Tier 1 Investor Visa
The Tier 1 (Investor) visa category is for high net worth individuals making a substantial financial investment in the UK. You must have access to at least £2,000,000 (£2 million) in investment funds to apply for Tier 1 Investor visa. You will need to have access to £2 million and be willing to invest your funds in UK government bonds or actively trading UK companies.
You do not need a job offer to apply in this category.
Eligibility:
In order to qualify for a Tier 1 Investor visa, you will need to satisfy UK Visas and Immigration that:
-
You have funds amounting to at least £2 million belonging to yourself, your partner or the two of you jointly;
-
The money is held in a regulated financial institution;
-
The money is freely transferable to the UK and able to be converted to pounds sterling;
-
You have opened an account with a UK regulated bank for the purpose of investing not less than £2 million in the UK.
If you have held your investment funds for less than 90 days then you will need to prove the source of your funds and, in every case, the Home Office will need to be satisfied as to the provenance of the funds.
If applying from overseas, you and any adult dependents will need to provide an overseas criminal record certificate for any country that you have lived in for at least 12 months in the last 10 years.
Points available for initial entrants under Tier 1 (Investor) are awarded based on the attributes of their applicant and applies to all applicants seeking:
-
entry clearance in this category who did not have leave in this category within the last 12 months; and
-
further leave to remain in the United Kingdom in this category when their previous permission to stay was given under a category other than Tier 1 (Investor) or the former Investor category.
You are required to achieve a pass mark of at least 75 points in one of the following categories:
A) The applicant has money of his own, under his control, held in a regulated financial institution and disposable in the United Kingdom amounting to no less than £1 million; or
B) a) the applicant owns personal assets which, taking into account any liabilities to which they are subject, have a value exceeding £2 million; and
b) The applicant has money under his control held in a regulated financial institution and disposable in the United Kingdom amounting to no less than £1 million, which has been loaned to him by a UK regulated financial institution.
Duration of Visa:
As a Tier 1 Investor visa applicant, you will not need to satisfy any English language or maintenance funds requirement.
Your initial Tier 1 Investor visa will be valid for either 3 years and 4 months (if applying from overseas) or 3 years (if applying from within the UK).
You will need to invest at least £2 million in UK government bonds or actively trading UK companies within 3 months of entering the category. You will then need to maintain your investment.
You will be able to extend your stay as a Tier 1 Investor for a further 2 years, before qualifying for indefinite leave to remain (settlement) after 5 years. There is also an accelerated route to settlement as a Tier 1 Investor after either 3 years if you invest at least £5 million or 2 years if you invest at least £10 million.
In order to settle in the UK as a Tier 1 Investor, you will need to spend not more than 180 days outside the UK in each consecutive 12-month period and, unless aged 65 or over, have sufficient knowledge of the English language and Life in the UK. For settlement applications made from 11 January 2018, the Home Office will consider absences from the UK on a rolling basis, rather than in separate consecutive 12-month periods. If your qualifying period includes time before this date and you believe that this change would cause you exceptionally harsh consequences, you must set out the reasons.
Your partner and any children under the age of 18 may accompany or join you as the Family Members of a PBS migrant.
If you wish to obtain advice or legal assistance in respect of your immigration matter, we offer an affordable and confidential consultation at a fixed fee with and experienced immigration lawyer where we can answer your questions and explain the processes that will apply. Your consultation fees will be set off against your instructions to the firm if you go on to instruct us.
For more information or to book an initial consultation, please contact us.