Possible changes to Tier 1 INVESTOR from April 2011

- Allow absences of up to 180 days outside of the UK in any 12 months
- Shorten the qualifying period for settlement from the current 5 years, depending on the size of the investment:


5 years for an investment of £1m-£5m
3 years for an investment of £5m-£10m
2 years for an investment greater than £10m
Additionally we propose making the route available to the wealth creators as well as those who are already personally wealthy. We would do this by allowing migrants to qualify to enter through the route when they have a suitable level of funding from a registered venture capitalist.

We do not propose amending our criteria for naturalization.

At present the fee for Tier 1 Investor visa is £750.00. We propose raising this to £5000.00.