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What is the entrepreneur category?

The entrepreneur category is for those investing in the United Kingdom by setting up or taking over, and being actively involved in the running of, one or more businesses in the United Kingdom.

Who can apply as an entrepreneur?

You can apply under the entrepreneur category now if you are:

• in the United Kingdom and want to make an initial application as an entrepreneur; 
• already in the United Kingdom as an entrepreneur and want to extend your permission to stay within your existing category;
• already in the United Kingdom as a business person or innovator and want to extend your permission to stay in the entrepreneur category;
• applying for permission to enter the United Kingdom (known as 'entry clearance') under the entrepreneur category.

What points you have to score to apply as an entrepreneur

To apply under UKBA points-based system and be accepted into the entrepreneur category, you must pass a points-based assessment.

You must score:

• 75 points for your attributes which are different depending on whether you make an initial or extension application; and 
• 10 points for English language; and 
• 10 points for available maintenance (funds).

If you do not score a minimum of 75 points for your attributes and 10 points for English language and 10 points for available maintenance (funds), your application will be refused.

How the points different for first time applications and extension applications

The requirements that you must meet in order to be awarded points differ depending on whether you are:

• applying to enter the entrepreneur category for the first time (initial applications) ; or 
• applying to extend your existing permission to stay in this category (extension applications).

What category of person should apply

You should apply if you are a not a national of the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland and want to enter or stay in the United Kingdom to work in business in the entrepreneur category.

You should apply if you are:

• already in the United Kingdom under entrepreneur category and want to extend your permission to stay within your existing category; 
• already in the United Kingdom as a business person or innovator and want to extend your permission to stay in the entrepreneur category;
• applying from outside the United Kingdom for permission to enter (known as 'entry clearance') in the entrepreneur category.

Initial applications

How many points you must score to apply

Points are awarded for the following categories, which are known as attributes:

• access to £200,000;
• the money is in a regulated financial institution;
• the money is disposable in the United Kingdom.

You will need a total of at least 75 points to be able to apply.

The points available are:

The points awarded for access to £200,000

You will score 25 points if you have £200,000 of your own money available to make a fresh investment into business in the United Kingdom.

You may include money made available by one or more other people (known as 'a third party or parties'). You must also provide a declaration, from every other contributor, that the money is available to you or the business that you are running, together with confirmation from a legal representative that the declaration document is valid.

A husband, wife, or partner is a third party.

The points awarded for money being in a regulated financial institution

You will score 25 points if your money is held in one or more regulated financial institutions.

The financial institution or institutions that provide confirmation of the money available to you must be regulated by the home regulator. The home regulator is an official financial regulatory body in the country where the financial institution operates and the money is located.

The points awarded for money being disposable in the United Kingdom

You can score 25 points if you have money held in the United Kingdom in an institution that is regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

If the money is not held in the United Kingdom, all of the £200,000 required to qualify must be freely transferable to the United Kingdom and able to be converted to pounds sterling.

If the money is held overseas but in an institution that has a presence in the United Kingdom and is regulated by the Financial Services Authority, then the institution already does business in the United Kingdom and UKBA will not need any further evidence that the money can be transferred into the United Kingdom. 

If you rely on money held in an overseas institution that is not regulated by the Financial Services Authority, you must provide confirmation that the money can be transferred into the United Kingdom. You can do this with a document from your bank or financial institution.

Extension applications

How many points you must score to apply

Points are awarded for the following categories, which are known as attributes:

• invested £200,000 in to a United Kingdom business;
• registered for business within three months;
• engaged in business activity; and
• created new employment.

You will need a total of 75 points to be able to apply.

The points available are:

Invested £200,000 into a United Kingdom business

You will score 20 points if you have invested, or had invested on your behalf not less than £200,000 in cash directly into one or more business or businesses in the United Kingdom. You must show that the full amount of £200,000 in cash has already been invested in business in the United Kingdom.

You may have moved on to other activities and no longer be involved in the business or businesses in which you initially invested, but you must still send this evidence.

The money should not:

• include the value of any residential accommodation or property development, or property management; or
• be in the form of a director's loan, unless it is unsecured and is subordinated in favour of the third-party creditors.

If you have bought property which includes residential accommodation for yourself and your family, the value of this part of the property will not be counted towards the money.  The value of this part of the property should be deducted from the amount of the business money. You must send an estimate of the value of your living accommodation if it is part of the premises also used for the business, from a surveyor who is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Registered for business within three months

You score 20 points if you show that you have:

• registered with HM Revenue & Customs as self-employed; or
• registered a new company in which you are a director; or
• registered as a director of an existing company.

If your previous permission to stay was granted under the Tier 1 Entrepreneur category, you must have registered within three months of your 'entrepreneur start date'. This date is:

• your date of entry to the United Kingdom (if you were granted entry clearance as a Tier 1 Entrepreneur and there is evidence to establish your date of entry to the United Kingdom); or
• the date when you were granted entry clearance as a Tier 1 Entrepreneur (if there is no evidence to establish your date of entry to the United Kingdom); or
• the date when you were granted leave to remain as a Tier 1 Entrepreneur (in any other case).

If your previous permission to stay was granted under one of the former Business Person or Innovator categories, you will not need to show that you registered as self-employed or as a director within three months. Instead, UKBA will award you 20 points if you can show that:

• you are registered at the time when you apply to extend your permission to stay; and
• you are involved in business activity.

Engaged in business activity

You will score 15 points if you are engaged in business activity at the time of your application for an extension of permission to stay.

Although you do not need to be engaged in the business in which you were originally working when you first entered the entrepreneur category, you must still be engaged in business when making your application for an extension. 

You may change from being self-employed to being a director, or from director to self-employed, as long as you are engaging in business in the United Kingdom as one or the other.

You must send evidence that you are either a self-employed business person, or a director of a company, at the time you make the application to extend your permission to stay as an entrepreneur. 

You can choose which supporting evidence to send if you have acted in both capacities, but UKBA will only award points for one registration. 

New employment created

You will score 20 points if:

• you have established a new business or businesses, that have created the equivalent of two new full-time paid jobs for at least two people who are settled in the United Kingdom and those jobs have existed for at least 12 months each;  or 
• you have taken over or joined an existing businesses, and your services and money have resulted a net increase in the employment provided by the businesses of two extra full-time jobs to people who are settled in the United Kingdom and those jobs have existed for at least 12 months each.

The creation of employment for settled workers shows your contribution to the United Kingdom economy.

If you are self-employed, you must employ the worker directly. If you are a director of a business, you must show that your business has created two new posts. 

A 30-hour working week is full-time. Part-time work can form part of the total number of hours of employment created.

The employment created:

• does not need to be in a single period.  It can be made up of shorter periods;
• does not need to be for any particular number of workers. A single person may be employed for this time, or several people; and.
• must comply with the United Kingdom regulations, including the working time directive. You can find more information on the working time directive on the Business link website, which you can find on the right of this page.

Only employees of your business will qualify. You cannot use self-employed contractors who are working for your business to claim points.

If you have previous permission to stay in the United Kingdom given under one of the former business person or innovator categories, you only need to show that you have created two full-time jobs. You do not need to show that the employment you have created has been for 30 hours a week or for a continuous 12-month period.

• The working hours of two part-time workers can be combined to add up to 30 hours a week or more and form the equivalent of one full-time post.
• A worker who is employed for part of a year and then leaves the job can be replaced by another worker so that the employment as a whole adds up to 12 months. However, if there is a gap between one worker leaving a post and another worker starting employment, the period when the post is not filled will not be counted in the 12 month period. You can only claim points for periods which a worker is employed in a post.
• If a single worker is employed for 24 months, you can claim points for this employment. The employment can also be made up of a six-month period for one worker and an 18-month period for another.
• If four workers are employed for 26 weeks (six months) each their hours of employment may be added together to claim points.

English language

How points are awarded for English language

English is the official language of the United Kingdom. The ability to speak English to a competent level improves your potential to succeed in the United Kingdom labour market and helps you integrate into the United Kingdom. So you must have a good knowledge of English.

There are three ways that you can score points for English language. You can:

• be a national of a majority English speaking country (a country where most people speak English); or
• pass an English language test on our list of approved English language tests ; or 
• hold a degree that is assessed by UK NARIC as being taught in English and is equivalent to a United Kingdom bachelor's degree or above.

You will also meet the English language requirement if:

• you were given permission to stay under a tier 1 category (other than investors or post-study workers) and are applying for an extension; or 
• you were given permission to stay as a highly skilled migrant under the immigration rules which came into force on 5 December 2006, and you are applying for an extension under a tier 1 category.

If you are applying for permission to stay under the entrepreneur category and have received a previous grant of leave under an immigration category that did not require a particular standard of English, you must meet this English language requirement.

If you are a national of a majority English speaking country

You must have 10 points for English language. These will be awarded if you are a national of a majority English language speaking country listed below:

• Antigua and Barbuda; 
• Australia; 
• The Bahamas; 
• Barbados; 
• Belize; 
• Canada; 
• Dominica; 
• Grenada; 
• Guyana; 
• Jamaica; 
• New Zealand; 
• St Kitts and Nevis; 
• St Lucia; 
• St Vincent and the Grenadines; 
• Trinidad and Tobago; 
• United States of America.

If you have passed an English language test

You must have 10 points for English language.

If you are waiting to sit an English language test or waiting for your test result

If you are extending from a business person or innovator category into the entrepreneur category, you may need to send your application before you have taken, or received the results of a test.

If you have a degree taught in English

You must have 10 points for English language. These will be awarded if you hold a degree which is equivalent to United Kingdom bachelor's level or above and which was taught or researched in English to a particular level. UKBA will consider this to be proof of your English language ability.

The qualification must be recognised by UK NARIC as:

• equivalent to at least a United Kingdom bachelor's degree; and
• having been taught in English to a standard comparable to that of level C1 on the Council of Europe's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR).

Where the degree was taken in a majority English speaking country, listed below, UKBA will assume it to have been taught in English:

• Antigua and Barbuda;
• Australia;
• The Bahamas; 
• Barbados;
• Belize; 
• Dominica; 
• Grenada; 
• Guyana; 
• Ireland; 
• Jamaica;
• New Zealand; 
• St Kitts and Nevis; 
• St Lucia; 
• St Vincent and the Grenadines; 
• Trinidad and Tobago; 
• the United Kingdom; 
• the United States of America.

Canada is not on this list.

Maintenance (funds)

What is maintenance (funds)?

You must be able to support yourself for the entire length of your stay in the United Kingdom without needing to rely on public money. If you cannot you could face financial hardship as you do not have access to most state benefits.

You must show that you have enough money in personal savings to support yourself.

You may not use any money included in your £200,000 money as evidence of maintenance (funds).

You should also assess the potential costs of living in the United Kingdom. If you are applying for permission to stay (known as 'leave to remain'), this will be based on past living expenses. If you do not expect to receive any income from your employment in the United Kingdom after the first month, you should make sure that you have enough funds to support yourself and any dependants you have.

The points awarded for maintenance (funds) if you are already in the United Kingdom

You must score 10 points for maintenance (funds). These will be awarded if you are applying for permission to stay in the United Kingdom (known as 'leave to remain') and have £800 in available money.

The points awarded for maintenance (funds) if you are applying from outside the United Kingdom

You must score 10 points for maintenance (funds). These will be awarded if you are applying to a British overseas entry clearance post for permission to come to the United Kingdom (known as 'entry clearance') and have £2,800 in available money.

You must prove your maintenance (funds) by sending evidence to support your application, or your application will be refused.