thank you

1. What are the evidence you provided for your investment?
2. What is the nature of your business ? It appears they are concerned it is quite close to providing your own time
3. How many employees did you have , what were their roles and hourly pay rate?

1. I provided Shares Certificate. I made initial £50k investment within first year of receiving original leave to remain but I withdraw £25k which negates the £25k. I then made investment of £25k in the month just before applying for extension. They came back and said that because i made the £25k just before applying it casts doubts on my genuineness.
2. It is management consultancy. I worked
3. I have 1 employee (because my initial grant of leave was in 2013 and this was the rule at the time). However, he lives very far from my office and they did not believe me.

I'm thinking of making a fresh application. Do you think this is advisable please and does it have any negative effect eg. will i be an overstayer or is this even allowed? Thank you

[marcnath]

Did you submit your AR ? What grounds did you use ?
Nothing prevents you from making a fresh application if the AR decision is not in your favour.
You will be an overstayer once the AR rejection is final (if it is rejected) but if you apply within 14 days, they will consider your fresh application.
The fact that you are making a fresh application is not negative in itself. But, fresh applications are more likely to be successful if the rejection is due to mistakes in documentation, etc which can be definitely corrected.
You can also address the genuineness test in a fresh application with a cover letter addressing the issues.
It is difficult to make a proper assessment without full details, but some general comments:
1. If you invested by shares, you really can't withdraw that. So I am not clear why you had to even make additional investment. And even if you did, there was no requirement to submit bank statements, so did this come up in the interview ?
2. Did you have just one client ? Did you have contract with the client ? What was the basis of your contract - x hours that you would work or something like that ?
3. Having one employee or the employee living far away is not a reason by itself. But you may have to provide some additional reasoning why you are using that structure, what is the work your employee is doing, some independent reference (e.g. letter from your clients that the employee is working with) and so on to address that.

[Ay dot]

Hi,

Do you offer a consultation? I would gladly use this service just to have a proper review of my situation.

Unfortunately, i submitted my bank statements to them and it reflected that I made an investment of £25k. The withdrawal I made was from the account as I needed it so my books did not balance properly hence my accountant canceled it out.
I had 2 clients and got paid a daily rate.

So, fresh application will still make me an overstayer? I really want to know what my best option is and my chances at fresh application. Judicial review seems too expensive. Thank you so much for your advice

[Hiuk77777]

My barrasit who help me draft the grounds for AR didn’t suggest me go for JR. he told me the JR only believe home office unless you have provided all the documents and definitely fault made by home office. He suggest me for fresh application if AR failed.

It’s ok to be the overstay. If you grant the new visa, this period will be ignore.

For your employees , it’s better provide any contact information between you and him to prove he did work for you everyday and also explain how he can work for you even he is far away from you.

I refused for interview as well. I don’t know what’s your ground. If you can share here, I can tell you what ground my barrasit draft for me. Maybe you can find anything. I have to say the grounds written by barrasit is very professional.

[Ay dot]

My barrasit who help me draft the grounds for AR didn’t suggest me go for JR. he told me the JR only believe home office unless you have provided all the documents and definitely fault made by home office. He suggest me for fresh application if AR failed.

It’s ok to be the overstay. If you grant the new visa, this period will be ignore.

For your employees , it’s better provide any contact information between you and him to prove he did work for you everyday and also explain how he can work for you even he is far away from you.

I refused for interview as well. I don’t know what’s your ground. If you can share here, I can tell you what ground my barrasit draft for me. Maybe you can find anything. I have to say the grounds written by barrasit is very professional.

Will try and see if i can post but thank you so much for the tips

[marcnath]

Hi,

Do you offer a consultation? I would gladly use this service just to have a proper review of my situation.

Unfortunately, i submitted my bank statements to them and it reflected that I made an investment of £25k. The withdrawal I made was from the account as I needed it so my books did not balance properly hence my accountant canceled it out.
I had 2 clients and got paid a daily rate.

So, fresh application will still make me an overstayer? I really want to know what my best option is and my chances at fresh application. Judicial review seems too expensive. Thank you so much for your advice

As @Hiuk77777 pointed out, the overstay has no negative impact if your visa is eventually approved. The most significant impact usually is if you have dependants - they will lose their right to work during the processing period.

Have you spent money on marketing, office or anything similar that a business would spend on ?

If you are paid a daily rate, then it is pretty close to being employed as a contractor, something that is explicitly not allowed under the T1E rules.

No, I am not authorised to offer any consultation but happy to provide any help on this forum.

Though I hate to say this but you do seem to have a tough situation. That is not to say you should not try. It would be worth consulting a professional who is experienced in Tier 1 applications to help you when you reapply.