United Kingdom Tier 1 (Investor), legacy cases only

No. The Tier 1 (Investor) visa is closed and has been since 17 February 2022. You cannot submit a new application for it, regardless of nationality, how much you are willing to invest, or whether you apply from inside or outside the United Kingdom. The official GOV.UK overview states it plainly: you can no longer apply for a new Tier 1 (Investor) visa. There is no waiting list, no exception for larger investments, and no discretionary back door.

This is worth stating directly because the residual search demand is enormous and the misinformation is persistent. Years after a program closes, comparison sites, lead-generation pages, and even some advisory firms keep the old listing live because it still attracts traffic. Some quietly redirect you to an unrelated paid service. Treat any 2026 page that describes how to apply for the UK investor visa, or quotes a current 2 million pound entry, as a red flag about the source rather than a sign the program is open.

It also helps to separate two questions that often get conflated. Can you still get United Kingdom residence by investing? No, not by passive investment alone. Can you still move to the UK as a wealthy person through some other route? Sometimes yes, but only by qualifying on the merits of a business or recognized talent, which is a fundamentally different test from writing a cheque. We cover those remaining routes below so you can judge honestly whether any of them fits you, rather than discovering after the fact that none of them is the visa you were looking for.

The route that closed is the Tier 1 (Investor) visa, the formal name for what the public and the press called the UK golden visa or UK investor visa. It closed to all new initial applications, whether for entry clearance from outside the UK or leave to remain from inside it, at 4:00pm on 17 February 2022. The Home Office caseworker guidance records the exact moment, corroborated by multiple specialist immigration firms. The cutoff was abrupt: applications already in the system were handled under the old rules, but nothing new could enter after it.

To understand what was lost, it helps to know what the route offered. It was a pure capital-investment visa. An applicant needed at least 2,000,000 pounds under their control, held in a regulated financial institution and disposable in the UK, to be invested into qualifying UK assets. There was no requirement to run a business, create jobs, speak English, or spend much time learning the country. In exchange you received residence and a defined path to settlement, and the investment size set the speed of that path.

At the 2,000,000 pound minimum, you could apply for indefinite leave to remain (settlement) after five years. At 5,000,000 pounds, settlement eligibility came after three years. At 10,000,000 pounds, it came after just two years. This investment-to-settlement ladder is the feature that made the route so attractive to the very wealthy: money bought not just residence but an accelerated timeline to permanent status.

The qualifying assets tightened over the route's life. For grants made after 29 March 2019, the qualifying sum had to go into share capital or loan capital in active and trading UK-registered companies. UK government bonds, which earlier cohorts had been allowed to use, were removed as a qualifying investment for new investors at that point. Pooled investments, residential property, and offshore-company structures were never permitted vehicles for the qualifying sum. The settlement clock also carried a residence condition: no more than 180 days outside the UK in any rolling 12-month period across the qualifying years.

So the program that closed was specific and generous: a passive, capital-only visa with an accelerating path to permanence, requiring no economic activity beyond holding the right UK assets. Nothing in the current UK system replicates any of those features.

The Tier 1 (Investor) visa was not closed for being unpopular or underused. It was closed for being a security liability. The official GOV.UK announcement that accompanied the closure cited applicants acquiring their wealth illegitimately and being associated with wider corruption, and pointed to the route's exposure to illicit finance. In plain terms, the government decided the visa had become a channel for moving reputation and money, and that it could not be fixed at the margins. The Home Secretary at the time framed it as zero tolerance for abuse of the immigration system.

The closure also has to be read in its political moment. It was announced in February 2022, in the same weeks that the UK was hardening its entire posture toward Russian-linked capital amid the escalation that led into the invasion of Ukraine. The route had long drawn scrutiny over golden visas granted in the years after the 2008 financial crisis, and a long-promised review of those historic grants ran alongside the closure, with findings published in a written ministerial statement on 12 January 2023.

This origin story is the single best reason to doubt that the route comes back. A program suspended over a fee or a threshold can be re-tuned and relaunched. A program shut down because it was judged a vector for illicit finance and foreign influence is politically radioactive to revive. UK immigration policy has since moved consistently toward routes that demand something active and verifiable, an innovative business, recognized talent, a real corporate presence, rather than passive money. We treat a UK passive investor visa as closed for the foreseeable future, and we would be skeptical of anyone who tells you otherwise without an actual government announcement to point to.

If you already hold, or recently held, a Tier 1 (Investor) visa, you are on a defined wind-down rather than a cliff edge, but the windows are closing and two of the key dates are now critical. The 2022 closure stopped new entrants only; it did not instantly invalidate visas already granted. Instead the Home Office set deadlines for the two things existing holders still need: extensions and settlement.

Extensions. The deadline to apply to extend an existing Tier 1 (Investor) visa was 17 February 2026, which has now passed. An extension could be applied for from inside or outside the UK and bought additional leave, typically to bridge the gap to settlement eligibility. If you needed an extension and did not file by that date, take specialist immigration advice immediately about your remaining options, because the standard route to extend under Tier 1 (Investor) is no longer available.

Settlement (indefinite leave to remain). The more important surviving deadline is for ILR. Applications for settlement under the Tier 1 (Investor) route are accepted until 17 February 2028, after which the route closes entirely and no further extensions or ILR applications can be made under it. ILR must be applied for from inside the UK, with the applicant physically present at submission. If your goal was always permanent UK status, build your plan around this 2028 date.

Government bonds wind-down. Holders who had structured their qualifying investment around UK government bonds (gilts) faced a separate timetable. Gilts ceased to qualify for extension applications from 6 April 2023, and for ILR applications from 6 April 2025. Anyone relying on gilts had to switch into qualifying equity or loan capital in active, trading UK companies before those dates to keep their application valid. If you are approaching an ILR application now and have not confirmed your investment still qualifies, that is the first thing to check.

Family. While the visa remains valid, existing holders can still bring eligible family members to join them. The closure to new principal applicants did not sever the dependant routes for those already inside the system. As with everything in this transition, the specifics depend on your exact grant date and history, and with real money and permanent status on the line, this is a moment for tailored legal advice rather than a checklist.

There is no passive residence-by-investment route in the United Kingdom in 2026. No visa currently allows an individual to qualify for residence purely through investing a set sum of money. UK policy has deliberately replaced passive capital with active business and recognized talent. Three routes are the ones former investor-visa applicants most often ask about, so it is worth being precise about what each is and, more importantly, what each is not.

Innovator Founder visa. This is the closest thing the UK has to an entrepreneur route, and the one most often misrepresented as the new investor visa. It is not an investment visa. There is no qualifying capital sum: the old 50,000 pound Innovator threshold was abolished, and you now simply have to show access to enough funding to deliver your business plan. The gatekeeper is endorsement, not money. Your business must be endorsed by a Home Office-approved endorsing body and pass three tests: innovation, viability, and scalability. As of the GOV.UK list updated 20 April 2026 there are three business endorsing bodies: UK Endorsing Services, Innovator International, and Envestors Limited (the Global Entrepreneurs Program can also endorse, but only founders it has already invited). Endorsement costs 1,000 pounds plus 500 pounds per checkpoint meeting. You also need English at CEFR B2 and 1,270 pounds of maintenance funds. The visa runs three years with unlimited three-year extensions, and you can apply for settlement after three years if the business is active, trading, and sustainable. Government application fees are 1,357 pounds to apply from outside the UK or 1,693 pounds to extend or switch inside it, per person, plus the Immigration Health Surcharge. It can lead to settlement, but only by building and running a real, endorsed, innovative business, a different commitment from holding a portfolio.

Global Talent visa. This route has no investment requirement at all. It is for leaders or potential leaders in academia and research, in arts and culture, and in digital technology. You qualify either by holding an eligible prestigious prize, which is a direct route, or by securing an endorsement from a designated body. The visa can be granted for up to five years at a time and is renewable, and it can lead to settlement after three years in some fields or five years in others. Total government fees are modest at around 766 pounds per person (an endorsement fee of 561 pounds plus the 205 pound visa fee, or 766 pounds on the direct prize route), plus the Immigration Health Surcharge. For genuinely exceptional people it is an excellent route, but it rewards recognized talent, not capital.

UK Expansion Worker visa (Global Business Mobility). This one is frequently mistaken for a way to relocate by investing in a UK venture, and it is not. It is for a senior manager or specialist employee of an overseas business that is setting up a UK branch which has not yet started trading. It requires a Certificate of Sponsorship and an eligible role at the minimum salary. Crucially, it is capped at a maximum of two years in total (an initial period of up to 12 months plus one 12-month extension), and it does not lead to settlement. There is explicitly no ILR path. It is a temporary corporate-mobility tool, not a residence plan.

The honest bottom line: none of the three is a passive investor visa. Innovator Founder and Global Talent can both lead to settlement, but only on the strength of an endorsed business or recognized talent. Expansion Worker is temporary and leads nowhere permanent. If your plan was to convert money into UK residence without running a business or being recognized for a talent, none of these routes does that, and you are better served looking at the alternatives in other countries below.

The right substitute depends entirely on what you actually wanted from the UK investor visa. Almost nobody wanted UK residence as an end in itself; they wanted a specific outcome that the visa happened to deliver. Match the goal to the program and the choice becomes clear.

If you wanted an EU passport with the lightest possible presence, look at Portugal. The golden visa survived the 2023 reforms as a fund-and-donation program, with a 500,000 euro investment-fund route and a 250,000 euro cultural and heritage donation among the qualifying options (the donation drops to 200,000 euros in low-density areas). The real estate and capital-transfer routes were abolished in October 2023, so ignore anyone still selling property there. Portugal's signature feature is presence: roughly seven days a year, the lightest in the EU, with permanent residence after five years. Note that the 2026 citizenship reform lengthened the naturalization timeline to ten years for most nationalities (seven for EU and CPLP nationals), so treat it as a residence-first play with a passport option, not a fast-passport scheme.

If you wanted immediate EU permanent residence rather than a multi-year wait, look at Malta. The Malta Permanent Residence Program grants permanent residence up front. Under the 2025 reform (Legal Notice 146 of 2025) it requires either buying property from 375,000 euros or renting from 14,000 euros a year, a flat 37,000 euro government contribution, and a 60,000 euro administrative fee, alongside an asset test. There is no minimum stay and no language test. For a buyer who wanted settlement-grade status without the runway, this is the closest thing in the EU to permanent-residence-by-investment.

If you wanted the cheapest open EU golden visa and zero stay, look at Greece. Greece runs a true investment visa with no business or endorsement test. Real estate thresholds are 800,000 euros in the most in-demand areas, 400,000 euros in other regions, and 250,000 euros for commercial-to-residential conversions and listed-building restorations. Non-property routes include investment-fund units from 350,000 euros and various bond, deposit, and share options. It is five-year renewable residence with no minimum stay and Schengen access, with citizenship possible after seven years of genuine residence.

If you wanted a G7 base with a tax angle, look at Italy. The Italian investor visa offers 250,000 euros into an innovative startup, 500,000 euros into an Italian company, 2,000,000 euros in government bonds, or a 1,000,000 euro philanthropic donation, held a minimum of two years. It grants a renewable residence permit with no minimum stay and access to Italy's flat-tax regime for new residents, plus a deferred-funding feature: you commit first and transfer the capital only after approval.

If you wanted a second passport fast, look at the Caribbean. The five citizenship-by-investment programs grant full citizenship, not just residence, typically in months. Donation minimums sit between roughly 200,000 and 250,000 US dollars after the 2024 regional floor. Grenada has a US E-2 treaty, but an investment-acquired citizen generally must first be domiciled in Grenada continuously for at least three years before applying; the US business and other E-2 tests remain separate.

If you wanted a low-tax base and long residence, look at the UAE. The Golden Residency investor threshold is AED 2,000,000, but term and evidence are category- and channel-specific: federal ICP lists five years for real estate and ten for public investment, while Dubai Land Department separately lists a ten-year property service. It is residence, not a passport, and tax residence still requires separate analysis.

If you actually wanted the Anglosphere, look at the United States EB-5 program. This is the natural substitute for the UK investor who wanted an English-speaking common-law country. EB-5 requires 800,000 US dollars in a Targeted Employment Area (rural or high-unemployment) or 1,050,000 US dollars elsewhere, creating ten full-time US jobs. It delivers a conditional green card, then a permanent green card, and US citizenship eligibility after five years, with spouse and unmarried children under 21 included and no employer sponsorship needed. It is the only mainstream route to direct US permanent residence by investment.

Start with the outcome, not the price tag. The fastest way to pick a wrong program is to sort by minimum investment, because the cheapest entry rarely matches the goal. A 250,000 euro Greek conversion property and a 250,000 euro Portuguese cultural donation cost the same to enter and deliver completely different things: one is recoverable capital tied to a five-year EU residence with a seven-year-plus citizenship horizon, the other is a non-recoverable donation tied to the lightest-presence EU residence. Decide first whether you want residence or a passport, in which region, and on what timeline. The number comes last.

Separate sticker price from total cost. A donation is a true cost: the money is gone. A fund subscription, a property purchase, or an EB-5 investment ties up more capital but is designed to come back, ideally with a return. The honest comparison is the total cost of the status over your holding period, net of what you expect to recover, plus government fees, professional fees, and taxes, not the headline minimum that marketing pages lead with. A returnable 800,000 dollar EB-5 investment and a non-recoverable 235,000 dollar Caribbean donation are not the cheap option and the expensive option; they are two different financial instruments.

Weigh presence and tax against your actual life. If you will not relocate, presence requirements are decisive: Portugal at about a week a year, Greece and Malta and the UAE at effectively zero, against EB-5 and any genuine UK route, which expect you to actually live there. Tax follows the same logic. The UAE offers a 0% personal tax base; Italy offers a flat-tax regime for new residents; the US taxes its residents and citizens on worldwide income, a serious consideration for anyone whose attraction to the Anglosphere did not account for the IRS. US persons in particular should map the cross-border tax interaction before committing capital anywhere.

Finally, weigh the endgame and the durability of the program. A passport (the Caribbean, or EB-5 and Portugal at the end of a longer road) is permanent and inheritable; a residence permit is a renewable right you must maintain. And in this space, programs change yearly: Portugal cut its real estate route in 2023 and lengthened its citizenship clock in 2026, Malta reformed its fees in 2025, Greece raised its property thresholds, Grenada is phasing in a presence requirement. Verify every figure against the program's official source at the moment you are ready to act, and prefer programs with a track record of surviving reform over the newest, cheapest entrant. The UK investor visa is itself the cautionary tale: a popular program can vanish at 4pm on a Thursday, and the only protection is choosing for durability and confirming the rules the day you commit.