The UK entrepreneur visa scheme offers foreigner investors and small business owners setup business in the UK with minimum investment of £50,000 and decisions are made within three weeks. The initial visa gives permission to stay for three years which can then be prolonged. There are different eligibility requirements depending on whether you have access to £50,000 or to £200,000.
UK has issued 217 tier1 entrepreneur visas in Q2 2017 compared to 266 visas in Q2 2018, increased by 22% with chinese leading the table, according to Home office statistics for Q2 2018.
Indians are second in table followed by Americans investing in the UK (see below the statistics).
Statistics
Country of nationality | 2017 Q1 | 2017 Q2 | 2017 Q3 | 2017 Q4 | 2018 Q1 | 2018 Q2 | Total |
China | 27 | 37 | 61 | 36 | 37 | 52 | 250 |
India | 24 | 19 | 10 | 30 | 25 | 34 | 142 |
United States | 17 | 26 | 32 | 24 | 14 | 15 | 128 |
Pakistan | 19 | 8 | 21 | 30 | 21 | 28 | 127 |
Hong Kong | 14 | 20 | 8 | 28 | 17 | 20 | 107 |
Egypt | 8 | 3 | 7 | 13 | 17 | 10 | 58 |
Russia | 6 | 8 | 10 | 22 | 7 | 2 | 55 |
Australia | 7 | 9 | 3 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 49 |
Iran | 7 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 3 | 43 |
Korea (South) | 13 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 38 |
South Africa | 2 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 36 |
Iraq | 5 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 34 |
Canada | 5 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 32 |
Malaysia | 8 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 28 |
Israel | 4 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 26 |
Turkey | 4 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 22 |
Jordan | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 18 |
Syria | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 18 |
Lebanon | 2 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 17 |
Nigeria | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 17 |
Kenya | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 14 |
Saudi Arabia | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 14 |
New Zealand | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 13 |
Kazakhstan | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 12 |
Taiwan | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 12 |
Ukraine | 5 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
Brazil | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 10 |
Occupied Palestinian Territories | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
St. Kitts and Nevis | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 8 |
Thailand | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
Azerbaijan | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
Dominica | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
Libya | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
Yemen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 6 |
Japan | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
Kuwait | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
Singapore | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
Sri Lanka | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
Sudan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
Tanzania | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
Vietnam | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
Zambia | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
Algeria | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
Argentina | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
Bahrain | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
Macau | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Belarus | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Mexico | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
Afghanistan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Albania | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Armenia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Barbados | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Chile | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Georgia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Indonesia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Mauritius | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Qatar | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Seychelles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Tunisia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Venezuela | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Angola | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Bolivia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Colombia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Ethiopia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Grenada | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Kosovo | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Kyrgyzstan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Malawi | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Maldives | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Other and unknown | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Serbia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Trinidad and Tobago | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Uganda | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Dependents from family also qualify for this visa. The data shows 1455 family dependents received UK visas under this scheme for Q2 2018.
Country of nationality | 2017 Q1 | 2017 Q2 | 2017 Q3 | 2017 Q4 | 2018 Q1 | 2018 Q2 |
Total Result | 1032 | 1200 | 831 | 1530 | 1104 | 1455 |
Pakistan | 66 | 73 | 44 | 111 | 70 | 104 |
India | 39 | 72 | 19 | 37 | 32 | 65 |
China | 31 | 35 | 54 | 45 | 52 | 46 |
Hong Kong | 32 | 40 | 10 | 54 | 42 | 41 |
Egypt | 17 | 15 | 15 | 43 | 23 | 36 |
United States | 13 | 18 | 18 | 37 | 13 | 23 |
Syria | 5 | 10 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 18 |
Iraq | 11 | 13 | 12 | 21 | 3 | 16 |
Nigeria | 7 | 6 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 16 |
Malaysia | 9 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 13 |
Sudan | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 10 |
Jordan | 5 | 7 | 0 | 16 | 3 | 9 |
Dominica | 0 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 7 |
Iran | 8 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 11 | 7 |
Saudi Arabia | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 7 |
South Africa | 5 | 9 | 13 | 9 | 3 | 7 |
Israel | 0 | 5 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
Korea (South) | 14 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 8 | 6 |
Russia | 14 | 3 | 17 | 18 | 10 | 6 |
Ethiopia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
Albania | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Yemen | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Japan | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Data Source: Gov.uk