Arriving in England As a Business Visitor

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zeejay Active member

Member since 18 February 2013

zeejayActive member14 August 2015 20:09:00

I am looking forward to an expert advise over the following. Currently I am based in Colombo, Sri Lanka and do running a business for last couple of years. As a Director, we decided to expand the business little further and setting up an offshore operation closer to London.

We are mainly focused in to logistics, import and export, staffing, ecommerce and leisure. UK operation would be for sales and marketing and to secure quality supplies matching the demand in Asian region.

I have gone through the visa types at UK Border Agency but failed to find a suitable option my requirement.

Initially I need to travel between Colombo and London in frequent intervals and probably obtaining visa as a business traveller would be an option for me. I do have a plan to bring my small family (wife and my kid) to Chelmsford. They would wait in UK till my Kid finishes his Higher studies there. This will help me in two fronts.

1. My wife will be there to manage the operations while I am travelling between the two cities
2. Helping my kid over the higher education

What would be the best visa category for me to accomplish this?

Keep it mind that we won't be bringing in 200,000 sterling pounds but we will be procuring goods and services worth few hundred thousands per year and generating jobs towards the British People.

Need your opinion over the visa category and the Chelmsford area in Essex over living conditions, business friendliness and friendliness with the expats.

Bob-666 Contributor

Member since 01 February 2011

Bob-666Contributor14 August 2015 21:17:16

127

I would strongly suggest that you consult an OISC-registered immigration advisor or a solicitor with expertise in business-based immigration cases. This is not something that you can afford to make mistakes with. Good luck.
https://www.gov.uk/find-an-immigration-adviser

zeejay Active member

Member since 18 February 2013

zeejayActive member15 August 2015 09:12:48

Bob, Thank you very much for the information. This link seems to be very useful. My next worry is to find some opinions over the Chelmsford, Essex.

Whether the area is suitable for expat family?
Business friendliness?
Crowd?
How friendly are they with the expats?

Based on my research, area is good for primary and secondary education and its a mix of busy city and quite village life style.

Appreciate if someone could update me over their personal experience or the opinions.

riazcdki Serial expat

Member since 01 May 2014

riazcdkiSerial expat15 August 2015 18:49:49

900

Hello Zeejay,

I seems you have a genuine business case to seek a visa to enable you to do business between UK and Srilanka.

Your first step should be to apply for a business visa which will allow you to travel to London and expand your business.

I suggest you look as this venture in two logical steps:

a) Apply for business visa, your UK counterpart can send you an invitation and all you need is your Bank statements and Import/ Export records to prove the size of trading volume justifying foreign travel.

b) Once your business is well established, you could then file a case for Permanent Residence leading to UK passport and nationality. The amount of money you will be investing in UK and number of local residents employed by your business will hopefully fulfill requirements for your application.

Please remember that it is not necessary to be a UK national or a UK resident for you to setup and run a business in the UK or even own a property there.

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