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Representative of an Overseas Business Visa

A popular visa option for non-EU businesses and entrepreneurs, who are looking to test the waters by sending a sole representative to establish a UK branch or a wholly owned subsidiary.

This visa type is also used in case you are an employee of an overseas newspaper, news agency or broadcasting organisation posted on a long-term assignment to the UK.

Basic Criteria:

• Proof of Identity
• Address for the UK (where you will be staying)
• Tuberculosis Test Results (depending on country of origin)
• Meet the English language requirement (check terms and conditions for your specific circumstances and country of origin)

Financial Information:

You must have enough money to support yourself without help from public funds

• Fee of £610 applies if you apply from outside the UK
• Fee of £704 applies if applying from within the UK (this is also the cost of extending the visa), additionally, £19.20 is the fee charged for taking bio-metric information
• Payment of health surcharge

Specific Eligibility Requirements:

Related to you and your employment: proof of employment; proof of qualifications / skills / know-how and/or experience to execute the duties of the role; designation (must be senior position with authority to make decisions, cannot have a majority controlling interest); proof of being hired outside the UK,

About your employer: must be an active and trading business; must be based out of the UK; must not have plans to shift their headquarters or primary business jurisdiction to the UK;

Intent: to establish an overseas businesses first commercial presence in the UK, either as a registered branch or a wholly owned subsidiary.

Other Details:

As a holder of this visa, you can: work for your employer, full time; bring your family (‘dependants’) with you to the UK; apply to extend your visa and apply to settle in the UK after you’ve been here for 5 years

But you cannot: work for yourself or any other business, stay in the UK if the sole representative arrangement is ended by your employer, switch to this visa from any other visa category; get public funds

This visa type can be extended

Duration and Application:

• The application criteria, depends on where you are presently located
• The visa allows you stay in the UK for an initial period of 3 years and maybe extended for another 2 years
• After being in the UK for 5 years, there is the possibility of applying for permanent settlement

Always remember that government policies are subject to change, to avoid disruptions to your plans, we always advice consulting a legal expert.

As you may have read on this website, BIAAP has a strong practice in immigration matters, in fact -often our clients are individuals and families who have little or no ties to the UK.

This has allowed us to develop a deep empathy to work with individuals and companies who find themselves in a new and unfamiliar environment, allowing us to provide a service that goes above and beyond.

We are proud to report some success stories where our continuous growth has also benefited from the growth of our clients.