UK Golden Visa

Does the UK Have a Golden Visa?

No. The UK does not currently have a Golden Visa.

However, it is actively considering a new investor visa. This is reported to require a £5 million investment in priority sectors of the British economy on an invitation-only basis.

Nothing has been laid before Parliament and no launch date has been confirmed. La Vida is monitoring these developments closely and can notify you if a new UK Golden Visa launches.

The Tier 1 Investor Visa – the route most people mean when they search for a UK Golden Visa – closed to new applicants in February 2022 and has not been replaced.

One residency by investment route remains open in the meantime: the Innovator Founder visa.

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UK Investor Visa: What Happened to the £50,000 Requirement?

The £50,000 investment threshold no longer applies.

The UK Government closed the Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa in March 2019 and replaced it with the Innovator visa and Start-up visa. It was the Innovator Visa that required a minimum investment of £50,000.

Both routes closed to new applicants on 13 April 2023 and were replaced by a single route: the Innovator Founder visa, which carries no minimum investment requirement at all.

The £50,000 figure has not disappeared entirely. It reappears later in the journey as one of the criteria assessed at the settlement stage, and regulators will still expect applicants to hold enough lawful funding to reach the milestones set out in their business plan.

But there is no fixed entry threshold for a UK investment visa today.

No minimum investment

Business

Full Family

3+ Year Residency

Settlement. From 3 Years

UK Innovator Founder Visa

The Innovator Founder Visa is designed for genuine entrepreneurs who are willing and able to build innovative businesses endorsed by a registered endorsing body in the UK.

This remains the key distinction from the old entrepreneur visa. The applicant must have a genuine and original business plan. It must meet new or existing market needs, creating a competitive advantage.

Applicants must have the necessary skills, knowledge, experience and market awareness to successfully run the business, and there must be evidence of structured planning. This will include the potential for job creation and growth into national and international markets.

Many applicants base their business in London, though there is no requirement to do so and endorsing bodies operate across the UK.

UK Investment Visa Requirements

Endorsement from a Home Office-approved endorsing body, secured before applying
A business idea assessed as innovative, viable and scalable
English language at CEFR Level B2 across reading, writing, listening and speaking – raised from B1 in January 2026
£1,270 in maintenance funds
No minimum investment, though the endorsing body will assess whether funding is sufficient for the business plan

What the Visa Provides

Applicants can reside in the UK with their families for three years
Skilled secondary employment is permitted alongside developing the business, which was not allowed under the old Innovator Visa
Two contact point meetings with the endorsing body are required, at 12 and 24 months
After three years, applicants can apply to extend their stay or to settle permanently in the UK
British citizenship can be applied for 12 months after settlement, subject to the Life in the UK Test and English Language Requirement

UK Innovator Founder Visa Cost

There is no investment threshold to budget for, but the route carries its own costs. The main ones are the endorsing body fee, the visa application fee, the Immigration Health Surcharge for each year of stay, and fees for the mandatory contact point meetings.

Applicants should also budget for professional advice on the business plan, which is where most applications succeed or fail.

Speak to La Vida for current figures and a full cost breakdown for your circumstances, including family members.

Innovator Founder Visa Success Rates

The endorsement stage, not the visa application, is where most applications fail. Home Office data for the year to March 2024 show 401 of 411 Innovator Founder visa applications granted, a success rate of over 97% at the visa application stage.

The endorsement stage tells a different story: one of the designated endorsing bodies reported approving 222 of 596 endorsement applications, a rate of around 37%. Taken together, only around a third of entrepreneurs who begin the process reach a granted visa.

The most common reason for endorsement refusal is a business idea that the endorsing body does not accept as genuinely innovative.

Applicants are required to have full hands-on business experience and a business plan that stands up to scrutiny.

La Vida can help with minimising the risks associated with such a venture by matching applicants with appropriate businesses and advising accordingly.

UK Citizenship by Investment

There is no direct route to citizenship through investment in the UK.

Residency through investment is possible through the Innovator Founder visa, with settlement available after three years and citizenship 12 months after that – a minimum of four years in total, and longer in practice.

The Government has confirmed plans to extend the standard qualifying period for settlement under its earned settlement reforms, so these timescales are expected to change.

For a faster or more passive route, the Golden Visa programs in Italy or Portugal are considerably more straightforward. Other countries very close by to the UK, including Guernsey and Jersey, also offer residency by investment options.