LONDON: Non-European Union investors can henceforth settle in Britain even if they have spent upto a year out of the country in the four years preceeding their application for permanent residence, under new rules announced by the Home Office.
Till now, non-EU investors were required to have spent no longer than six months outside Britain in the four-year period before they applied for permanent residence.
The new rules allow non-EU investors to apply for permanent residence, the last stop before applying for British nationality, even if they have spent upto a year abroad in the preceding four-year period, provided that none of those individual trips exceeded three months.