United Kingdom
United Kingdom has an official `Investor Immigration Program` for wealth and high net worth individuals who make a substantial high investment in the economy and development in the United Kingdom.
As of April 2011, the UK govt has announced that it will give `red carpet` to foreign investors and entrepreneurs by giving more incentives and ease the restrictions.
UK tier1 Entrepreneur
UK Entrepreneur Program requires the main applicant to pass an English Language test before the visa is granted at quite a high level equivalent to 6.0 of IELTS examination. The applicant and his dependents (spouse and children under 18) can receive a visa for 3 years 4 months, then extend their stay by 2 more years. Subsequently, after spending 5 years in the UK in this capacity the main applicant and dependent family will be eligible to apply for ILR and 12 months later after obtaining the ILR – for British nationality.
The requirements are for the main applicant to have £200,000 available to set up a new business in the UK and create two new jobs for UK residents. The main applicant will be expected to work full time running his business, paying taxes, paying salaries (hence, more taxes) to the above-mentioned two new employees of his for the whole 5 year period.
UK tier1 Investor
Under this program, foreign nationals who are interested to immigrate to UK are required to make a high net worth investment, not less than million pounds.
The tier1 investor visas is still open for applications in 2019. The program is not suspended as announced before
Minimum Investment
The minimum investment required is GBP£ 2 million to be invested atleast for 5 year term in Government bonds, loan or share capital. The investor is not allowed to invest this money in property, bank or building society account or companies offshore and no employment. The investor is free to do whatever he wants with the remaining money. Financing option is available but the investor has to prove that he/she has atleaset GBP£ 2 million in assets.
The processing time is the fastest compared to other countries of about 2 months (8 weeks) to get the approval from the government. Personal interview, Business experience, and Medical examination may be waived for investor visa. The investment must be made within 3 months, after entering UK. The investor is allowed to bring with family and children under 18yrs of age.
Upon successful approval of the application, the investor will be given a 3 year visa and afer 5 years of legal residence in the UK, they qualify for `permanent residence` or `ILR indefinite leave to remain` status, provided the investor has maintained the invested money of £ 1 million, as stipulated by the program. The investor will be eligible to applly for `British citizenship` after 1yr of receiving ILR status, and there are different formalities for this. UK allows `dual nationality` but please keep in mind that your home country may not recognize it.
With proper tax planning, one can mitigate the direct applicable taxes, as in most most cases foreigners can avoid direct taxation if the income earned is outside UK.
It is possible to get UK ILR permanent residency after 5 years of living without any interruptions.
Applicants may apply for British citizenship after 6 years, by satisfying requirements below:
1. Resident in the UK for 5 years, and have been present in the UK 5 years before the date of citizenship
application, and have not spent more than 450 days outside the UK in 5 years,
2. Have not spent more than 90 days outside the UK in the 12 months preceding the application.
Once UK citizenship has been granted, there is no restriction on time spent outside the UK.
The UK allows dual nationality.
We provide assistance in relocation, business immigration, residence and citizenship in the UK. For more information on applicable fee and additional costs, please contact us or complete the below application.