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Tier 1 (Entrepreneur)

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Evidence that you are engaged in business activity

This page describes the documents that you must provide as evidence that you are engaged in business activity in the UK, if you want to extend your permission to stay in the UK under Tier 1 (Entrepreneur).

For more information about this requirement, see the Scoring points for being engaged in business activity page.

You must provide 1 or more pieces of evidence listed below, depending on your circumstances.

If you are self-employed

If you are self-employed when you make your extension application, you must send evidence that you are paying Class 2 National Insurance contributions. We do not need to see evidence of Class 4 National Insurance contributions if you are also paying them.

  • If you pay your National Insurance contributions by quarterly bill, you must send the bill from the quarter immediately before the application. This must be an original document and not a copy.
  • If you pay your National Insurance contributions by direct debit, you must send a copy of the most recent bank statement issued before the application, showing the direct debit payment of National Insurance to HM Revenue & Customs.
  • If you have very low earnings and have applied for the small earnings exception, you should send an original HMRC Exception Certificate for the most recent return date.

You can delay sending this information if you are curently in the UK as a business person or an innovator. You can find out more under 'More information' below.

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If you are a company director

If you are a company director when you make your extension application, you must provide a copy of the current appointment report from Companies House. (You will need to pay a fee to Companies House for this report.) The report, which lists the directors of a company and the dates of their appointment, must:

  • be dated no more than 3 months before the date of your extension application; and
  • show you that you are the director of a business that is actively trading and not struck-off, dissolved or in liquidation on the date that the report was produced.

If you are on the list of disqualified directors provided by Companies House, you will not be awarded points, as you will not be able to continue as a director in the UK. We will check this list before awarding points. You can see the list of disqualified directors on the Companies House website.

You can delay sending this information if you are curently in the UK as a business person or an innovator. You can find out more under 'More information' below.

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More information

  • If you are currently in the UK as a business person or an innovator

    If your current permission to stay in the UK is in the old 'business person' or 'innovator' categories, you may not be able to provide a printout of the current appointment report at the time of your application, or you may not have kept the evidence that you are paying Class 2 National Insurance contributions.

    If you want to send evidence of registration but you do not have one of the specified documents when you need to make your extension application, you must write on the application form that you need more time to get the document.

    We will hold the application open for up to 10 weeks, so that you can obtain and send us the document separately. If you have not sent us the document after 10 weeks, we will decide your application based on the information already sent. This is likely to lead to us refusing the application.