Sole Representative Visas for Employers

This page is for the purpose of all those companies wishing to send their employees to the UK to establish a UK presence. (If you are that employee), please see this same page from your point of view here.

Introduction

If you are a fairly big trading company based outside the UK, and you are without a UK presence, you may well be able to send a member of your staff to the UK on a ‘Sole Representative Visa’.

Will my Company qualify to send a Sole Representative to the UK?

You must be currently operating as a genuine existing enterprise. If you have only been established for less than a year you cannot expect to be considered as suitable sponsors under this category.

To be able to send a Sole Representative to the UK it must be only for the company’s benefit, not for the convenience of the candidate, so the budget planned for the UK expansion should not be unrealistic as regards to the size of your business, trading activities or profitability.

You can expect the commercial logic of the proposed expansion into the UK will be giving a much closer look if you are a small company and the new UK presence will be seen as a way into an area into which you have no real overseas involvement.
Once the representative has been sent to the UK, It would be expected of you to make sure the majority of your business should continue to be overseas. If it seems that the whole Idea behind sending the representative in the first place to the UK is to eventually transfer your operations so that they are based in the UK, the application will not be allowed.

Who can be sent to the UK as a Sole Representative?

The person selected must be a senior employee who must be recruited from outside the United Kingdom. Usually he or she would have been employed by you overseas for a significant amount of years and must have a good understanding of how the business functions and operates. It does not have to be the case if the individual has been recruited specially to fulfill the role, although in these circumstances, the applicant will have to show a commitment and background appropriate for there purpose for being sent in the first place.

If you are a family business, the effort of trying to use a Sole Representative visa by sending a junior member of the family to the United Kingdom can expect a much closer inspection and will no doubt not succeed, as they will be seen as unsuitable for the position.

The Sole Representative visa was not really made for owner-managers or entrepreneurs (if you fall into this category, then please click here) for further information. The rules which are set out forbid the candidate from owing a majority or a controlling interest in either the overseas company, or the anticipated new UK entity. In fact the maximum allowed shareholding is not 49% but 30-35%.

As a Sole Representative you will normally be given an initial visa for a 12 month period, when you arrive in the UK you will usually be entitled to healthcare from the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). You will then have to take an examination to make sure you have no serious medical conditions.

What about the spouse/children of the Sole Representative?

You may apply for the candidates spouse and children to accompany them as their dependants.

Education

Your children entering the UK as your dependants are entitled to the same free education as British children. You may choose to send your children to a private school if you wish.

Health care

You and your family will be entitled to free health care with the NHS (National Health Service). You are not acquired to take out private health insurance, however you may do so if you so wish.

Work

The spouse of a sole representative is allowed to take up any work.

How can a UK Sole Representative visa be Extended?

Sole representative visas are usually granted for an initial twelve month period.

When you have been in the UK for a 12 month period, it is usually possible to extend their stay for a further more 3 years. This application has to be made whilst you are in the UK, however you will have to temporarily surrender your passport to the home office while the application is going through.

The extension application will need to be accompanied by the following articles:

Sufficient proof that you are still required by your employer as their sole representative.
Accounts of the business generated in the first year of UK presence.
Adequate Proof that you have been properly salaried as the person in charge of the subsidiary.

After 4 years of being in the UK as a Sole Representative, you will be able to apply for settlement (permanent residence) providing that your employer still requires you to continue in your role.

What Data and Documents are required to make a UK Sole Representative Visa Application?

Documents

Last year’s accounts of the company’s assets, turnover, and full details of share distribution of the previous year.
A letter to confirm that the company will establish a wholly owned subsidiary or register a branch within the United Kingdom;
Your contract of employment (this should include your salary);
Confirmation that you are fully familiar with the company’s activities and that you have full powers to negotiate and take operational decisions about the planned UK entity without reference to the overseas parent;
A notarised statement from the company stating that you will be the sole representative and that the company has no other branch, subsidiary, or representative in the United Kingdom;
A notarised statement confirming that the company’s operations will remain centred overseas;
A notarised statement that the candidate will not engage in business of his or her own nor will he or she represent any other company's interest;
Your passport.

Data

An Inventory of the company’s activities overseas
Your job description and salary
A fully detailed business plan for the proposed UK office.

UK Sole Representative Visa FAQs:

What will happen if the company has already incorporated a UK branch/subsidiary?

Sole Representative Visas are only made available to overseas firms that have no branch, subsidiary, or other representative in the United Kingdom. But, It is acceptable to form a UK company in anticipation of such an appointment so as long as the UK company exists only as a shell which has not yet started to trade.

Is it possible for a sole representative to be Shareholders in the Parent Company?

No, a Sole Representative may not be the majority shareholder in the parent company. additionally, the view taken is that removing a major share holder is indicative of the centre of operations moving to the United Kingdom - This is not acceptable. Shareholdings in excess of 30% in the parent are likely for a closer inspection of their application.

Can Sole Representatives Act as Agents?

A sole representative must be seen to be in full-time employment and establishing a commercial presence for the parent company in the United Kingdom. This forbids taking up secondary employment or acting on behalf of anyone other than the parent company.

How long does it normally take to process a Sole Representative Visa Application?

It depends, if the application is deemed to be simple, it will probably be processed by the Entry Clearance Officer at the Overseas British Consular Post. So if this is the case, you can expect an application will usually take no longer than ten working days.

If an application is seemed to be complex, or where a closer look has been involved it may be referred back to the Home Office in the UK. And than applications have been known to take over nine months to process.

Applications where the candidate is Russian, Chinese (PRC), North Korean, or Libyan, will be referred back to the UK, and will than take up to nine months to process.

If you wish to make an application for a Sole Representative Visa, please fill out our on-line form.