Regulation 2(1)(e)
High Value Residency in Jersey
A private assessment of whether the numbers work, before anything is submitted and before anyone is contacted.
Marilyn Peddle, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
High Value Residency is a status, not a visa — and property, not tax, is what usually stops it.
Commonly called 2(1)(e) after the regulation that creates it, or HVR for short, the status gives access to Jersey's qualified housing market and a defined income tax treatment, in exchange for a committed minimum annual tax contribution. It is granted to a small number of individuals each year.
Figures on this page were checked against gov.je and Locate Jersey on. Jersey thresholds change and superseded numbers stay in circulation for years. Confirm anything you are about to act on.
What decides a 2(1)(e) application
Six things that matter more than the headline rate. Every figure links to the page that dates and sources it.
Property
Two hands
The number of qualifying houses on the market
Approval does not create supply. Applicants who leave property until after approval find a clock running against a handful of houses.
Property requirementsTax
1%
On worldwide income above £1.25m
Twenty per cent below it, and a deeming rule that charges the £250,000 minimum even in a year your income does not reach it.
How the rate worksEvidence
Months
To document wealth across jurisdictions
The longest stage of the process, and the one nobody warns applicants about. It starts well before the application does.
The application, stage by stageLeasing
12 months
To buy, if you lease at the outset
The leased property must meet the same values, and the expectation to purchase runs from arrival. A bridge with a stated span.
Buying against leasingLegacy regimes
£145k / £170k
Figures that are real, and not yours
Residents granted status before 14 July 2023 remain on older rules. That is why lower numbers still circulate for a scheme that now costs £250,000.
Which regime appliesNot a visa
0
Jersey golden visas in existence
2(1)(e) is a housing and work status. It confers no citizenship, and non-British applicants still need separate immigration permission.
The two systemsWhat we do here
Discreetly, and only for you
A 2(1)(e) move touches a tax adviser, a Jersey advocate, an estate agent, a bank and Locate Jersey, and each of them has a legitimate interest that is not identical to yours. We hold the file, brief each of them properly, and make sure you are not paying an advocate at their hourly rate to chase documents.
Before any of that, we do the unglamorous part: a private assessment of whether the numbers work, with nothing submitted and nobody told. Some of those conversations end there, and they should.
We do not give tax or legal advice, and we are not a substitute for Locate Jersey, whose service is free and worth using.Our regulatory position sets out exactly where our work stops.
What Locate Jersey covers and what it does not, and whose interest each party in a move serves.
Read next
Eligibility and thresholds
Tax contribution, worldwide income and wealth figures, dated.
The 2(1)(e) application
Every stage, who does what, and where applications stall.
Property requirements
Minimum values, buying versus renting, and the timing trap.
Tax and the 1% rate
How 2(1)(e) income tax actually works, and what it does not cover.
High Value Residency questions
- Is High Value Residency a golden visa?
- No. It is a residential status under Jersey housing and work law, not an immigration route and not a path to citizenship. If you are not a British or Irish citizen you also need immigration permission to live in Jersey, which is a separate application under Jersey's own immigration rules. The two are often confused.
- What actually stops most applications?
- Property, more often than tax. The purchase or lease has to meet the published minimum values and has to be in place within the period the approval allows. Jersey has a small market at that level, and a buyer who has not lined up a property before approval can find the clock running against a handful of available houses.
- Do I have to buy, or can I rent?
- You can lease initially, and the property is expected to match the same values, with an expectation that you purchase within twelve months. The property requirements page sets out both routes.
- Does 2(1)(e) status pass to my spouse and children?
- The status attaches to the applicant, and immediate family living with them are generally covered while the household holds it. Adult children setting up their own homes are a different question, and one worth asking early rather than at the point they want to buy.
- How long does approval take?
- Locate Jersey publishes an expectation that a decision usually takes no more than 15 working days, normally within the same calendar month, for applications submitted in the first few working days of the month. That is an expectation, not a guarantee, and it covers the decision only. The time before submission is driven by how quickly you assemble evidence of wealth and income, and the property and tax work runs on its own timeline.
A private assessment, before anything is submitted
Tell us the shape of your income and wealth and roughly when you want to move. We will tell you whether 2(1)(e) is realistic, what it would cost in total, and what would need to happen first. Nothing is filed and nobody is contacted.