Joint account requirement for partners

[np_7777]

I along with another colleague plan to apply for Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa.

We have arranged for £200k funds, have a business plan and both of us have 20+ years of relevant experience with strong senior management experience.

Have the following questions :-

1. Do the funds need to be in a joint Bank account between myself and my partner ONLY? Currently we have the funds in our individual accounts,

2. Do we need to mandatorily hold the funds for 90 consecutive calendar days OR will it suffice if we provide supporting for source of funds and apply earlier ?

Thanks in Advance

[marcnath]

I along with another colleague plan to apply for Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa.

We have arranged for £200k funds, have a business plan and both of us have 20+ years of relevant experience with strong senior management experience.

Have the following questions :-

1. Do the funds need to be in a joint Bank account between myself and my partner ONLY? Currently we have the funds in our individual accounts,

2. Do we need to mandatorily hold the funds for 90 consecutive calendar days OR will it suffice if we provide supporting for source of funds and apply earlier ?

Thanks in Advance

1. No, individual accounts is fine
2. Yes, you need to. Alternatively, you can set up the company, transfer the money to the business and show the evidence for money already invested.

[bajo85]

Sorry @Marcnath I don’t think individual accounts are acceptable. For team application, team members are required to have equal level of control on funds which is only possible if the team members have a joint bank account.

Cheers

[shakebassri]

Thanks@Marcnath & @bajo85. We have the same issue we have 200K funds in individual account (100K each) but we didnot go for "joint account" and is also difficult as we are in 2 different country currently. Has anyone got accepted in Team ENT without joint account ? Thanks for reply/ suggestion, will be very valuable for us.

[marcnath]

Sorry @Marcnath I don’t think individual accounts are acceptable. For team application, team members are required to have equal level of control on funds which is only possible if the team members have a joint bank account.

Cheers

That is an interesting interpretation and I can see why you may think that.

There are other sections where it is clear the team members can depend up on each other's funds, so I don't believe the intention of that clause was that the money has to be in a joint account.

Unless someone has an example that HO is doing such a strong interpretation, I would believe that it is can be in individual accoounts.

[marcnath]

Thanks@Marcnath & @bajo85. We have the same issue we have 200K funds in individual account (100K each) but we didnot go for "joint account" and is also difficult as we are in 2 different country currently. Has anyone got accepted in Team ENT without joint account ? Thanks for reply/ suggestion, will be very valuable for us.

I don't recall anyone here posting specifically that they had kept money in joint accounts. However, there was at least one case where the team members claimed investment and employment points from entirely separate businesses. That seems to have been an extreme or just pure luck as it is clearly not in line with the rules. But, as I posted earlier, because other parts of the immigration rules allow you to use each other's funds, I consider it would be safe to use personal accounts.

[bajo85]

Sorry @Marcnath I don’t think individual accounts are acceptable. For team application, team members are required to have equal level of control on funds which is only possible if the team members have a joint bank account.

Cheers

That is an interesting interpretation and I can see why you may think that.

There are other sections where it is clear the team members can depend up on each other's funds, so I don't believe the intention of that clause was that the money has to be in a joint account.

Unless someone has an example that HO is doing such a strong interpretation, I would believe that it is can be in individual accoounts.

Dear @Marcnath, I said that on the basis of my personal experience. We 2 friends had 28k each in our personal accounts and got a signed “statotry declaration” attested by Solicitor, stating that we have more than 50k in our accounts and that we have formed team to invest this sum in our business. But Home Office refused us by saying that though we both team members had funds but we didn’t have equal level of control on those funds. Then we re-applied after opening a joint bank account and eventually got successful.

So I advise not to take a chance and must consult the paragraph “Money held by you” on page 14 of Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) Policy Guidance – version 0 7 /2018 –

The following is the pertinent part of the paragraph to your question

(2) The account must be in your own name only (or both names for an entrepreneurial team or where it is a joint account with your spouse, civil partner or partner), not in the name of a business or third party.

and please remember 1 thing, submit “specified documents” only not what you think are equivalent of the required docs

I hope it’ll help

Thank You

[marcnath]

Sorry @Marcnath I don’t think individual accounts are acceptable. For team application, team members are required to have equal level of control on funds which is only possible if the team members have a joint bank account.

Cheers

That is an interesting interpretation and I can see why you may think that.

There are other sections where it is clear the team members can depend up on each other's funds, so I don't believe the intention of that clause was that the money has to be in a joint account.

Unless someone has an example that HO is doing such a strong interpretation, I would believe that it is can be in individual accoounts.

Dear @Marcnath, I said that on the basis of my personal experience. We 2 friends had 28k each in our personal accounts and got a signed “statotry declaration” attested by Solicitor, stating that we have more than 50k in our accounts and that we have formed team to invest this sum in our business. But Home Office refused us by saying that though we both team members had funds but we didn’t have equal level of control on those funds. Then we re-applied after opening a joint bank account and eventually got successful.

So I advise not to take a chance and must consult the paragraph “Money held by you” on page 14 of Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) Policy Guidance – version 0 7 /2018 –

The following is the pertinent part of the paragraph to your question

(2) The account must be in your own name only (or both names for an entrepreneurial team or where it is a joint account with your spouse, civil partner or partner), not in the name of a business or third party.

and please remember 1 thing, submit “specified documents” only not what you think are equivalent of the required docs

I hope it’ll help

Thank You

Thanks and that's valuable. Clearly HO has been tightening that.

I still believe even the clause you quoted can be argued that they need to accept individual accounts but I totally agree that it is not worth the effort - better to have a joint account.

Did you then have to wait 90 days for the joint account ?

[bajo85]

Sorry @Marcnath I don’t think individual accounts are acceptable. For team application, team members are required to have equal level of control on funds which is only possible if the team members have a joint bank account.

Cheers

That is an interesting interpretation and I can see why you may think that.

There are other sections where it is clear the team members can depend up on each other's funds, so I don't believe the intention of that clause was that the money has to be in a joint account.

Unless someone has an example that HO is doing such a strong interpretation, I would believe that it is can be in individual accoounts.

Dear @Marcnath, I said that on the basis of my personal experience. We 2 friends had 28k each in our personal accounts and got a signed “statotry declaration” attested by Solicitor, stating that we have more than 50k in our accounts and that we have formed team to invest this sum in our business. But Home Office refused us by saying that though we both team members had funds but we didn’t have equal level of control on those funds. Then we re-applied after opening a joint bank account and eventually got successful.

So I advise not to take a chance and must consult the paragraph “Money held by you” on page 14 of Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) Policy Guidance – version 0 7 /2018 –

The following is the pertinent part of the paragraph to your question

(2) The account must be in your own name only (or both names for an entrepreneurial team or where it is a joint account with your spouse, civil partner or partner), not in the name of a business or third party.

and please remember 1 thing, submit “specified documents” only not what you think are equivalent of the required docs

I hope it’ll help

Thank You

Thanks and that's valuable. Clearly HO has been tightening that.

I still believe even the clause you quoted can be argued that they need to accept individual accounts but I totally agree that it is not worth the effort - better to have a joint account.

Did you then have to wait 90 days for the joint account ?

No Sir! There was No 90 days requirement then.

I’ll share you photo of the refusal part tonight ...

[np_7777]

Thanks everyone for your response. This is really helpful.