[2024] UKUT 00281 (IAC)

On 30^th October 2023, the Applicant applied for permission to bring judicial review proceedings of the Respondent’s decision of 28^th May 2023 to refuse the Applicant’s application to renew his Tier 1 Entrepreneur leave to remain in the UK. The Respondent maintained that decision following administrative review, in a decision of 17^th July 2023.

The factual background is largely uncontentious and contained in the Applicant’s statement of grounds (page [17]/CB). Contrary to the grounds which refer to second and third applicants, the wife and minor child of the Applicant, the claim form itself refers to a single Applicant. As a consequence, I have treated the application as being made by the first Applicant alone. In any event, the wife and child’s applicants were in line with, and dependent on, the Applicant’s application.

The Applicant is a citizen of Iran and was born on 17^th November 1982. He arrived in the UK with leave to enter as a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) Migrant on 11^th July 2019. He planned to invest £200,000 in a UK business, the minimum investment required at the time. In the factual background of his application for judicial review, the Applicant refers to an investment in “Level Three Technology Solutions Limited” (which I refer to as “Level Three”). That might be misunderstood as meaning that his initial investment was in that company. In fact, as the Applicant’s solicitor’s later application to renew his visa makes clear (page [126]/CB), having obtained entry clearance, the Applicant initially registered a business on 21^st August 2019, named, “Robin Investment Ltd”. That business was disrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic and the company was dissolved on 24^th November 2020. The Applicant registered a second company, Payfar Limited, on 11^th August 2020, which was dissolved on 30^th November 2021 for the same reason. He had already registered Level Three on 15^th February 2021. He applied on 23^rd November 2022 for further leave to remain on the same basis as before.

Before reaching its decision, on 5^th March 2023, the Respondent asked the Applicant for further information, as recorded in the subsequent impugned decision (page 109/CB). The Respondent also conducted an interview with the Applicant on 27^th April 2023, the notes of which begin at page [115]/CB.