The Tier 1 (Investor) visa is closed. What survives is a narrow set of rights for people who already hold one, or held one in the last twelve months: extend for two years, bring family, or apply to settle. The investment test that governs an extension depends on when the original application succeeded, and three different versions of it are still live.
UK Work Visas
Tier 1 Investor Visa 2026: Extensions, Settlement and What Replaced It
What the Route Was
An investment-based route to UK residence, now closed to new applicants. If you already hold a Tier 1 (Investor) visa — or held one in the last 12 months and it was your most recent visa — you can still apply to extend for two years, apply for family members to join you, or apply to settle. The investment requirements for an extension depend on when your original application succeeded.
The route required capital rather than a job, an employer or an endorsement, which is what distinguished it from everything that has replaced it. Nothing in the current system reproduces that: the successor routes all ask for a business, an endorsement or a sponsor rather than a sum of money.
Closed to New Applicants
GOV.UK is precise about who retains rights. You can still apply to extend, to settle, or for family members to join you if you already have a Tier 1 (Investor) visa — or if you had one in the last 12 months and it was your most recent visa. That second limb is the one worth reading carefully: someone whose investor permission ended less than a year ago, and who has not since held a different visa, may still be inside the route. Someone who has moved to another category in the meantime is not, and someone beyond the twelve months is not either.
Settlement
Settlement on this route runs through the dedicated business and investor settlement provisions rather than the ordinary work-route rules. The usual conditions apply: absences within the 180-day limit, a pass in the Life in the UK test, and English at the settlement standard — rising to B2 for applications made on or after 26 March 2027 under HC 1691, as covered in our English requirements guide.
The framework itself is in our settlement guide, and how long decisions take in our settlement processing guide. Naturalisation afterwards follows the timetable in our citizenship guide.
Timing the Application
Qualifying periods on the investor route have historically varied with the level of investment, so the date on which you become eligible to settle is a question to check against the settlement rules for your own cohort rather than assumed from a general figure. What is fixed is the mechanics: apply before your current permission expires, and keep the investment position evidenced throughout the qualifying period rather than assembled at the end.
Extensions run for two years, and are made from inside the UK before the current permission expires. Family members apply separately, either at the same time as you or at any point before their own permission runs out.
The Investment Tests
Which test applies depends on when your original application succeeded, and the differences are substantial.
Extension Requirements by Cohort
| When you successfully applied | What you must show |
|---|---|
| Before 6 November 2014 | At least £2 million invested in UK government bonds, share capital or loan capital in active UK companies since 6 April 2020; at least £1 million under your control in the UK before 6 April 2020; and £750,000 invested within 3 months of your investor start date |
| On or after 6 November 2014 | At least £2 million under your control in the UK, invested in share capital or loan capital in active UK companies, within 3 months of your investor start date |
| Before 29 March 2019 | As above, but UK government bonds also count as a qualifying investment |
Source: GOV.UK, Investor visa (Tier 1) — extend your visa. Verified 22 August 2026.
The investor start date is either the date you came into the UK, if you can prove it, or the date your original application or switch was approved if you cannot. That distinction matters because the three-month investment window runs from it, and a disputed start date can move the whole assessment.
Keeping the Investment Evidenced
The requirement is not simply that money was invested once, but that the position held across the relevant period. Portfolio changes, company restructurings and moves between vehicles all need to be documented as they happen, with dates that can be matched against the rules for your cohort. Evidence assembled years later rarely answers the question a caseworker actually asks.
Fees
Fees for extension and settlement on legacy routes change with the annual schedule, and the current figures should be checked before applying rather than taken from any secondary source. What has not changed is that dependants pay their own fees, and that settlement applications carry no health surcharge.
Documents
You will need a current passport or other valid travel identification, tuberculosis test results if you are from a listed country, and a criminal record certificate for any country you have stayed in for a qualifying period. The investment evidence sits on top of that, and is the part that takes real preparation — portfolio statements, company records and confirmation that the funds were invested within the three-month window.
Because the route has no sponsor, everything is evidenced by the applicant. Records kept contemporaneously are worth far more than reconstructions, particularly where the qualifying period stretches back years and involves more than one investment vehicle.
Criminal Record Certificates
A criminal record certificate is required for any country you have stayed in for a qualifying period, which on a route with long international histories often means several. Each authority sets its own timescale, and the slowest one governs when the application can be made — so the certificates are the first thing to start, not the last.
What Replaced It
Nothing, in the sense of a capital-only route. Innovator Founder is the nearest for people who want to build a UK business, but it requires an endorsed innovative, viable and scalable venture rather than an investment. Global Talent runs on endorsement by a recognised body, and Skilled Worker on a sponsored job.
The other legacy business category, covered in our Tier 1 Entrepreneur guide, is in a similar position: closed, but with extension and settlement rights preserved for people already inside it.
Why the Route Closed
The category was withdrawn as part of a wider move away from residence granted on the basis of capital alone. Whatever the merits of that policy, the practical effect for holders is that there is no equivalent to fall back on if the extension or settlement application fails — which changes the risk calculus on every decision taken inside the route.
Where Applications Fail
Three causes dominate: applying under the wrong cohort's investment test, an investment made outside the three-month window from the investor start date, and gaps in the evidence chain across a long qualifying period. Absences are a fourth, and they surface only at settlement, by which point they cannot be fixed.
A refusal is normally challenged through administrative review. Given the closure of the route and the twelve-month bridge, a refusal here can be terminal rather than merely inconvenient — which is the argument for taking advice before submitting rather than after.
Sources: GOV.UK Tier 1 Investor route page on GOV.UK; the Home Office Tier 1 (Investor) guidance; and settlement for business, investor and Global Talent routes. Figures verified 22 August 2026.
Frequently Asked
Questions about the Tier 1 Investor Visa
No. The route is closed to new applicants. Rights are preserved only for people who already hold the visa, or who held one in the last 12 months where it was their most recent visa. Those people can apply to extend for two years, to settle, or for family members to join them.
Two years. Apply before your current permission expires, from inside the UK. Family members are not extended automatically — they apply separately, either at the same time as you or at any point before their own permission runs out, and their permission otherwise remains valid to its original end date.
It depends on when your original application succeeded. Applications before 6 November 2014 face a three-part test involving £2 million invested since 6 April 2020, £1 million under control before that date, and £750,000 invested within three months of the investor start date. Later applications require £2 million under control and invested within three months.
Only for some cohorts. Applicants who succeeded before 29 March 2019 can rely on UK government bonds as a qualifying investment. For those who applied on or after that date, the investment must be in share capital or loan capital in active UK companies. Applying the wrong cohort's rule is a common cause of refusal.
Either the date you came into the UK, if you can prove it, or the date your original application or switch was approved if you cannot. It matters because the three-month investment window runs from it, so a disputed or undocumented entry date can shift the whole assessment of whether funds were invested in time.
Yes. Family members can apply to join a holder, and existing dependants can extend separately. They pay their own fees and are assessed in their own right. As with the main applicant, the rights depend on the holder still being inside the route — either currently holding the visa or within the twelve-month window.
Settlement runs through the dedicated business and investor provisions, with the usual conditions: absences within the limits, the Life in the UK test and English at the settlement standard, which rises to B2 for applications made on or after 26 March 2027. The investment position has to be evidenced across the qualifying period rather than at the end of it.
Not for capital alone. Innovator Founder is the closest for business builders but requires an endorsed innovative, viable and scalable business rather than an investment. Global Talent runs on endorsement by a recognised body, and Skilled Worker on sponsored employment. None of them admits someone purely on the basis of funds available to invest.