Foreign Entrepreneur Rejected By Home Office Because He Thinks Brexit UK Is Stable
8 May 2019, 15:09
James O'Brien heard the remarkable case of a foreign entrepreneur who was denied a UK visa because he believed that the UK would be stable after Brexit.
While the applicant claimed that the UK economy is stable after we leave the European Union, the Home Office appeared to disagree
A Home Office response to the application read: "You have repeatedly stated that the UK is a very stable country with very little risk of fluctuation in business markets.
"Whilst it is accepted that the UK is a very stable country politically speaking, the UK is currently in the process of leaving the European Union via the process now known as Brexit."
Catherine Taroni, a barrister at Richmond Chambers, tweeted to reveal the shock decision by the government. She gave James O'Brien the details of the case.
"The tweet was part of a refusal decision. It was an administrative review stage, entrepreneurs don't get the right of appeal any more.
"This applicant had been awarded all points for entry clearance as an entrepreneur, in that the Home Office had assessed his funds - he had £200,000 available and transferable to the UK - and he met all other requirements.
"The Genuineness assessment, which pervades all elements of an entrepreneur assessment, was where he became unstuck.
"There are four paragraphs in this refusal letter with the reasons the Home Office refused. But one of those was simply Brexit - the entrepreneur hadn't thought that Brexit made the UK unstable.
"That was a reason for refusal in the Home Office view.
"Even for a Home Office refusal, this was quite a surprise."
James summed this remarkable story up: "He had essentially explained that he had sought to come to Britain with his £200,000 nest egg and his sundry other requirements that he'd sailed past. And he explained to the authorities that he wanted to come to the UK to set up a business because he valued the economic stability of the United Kingdom.
"And the Home Office turned around and said 'Hang on, what do you mean economically stable?'"
