I have plans of applying for the Tier 1 Investor visa UK. I am going to make significant investments amounting to no less than 10M GBP. This makes me eligible to apply for ILR after 2 years.
For those who don't know, the investor can:
- apply to settle after 2 years if you invest £10 million
- apply to settle after 3 years if you invest £5 million
- apply to settle after 5 years if you invest £2 million
I qualify for ILR after 2 years of my investment and Tier 1 Visa.
Does this mean that I can apply for citizenship after 3 years (that is 12 months after receiving ILR) of receiving Tier 1 Visa?
There is a requirement that the applicant must be in the UK exactly 5 years before the date of application of citizenship, but I am afraid I do not fit here as I am not working for a company on Tier 2 work visa since 5 years (the traditional immigration route), instead I am on the fastest route to ILR hence I could become eligible for ILR after 2 years. So I will definitely not be in the UK exactly 5 years before the date of application.
What do you think? Can I get British citizenship after 3 years since my Tier 1 visa and my investments in the UK begin? All UK Gov. documents assume that the citizenship applicant must have been in the UK for at least 5 years (as is the case for the majority of the times) but does this rule apply for fast-track route applicants who have invested more than 5M or 10M GBP? Notice that the Investor who invests 2M or more falls in the category of "ILR after 5 years" so there's no problem for them as well, just these 2 categories fall in a different situation.
Or is it the case that British citizenship can be applied for, in all cases including the 5 M and 10 M investment cases, only after 5 years in the UK with no absences of more than 450 days in those 5 years? This implies that investors who receive ILR after 2 and 3 years, respectively, have to wait for 3 and 2 years before they can apply for citizenship.
Thanks.
