[2025] UKUT 00091 (IAC)

By a decision dated 23 April 2023, the application was refused. Having cited extracts from para. 8.6 of Appendix ROB, the decision stated that the first applicant was the 100% shareholder of Serena Euro. It added that her husband was the 100% shareholder of Serena UAE and that he also worked for Serena Euro as confirmed by wage slips and summarised a number of other documentary features of the application (to which I shall return below).

The operative part of the decision said that the overseas business (Serena UAE) was not the majority shareholder of Serena Euro. Rather, the applicant was the 100% shareholder of Serena Euro. The decision-maker was satisfied that Serena Euro was not a subsidiary of Serena UAE but a separate entity. The decision added that the applicant was not a genuine employee of Serena Euro, since her husband, the second applicant, had signed her employment letter with Serena Euro, and he was the 100% shareholder of Serena UAE. The decision continued:

“Therefore I am satisfied that this position has been created to enable you to gain entry to the United Kingdom. I am also satisfied that you are not supervising the UK branch as all the invoices sent to the company are addressed to Abdullah Naidry and not yourself.

As you have not submitted any UK Business bank statements I am not satisfied that this is a genuine business that can corroborate the invoices that you have submitted, or the business accounts that have been submitted. As you have also not submitted business bank statements or business accounts for the overseas business, I am not satisfied that this is an ongoing overseas business as your husband Abdullah Nadiry who is in the UK with you is the 100% shareholder of the overseas business.

Therefore your application has been refused under 8.6 of the Immigration Rules”.

The 23 April 2023 decision was upheld on Administrative Review by a decision dated 29 September 2023. The AR decision stated that the shareholding for Serena Euro was amended only shortly before the application for leave to remain. It upheld the 23 April 2023 decision’s approach to the 100% shareholding in the parent company by the second applicant. The AR decision continued:

“this would also indicate that you are not the sole business representative in the UK the overseas business. All invoices addressed to the UK company are addressed to Mr Abdullah Nadiry [the second applicant]”.

The AR decision said that the second applicant was registered as a director of Serena Euro during the applicant’s grant of leave in the United Kingdom. It agreed with the 23 April 2023 decision that the first applicant was not supervising the UK branch, and that it appeared as though the company had been created to facilitate entry clearance to the UK.