Tier 1 Investor Visa

Tier 1 Investor visa is UK immigration category for non-EEA nationals, it is designed for high-net-worth individuals who are able to invest £2,000,000 in the UK.

If applicant does not already hold a Tier 1 Investor visa granted before 6 November 2014, then they will need to have access to £2m and be willing to invest their funds into share capital or loan capital in active trading UK companies.

Overview of the requirements of Tier 1 Investor Visa for an applicant:

• Must be from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland
• Must be 18 years old or over
• Have access to at least £2,000,000 in investment funds, which has been held for a consecutive 2-year period
• No English language requirements for initial application
• No individual maintenance requirement
• Applicant and any adult dependents will need to provide an overseas criminal record certificate for any country that they have lived in for at least 12 months in the last 10 years
• Can work and study

Investment Funds

• Holding amount of funds at least £2m belonging to applicant, family member or the two of them jointly
• The money is held in a regulated financial institution – FCA licence required
• UK Investment account is opened with a UK regulated bank for the purpose of investing the funds in the UK
• If Applicant have not held the funds for 2 years consecutively before the date of the application, applicant must also provide evidence of the source of the funds
• The Applicant can rely on money that is owned either jointly with, or solely by, your husband, wife, civil partner, unmarried or same-sex partner

Opening Bank Account in the UK

For the purposes of meeting this requirement, a “UK regulated bank” is defined as a UK based FCA regulated financial institution.

Applicant must provide a letter, issued by an authorised official of a UK regulated bank, on their official letter-headed paper which confirms that applicant have opened an account with that bank for the purposes of investing not less than £2m in the UK and the bank has carried all required due diligence and Know Your Customer (KYC) checks.

Obtaining British Passport via staying on Tier 1 Investor Visa

Initial Application

Initially applicant will be granted visa for 3 years and 4 months (or 3 years if processed in the UK). A subsequent extension can be applied for, providing all criteria are met.

Visa Extension

Applicant must enter UK within 30 days after their entry clearance was granted, and all adults were registered with the with Overseas Visitors Records Office (Police Registration) within 7 days after arrival in the UK.

Requirements:

• £2m under applicant’s control in the UK – Applicant will be required to prove that they invested the funds within 3 months of their ‘investor visa start date
• Applicant have maintained at least £2 million of their own funds, under their own control, in a permitted investment in the UK

Standard processing times for processing time is currently approximately 8 weeks, priority Service may be available for visa extension which should allow for a decision to be made within 10 working days.

Settlement – ILR

In order to settle in the UK as a Tier 1 Investor after 5 years, applicant will need to show that:

• They have invested not less than £2m of your capital in the UK by way of share capital or loan capital in active and trading UK registered companies
• They have maintained at least £2m of their own funds, under their own control in the UK

• Apply to settle after 2 years if you invest £10,000,000
• Apply to settle after 3 years if you invest £5,000,000
• Apply to settle after 5 years if you invest £2,000,000
• Enter with their family or they can join applicant at a later date during the term of their visa

Applicant will be required to demonstrate that they have sufficient knowledge of the English language and Life in the UK.

Moreover, they can spend up to 6 months outside the UK each year and still qualify for ILR. 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.

British Passport via Tier 1 Investor Visa

Indefinite leave to remain holders can apply for naturalisation one year after the grant of settlement (ILR) and become British Citizen.

The requirements for citizenship are as follows:

• The applicant must have passed English Language and Life in the UK test
• The applicant must be of good character and not have breached any immigration rules in the UK
• The applicant must have spent no more than 450 days outside the UK in the 5 years before the application
• The applicant must have not spent more than 90 days outside the UK in the 12 months before the application for Naturalisation

Different requirements apply to Tier 1 Investors who applied to enter the category under the Immigration Rules in force prior to 6 November 2014 and 29 March 2019.

How Mann’s Solutions work

1. Conversation with Our Immigration Consultant

Our aim with this session is to make your case optimally strong, show all your strong points as a professional and future business owner.

2. Receiving legal agreement from us

We will send you our Customer Care Letter (CCL) which states all legal information about how we work as an Immigration Law Firm.

3. Payment

You will receive our automated email with invoice attached. Payment of 50% of the invoice value needs to be done before we start your application process. Remaining 50% needs to be paid 3 days before submission of your case to Home Office.

4. Working on your case

We will send you a ’tailored’ list of documents which you need to provide for your application, Our adviser will consult you and fully assist on arranging all documents, prepare case strategy and fully comply with UK immigration law for your application form, then prepare professional and detailed Representation letter to support your case in Home Office.

Our Business Department team will arrange meeting and consultation with UK based Investment Bank in order to arrange an opening UK bank account and allocate investment funds and obtain relevant letters, prior of submitting visa application to Home Office.

5. Submitting application to Home Office

Our adviser will submit all necessary forms online and arrange an appointment date for YOU to attend UK Visa Centre in your city to bring all original documents.

6. Obtaining results from Home Office

The Home Office will send your documents and the result of your application to our office after 1-2 months of submitting your application via online portal and attend appointment for submitting documents and provide fingerprints to the authorised agent of Home Office, but in some cases this period can be longer.

7. Guiding you for Next Steps in the UK

Our Immigration adviser will guide you with next steps regarding immigration law and compliance of the Visa extension, ILR and British Passport.

8. Consulting Services

Our partners will guide you with next steps to be undertaken prior to starting business in the UK:

• Property Solutions
• Open UK Personal Bank Account
• Financial Advice from out partner – Assets Management Firm

Mann’s Solutions Services included:

• Taking full instructions of your circumstances
• Providing you with a full list of documents required for you to provide
• Arranging meeting and consultation with UK based Investment Bank in order to arrange an opening UK bank account
• Completion of the Home Office online application form
• Full Document check
• Once all the documents are satisfactory, we will begin to prepare our legal representation letter for your application to accompany your application to the Home Office
• Your application will be thoroughly revised by our senior immigration advisor

UK Visas & Immigration