[2025] UKUT 00091 (IAC)

The relevant provisions of Appendix ROB are as follows:

“ROB 4 Work requirement for Representative of an Overseas Business

ROB 4.4 An applicant must be either:

(a)

a Sole Representative who already has, or was last granted, permission as a Sole Representative and is a senior employee of an overseas business, who is assigned to the UK to establish and supervise a branch or subsidiary of an overseas business, where that branch or subsidiary will actively trade in the same type of business as the overseas business…”

“ROB 5 Genuineness requirement for the Representative of an Overseas Business

ROB 5.1. The decision maker must be satisfied that the applicant is a genuine Representative of an Overseas Business.

ROB 5.2. The decision maker must not have reasonable grounds to believe the business is being established in the UK by the overseas business, or the applicant has been appointed as a representative of the overseas business or media organisation, mainly so the applicant can apply for entry clearance or permission to stay.”

“ROB 8 Additional business requirements for a Sole Representative on the Representative of an Overseas Business route

ROB 8.6. The applicant must meet all the following requirements:

(a)

the applicant must have established the registered branch or wholly-owned subsidiary of the overseas business for which they were last granted permission under this route; and

(b)

the applicant must be engaged in full time employment and must supervise the registered branch or wholly-owned subsidiary which they have established, and must be required by their employer to continue in that role; and

(c)

the applicant must provide all of the following:

(i)

evidence of business that has been generated, principally with firms in the UK, on behalf of their employer since their last grant of permission, in the form of accounts, copies of invoices or letters from businesses with whom the applicant has done business, including the value of transactions; and

(ii)

a Companies House certificate of registration as a UK establishment (for a branch), or a certificate of incorporation (for a subsidiary), together with either a copy of the share register or a letter from the overseas business’s accountant confirming that the UK business is wholly-owned by the overseas business; and

(iii)

a letter from the applicant’s employer confirming that the applicant supervises the UK branch or subsidiary and is required to continue in that employment; and

(iv)

evidence of salary paid by the employer in the 12 months immediately before the date of application and details of the remuneration package the employee receives.”

Paras 144 and 145 of the Immigration Rules as they were at the time of the first applicant’s application for entry clearance on 31 December 2019 provided, where relevant:

“144.

The requirements to be met by a person seeking leave to enter the United Kingdom as a representative of an overseas business are that he:

(i)

has been recruited and taken on as an employee outside the United Kingdom of a business which has its headquarters and principal place of business outside the United Kingdom; and

(ii)

is seeking entry to the United Kingdom:

(a)

as a senior employee of an overseas business which has no active branch, subsidiary or other representative in the United Kingdom with full authority to take operational decisions on behalf of the overseas business for the purpose of representing it in the United Kingdom by establishing and operating a registered branch or wholly-owned subsidiary of that overseas business, the branch or subsidiary of which will be concerned with same type of business activity as the overseas business…”