IM Yearbook 2020/21

INVESTING IN A
GL BAL
Rupert Gather, Chairman of InvestUK, explains what’s driving immigration to the UK at the
moment and talks about the country’s investment attraction in a post-Brexit world.
acts as a great catalyst
for investment,” says Rupert
“Immigration
Gather, Chairman of InvestUK,
a firm specialised in Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) into the UK economy.
Over the past six years, more than 50% of
investments facilitated by InvestUK have
been motivated by the opportunity to
obtain a UK visa. “We have helped around
300 clients to build their businesses
in the UK, and the total value of those
investments is well over £100 million.
This has created a big contribution
to the UK enterprise economy.”
Three Routes
Despite Brexit and Covid-19, the UK
has lost nothing of its immigration and
investment appeal, says Gather. There
are three different investment migration
paths for foreign entrepreneurs. Investors
can choose between the tier 1 (investor)
visa, the sole representative visa route
and the UK Innovator Visa. All those
programmes have an investment
component in them, which ranges from
£2 million for the tier 1 investor visa to
£50,000 for the sole representative and
the innovator visa route. “What unites
these three programmes is that they are
all related to active entrepreneurship,”
explains Gather. “They are not designed
as passive investments programmes.
The UK government has decided that
it wants to run these programmes
specifically for the enterprise economy.”
The majority of InvestUK’s clients
chose the innovator visa. “There was a
big surprise in the market when the UK
decided to discontinue the quite successful
entrepreneur visa in 2019,” he admits.
“However, once we started working with
the innovator visa, we found that it’s a
very good solution both for the client
and for the country. It is focused on
immigrants starting their own business,
and 80% of our clients want to start their
own business, while 20% of clients are
looking for a UK company to work for or
to partner with.” Under the innovator visa
rule, the applicant’s business proposition
is tested by an endorsing body, which
reviews the business plan and makes a
recommendation to the home office to
either refuse or grant the visa. “If the
visa is granted, in just three years the
client will get permanent residence.”
More than Tech
To qualify for the innovator visa route,
the business has to be innovative, viable
and scalable. Innovation, Gather says, is
often simply thought of as tech innovation,
but it’s so much more. “We have clients
that focus on innovation in the service
economy, while others have come up
with new ideas and processes for the
manufacturing or education sector.”
Viability is a bigger challenge. Applicants
who wish to stay in the UK need to come
up with a new business idea within a
reasonable timeframe if the first one does
not materialise. “Businesses generally do
not fail if there is a good business plan,
and the client is willing to invest sufficient
funds to give the business a good start.
Even though the government only requires
a minimum investment of £50,000, we
recommend a minimum of £200,000 in
order to help manage the risks.” The third
condition is scalability. InvestUK often
introduces clients to local partners to help
them gain specialist knowledge on how
to sell their products in the UK market.
Driving Interest
Gather says there are a number of
geopolitical developments that are currently
driving interest in the UK. “Firstly, there
is Brexit, which in a way forces people to
make a decision. Those that wish to stay
in the UK are required to formalise their
residency, and many are doing this though
an immigration programme.” The second
development relates to British Overseas
Passport Holders in Hong Kong and the
new visa route being announced for them.
“This is actually a free visa route. But in
reality, it has a lot to do with investment
migration because people have to prove
they have a job, and the simplest way
to do that is to create your own job.”
The UK is also benefiting from new
visa rules in Dubai, which is not renewing
certain visas for people who have not
established roles there as a result of Covid-
19. “There is a large cohort of South Asians
– among them many accomplished business
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Investment Migration Yearbook 2O2O/2O21