Self-Sponsorship Visa

Our experienced team will offer a professional and efficient service. Below is a summary of the process, timescales and costs involved in obtaining a self-sponsorship license.

• The UK Self-Sponsorship visa presents a creative and innovative way for ambitious business entrepreneurs to relocate to the United Kingdom and operate their own business without needing a UK Sponsor.
• Your clients can then sponsor yourself on a five-year visa.
• After 5 years, your clients will be able to apply to settle permanently in the UK (also known as ‘indefinite leave to remain’).
• Your clients can also call their dependents over on this self-sponsorship visa, as well call other skilled workers over from abroad.

If you are ambitious business entrepreneurs and have identified a gap in the UK market for you to start your own business, you can do so via the self-sponsorship route.

Eligibility:

To be eligible for self-sponsorship visa:

• You must have a realistic and achievable business plan to set up a company in the UK or have identified a business in the UK they wish to purchase.

• You must also have the requisite experience, skills, qualifications and knowledge relevant to the sector of the business they want to set up or acquire in the UK.

• You must also ensure that you have passed an approved English language test at Level B1.

• You must also have an Authorizing Officer/Level 1 user in their business, this person should either be a British citizen or someone who is settled in the UK, have indefinite leave to remain (ILR). This person must be a paid director, employee, or office holder of their business.

They must also have adequate resources to support their proposed business in the UK. Whilst there is no minimum or maximum investment required for this route suggest a minimum investment of £30,000-£40,000.00 is needed to cover all the home office fees, immigration skills charge fees, Immigration Health Surcharge fee, company set up costs, advertisement costs, salaries, recruitment costs, accountancy and legal fees.

Furthermore, you will need to show that your business is viable, sustainable and profitable and therefore they will need to have some capital reserves to ensure this.

To put it simply these are the simple steps to a self-sponsorship visa:

• If your do not know anyone in the UK that can fulfil this role of the authorising officer, we can assist with this. Our UK-based strategic partner will initially serve as a director of your UK company. After successfully completing this initial phase, they will step down from the directorship, leaving you with 100% ownership of your business.
• Formation of a UK Company, Registration with HMRC (PAYE, VAT if applicable) and guiding your nominated director to obtain the relevant employers’ liability insurance and open a UK Business bank account.
• Once your company is established, we will help secure the Authorising Officer (AO) and Level 1 (L1) user for your Sponsor Licence for the first six months. This eliminates the need for you to recruit someone in the UK for these roles. The AO and L1 user are responsible for managing and maintaining your licence in compliance with Home Office rules and regulations.
• Obtaining a sponsorship licence for your business
• Application for a Self-Sponsorship Visa (skilled worker visa application).

Overview of the Self-Sponsorship Visa:

• Purpose: The UK Self-Sponsorship visa is ideal for ambitious entrepreneurs wishing to relocate to the UK and manage their own businesses without needing a UK Sponsor.

• Benefits: This visa is a great alternative to the Innovator visa, Start-up visa, or Expansion Worker Route visa. You can sponsor themselves for a five-year visa and apply for indefinite leave to remain afterwards. Additionally, you can bring dependents and skilled workers.

Eligibility Criteria:

1. Business Plan: Clients must present a viable business plan to set up or purchase a business in the UK.
2. Skills and Experience: Relevant experience, skills, and qualifications are required.
3. English Language: Passing an approved English language test at Level B1 is necessary.
4. Resources: Clients need adequate resources to establish and sustain their business.
5. Authorizing Officer: Appointment of a British citizen or someone with indefinite leave to remain as an Authorising Officer in their business is mandatory.

Investment and Costs:

• We recommend a minimum investment of £30,000-£40,000 to cover fees (Home Office, Immigration Skills Charge, Health Surcharge, etc.)

• Our Legal Fees for whole process: £30,000 (Exclusive of other Home Office fees).

Process and Stages:

To ensure a smooth and structured approach, our service is divided into three stages:

• Initial Fee Deposit:

1. Stage 1 – Setting Up Business in the UK:

1. Formation of a UK company.
2. Drafting legal agreements.
3. Assistance with office space.

2. Stage 2 – Obtaining Sponsorship Licence:

2. Completing all requirements for the sponsorship licence.
3. This stage is tied to the second milestone payment.

3. Stage 3 – Visa Application and Final Handover:

3. Assisting with the visa application process to ensure your clients can come to the UK.
4. Final handover to the company owner once they are in the UK.

Fee would be payable with the passage of stages.

Why You Would Be Interested:

• Stay in the UK for 5 Years: You can live and work in the UK for five years, giving you a stable environment to grow your business.
• Bring Their Family: You can bring your family members to the UK, ensuring you are together while building your business.
• Hire Skilled Workers: You can hire skilled workers and sponsor them for up to five years, bringing valuable talent to your company.
• Be Their Own Boss: This visa allows them to own and run your business independently without needing a UK sponsor.
• Path to Permanent Residency: After five years, you can apply for permanent residency, allowing you and your dependents to stay in the UK indefinitely.

Additional Services:

• We provide ongoing legal services, business development advice, networking support, and compliance services to ensure adherence to Home Office regulations through our UK based law firm/strategic partner.

At Qazi Law Associates, we will not just assist with all of the above. We through our strategic partner in UK, a leading Law Firm, regulated by UK Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) can also provide you with ongoing legal services such a business support to include business development advice through our strategic partner so you can grow your business and will assist your client to network with other businesses to grow their portfolio. We can also provide you with ongoing compliance services to ensure that you do not breach any of the rules or regulations of the Home Office.

The casework to be carried out by Immigration lawyer will include the following:

• Taking detailed instructions from you and advising you about the relevant immigration laws and procedures to be adopted by the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) in your case.
• Discussing in detail with you and advising you about the weaknesses and strengths of your application.
• Advising you about the documentary evidence to be submitted in support of your entry clearance application.
• Checking all the relevant documents to ensure that the documents to be submitted in support of the application are in accordance with the Home Office, UKVI requirements;
• Arranging all the pre-requisite documentation/paper work required to be obtained from UK Authorities/bodies inclusive of registration of company, registration with certain department, opening of company account, appointment of L1 User/Authorizing Officer, Sponsorship license and certain other documentation/paper work and other legal formalities through our strategic partner /Team of qualified solicitors in UK, regulated by Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA)-UK and to make sure all the required documentation are accurately streamlined before submission of application for self-sponsorship visa.
• Completing the online application form and discussing the same with you;
• Submitting the entry clearance application form online and arranging an appointment for you to hand over your application at a designated application centre;
• Preparing a cover letter/skeleton arguments to introduce and support the application wherein immigration lawyer will explain in detail how all the requirements of the rules are being met for application to be granted by the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO);
• Liaising with the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO), if necessary, for a timely decision on the application;
• Protecting your interests while your application is pending with the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) and making further representations in support of the application, if necessary;
• Doing all the follow up work until decision is reached on your application.

If you have any questions or need further information, please do not hesitate to schedule of appointment for free consultation session/highlights of this category.