UK Tier 1 Investor Visa

Imperial & Legal provides support in applying for a Tier 1 Investor visa, including:

Advise on the documents you must provide;
Prepare and submit a visa application;
Help opening an investment account in the UK (it’s a must to be eligible to apply);
Constant support of your case till you receive a UK citizenship.

UK Tier 1 Investor visa can be granted to individuals that want to invest at least £2,000,000 in the local economy for up to 5 years. You can invest in UK government bonds, share capital or loan capital in active and trading UK registered companies. If you invest more, more than £5m or £10m, you can apply to settle with an Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) after 3 or 2 years correspondingly. You don’t have to prove your knowledge of English till you apply to settle.

Imperial & Legal will help all through the process of preparing documents for initial visa and making investments required to get a UK passport.

Eligibility criteria for Tier 1 Investor visa

Proof of £2,000,000 funds available in a bank account in almost any country. These funds must have been held there for at least 3 consecutive months, otherwise you will have to provide evidence where they came from.
An opened UK bank account for visa investments.
TB test if applying for a visa outside the EU.
Criminal record certificates from any country you have lived in for more than 12 months in the last 10 years.
Knowledge of English – you don’t have to prove it.

Initial visa grants you entry for 3 years and 4 months.

Eligibility for Tier 1 Investor visa extension

To extend a Tier 1 (Investor) visa, an applicant must prove that at least £2,000,000 were invested within 3 months after your first entry in the UK (‘investor start date’), and no funds have been withdrawn from the account for the length of your visa.

New rules don’t require you to maintain the same level of investments, i.e. if the market value of the bonds drops down, nothing is expected of you.

Besides, you need to prove that you first entered the country within 3 months after your entry clearance was granted, and all adults were registered with the police upon arrival.

Tier 1 Investor visa is extended for 2 years.

Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR)

You can apply for settlement (also known as Indefinite Leave to Remain) under Tier 1 Investor once you have reached 2 to 5 years’ continuous leave in the UK under the route; it depends on the amount of investments:

accelerated settlement after 2 years if you have invested into permitted bonds at least £10,000,000
accelerated settlement after 3 years if you have invested into permitted bonds at least £5,000,000
settlement after 5 years if you have invested into permitted bonds at least £2,000,000

To apply for ILR as a main applicant, you must show that:

you have been absent from the UK not more than 180 days in any 12 calendar months prior to applying for ILR, beginning from the first date of entry. Dependants are granted ILR once the main applicant gets this leave.
the required sum was invested (from £2m to £10m) and no amount has been withdrawn.
you and all adult dependents hold an English speaking and listening qualification at level B1 or above (European classification).
you and all adult dependants passed the Life in the UK test.

British citizenship and passport

You and all family members can apply for British citizenship by naturalisation in one year after ILR is granted and 5 years after your first entry under Tier 1 Investor, provided every one of you meets all the eligibility criteria:

have spent no more than 450 days outside the UK during those 5 years prior to applying for naturalization, and no more than 90 days in the last 12 months.
have not broken any criminal or immigration laws.
you and all adult dependents hold an English speaking and listening qualification at level B1 or above (European classification).
you and all adult dependants passed the Life in the UK test.

You can only apply for naturalisation by post.

Super-premium service

You can use the super-premium service to extend Tier 1 (Investor) visa, or apply for ILR. In this case the Home Office will come to you to take your fingerprints and photograph. Visa is granted in 99% cases within 3 days.

Premium service for this type of visa is not available.

To discuss your requirements, please contact our specialists or call us on +44 (0)203 490 41 21.