Category 2 residence: what the law says and what is only announced

The application fee for Category 2 status in Gibraltar is £5,000, and it is not refunded. This is in law: a Legal Notice made by the Minister with responsibility for public finance, published in the Gibraltar Gazette on 22 June 2026, raised the fee from £1,233, and it came into operation on the day it was published. An application must also come with an advance payment of tax, equal to the maximum amount of tax set out in Gibraltar’s Category 2 Rules of 2004. That payment is refunded if the application is rejected. It is also refunded if the certificate is relinquished or surrendered, but in that case any outstanding tax is deducted first.

The press release of the Government of Gibraltar dated 18 June 2026, on changes to the Category 2 regime, says the Government intends to raise the minimum net wealth for new applicants for Category 2 status from £2 million to £5 million. Gibraltar’s Category 2 Rules of 2004 set no wealth figure; they ask that the Finance Centre Director be satisfied that the applicant has substantial and sound financial standing. We found no law, rule or guidance that sets the £5 million figure or the £2 million figure; what we searched is listed at the end of this page. Treat the figure as an announcement of what the Government intends, not as a rule.

The fee

The financial standing test

The Finance Centre Director decides whether to issue a Category 2 certificate. The Director must first be satisfied that the applicant meets Gibraltar’s Category 2 Rules of 2004 on accommodation in Gibraltar, on time spent and work done in Gibraltar in the five tax years before the tax year of the application, and on permitted activities; the Director may waive those requirements on time spent and work done if satisfied that issuing the certificate would benefit the economic development of Gibraltar. Then the Director considers the application and may issue the certificate, but only if satisfied that the applicant has substantial and sound financial standing, is of good character, and that issuing the certificate would not be harmful to the reputation of Gibraltar. The 2004 Rules as we hold them do not say how much money counts as substantial and sound financial standing.

A Category 2 certificate stays in effect only while Gibraltar’s Finance Centre Director remains satisfied about the matters the 2004 Rules list: that the holder continues to meet the conditions of the Rules on accommodation, permitted activities and tax on those activities; that the holder continues to be of good character, of substantial and sound financial standing and of a reputation such that keeping the certificate would not harm the reputation of Gibraltar; and, on tax, that the holder has met any liability to tax under Gibraltar’s income tax law for the previous year; has paid all the assessed tax due under that law; has paid the amount of any minimum tax payable, or that would have been payable, under the Rules for any year of assessment. The Rules list all of these matters in one sentence, joined by “and” and “or”, and their own wording on how they fit together is not clear, so we do not say whether each one must be met; read the official text below.

The Government of Gibraltar’s press release of 18 June 2026 also says that people who already hold Category 2 status will be fully grandfathered and will therefore not be affected by the revised minimum net wealth requirement.

The Government of Gibraltar’s press release of 18 June 2026 also says the changes will provide that a person who does not maintain their Category 2 status will not have a right to continue to be resident in Gibraltar. We did not find this in the Legal Notice that raised the fee, in Gibraltar’s Category 2 Rules of 2004 as consolidated up to that notice, or in the other texts we searched, which are listed at the end of this page.

The Government of Gibraltar’s press release of 18 June 2026 also says the Government will take the opportunity to reaffirm what it calls its long-standing position: Category 2 status does not give an entitlement to publicly funded schooling or healthcare services.

This page does not explain the rules in Gibraltar’s Category 2 Rules of 2004 on accommodation, on time spent and work done in Gibraltar before applying, on permitted activities or on tax, or the other conditions of Category 2 status. It covers only the fee, the financial standing test and the points announced in the Government of Gibraltar’s press release of 18 June 2026.

The Income Tax Office page titled Qualifying Individuals, a question-and-answer page on high net worth individuals, Category 2 individuals and Higher Executive Possessing Specialist Skills individuals, says that anyone who wants to apply for this certificate, or needs information on how to get it, must contact the Gibraltar Finance Director at Gibraltar Finance, Suite 761, Europort, by email at info@financecentre.gov.gi or by telephone on 20050011. That page, read on 7 November 2026, does not mention any net wealth figure. Before you rely on any net wealth figure, ask Gibraltar Finance.

Read again on 12 November 2026: the Legal Notice of 22 June 2026 and Gibraltar’s Category 2 Rules of 2004 as it changed them, each on its own page of the Gibraltar Laws website (their words are the same as the copies quoted on this page, and the page of the Rules lists that Legal Notice as their newest change), and the Gibraltar Laws website’s list of laws (9,188 rows; the newest still dated 29 October 2026; no row added since 7 November 2026). Searched on 7 November 2026: the Gibraltar Laws website’s list of laws (one request; 9,188 rows read; the newest dated 29 October 2026 and none dated on or after 1 November 2026; one row, a 1990 text on coins, shows an update on or after 1 November 2026 and is not about Category 2; of the 12 rows with Category 2 in the title, none is dated after the Legal Notice of 22 June 2026 on the Category 2 rules); the first four pages of the Government of Gibraltar press release list (40 titles, dated 23 October to 6 November 2026, none with Category 2 in the title); the Government of Gibraltar website’s own search for “Category 2” (371 results; the titles and summaries of the first 10 were read: pages of the Income Tax Office, Finance Centre statistics and two unrelated pages, and none is a law or legal notice); the Income Tax Office page titled Qualifying Individuals, which gives no net wealth figure; and three web searches, whose result lists showed adviser and news pages repeating the announced figure and no notice setting the net wealth figure (these pages were not opened and are not relied on). Earlier, on 1 November 2026, three web searches (one not limited to any site and two limited to the Gibraltar Government, Gibraltar Laws and Gibraltar Parliament sites) found the Government press release announcing the figure and the Legal Notice of 22 June 2026, which changes only the fee (we read the notice in full), and no law or guidance setting the net wealth figure. Not searched on 7 November 2026: Gibraltar Parliament papers, Spanish sources and adviser pages (no page of any of them was opened).