The number that gets quoted is 5 million. The number that will actually stop you is 6 October 2025, which is the day Gibraltar suspended new residency applications from UK and EEA nationals and did not lift the suspension. Category 2 applications can still be considered where they serve Gibraltar's economic interest. That is a discretion, not a right, and it is the single most important thing on this page. Here is what changed in June 2026, what it costs, what the Rules actually require, and the step that catches nearly everybody out, which has nothing to do with your net worth. This is not tax or immigration advice. It is a plain reading of published material, with links so you can check every figure yourself before you spend anything. On 18 June 2026 the Government of Gibraltar [announced changes to the Category 2 regime](https://www.gibraltar.gov.gi/press-releases/government-announces-changes-to-category-2-regime-4692026-12107). The minimum net wealth requirement for new applicants goes from 2 million to 5 million pounds. The application fee goes from 1,233 pounds to 5,000. Existing Category 2 individuals are, in the government's own words, fully grandfathered, and are not affected by the revised threshold. Two further points in that announcement matter more than the headline. The government reaffirmed that Category 2 status does not confer entitlement to publicly funded schooling or healthcare. And it stated that a person who does not maintain Category 2 status has no right to continue to be resident in Gibraltar. Status and residence are tied together. Now the correction, because a lot of commentary gets this wrong. You will read that the change has not been passed by Parliament yet. Category 2 thresholds do not sit in an Act of Parliament. They sit in the Qualifying (Category 2) Individuals Rules 2004, which are subsidiary legislation. The [official consolidated Rules](https://www.gibraltarlaws.gov.gi/legislations/qualifying-category-2-individuals-rules-2004-682) list an amendment, legal notice 2026/127, dated 22 June 2026, and show the current version of the Rules as of that date. That is four days after the announcement. We will be straight about the limit of what we checked. We confirmed the amending Rules exist, their legal notice number and their date. We could not machine read the consolidated text to confirm which words changed. So do not take the 5 million figure from this page, or from any other page, as the operative one on the day you apply. Open the consolidated Rules at the link above, or ask the Finance Centre, and read the current number. |Item|Before 18 June 2026|After| |Minimum net wealth, new applicants|2 million pounds|5 million pounds| |Application fee|1,233 pounds|5,000 pounds| |Existing status holders|Not applicable|Fully grandfathered| |Publicly funded school and healthcare|Not an entitlement|Restated as not an entitlement| |Residence if status lapses|Tied to status|Restated as tied to status| It is a tax cap, not a passport. For the 2025/26 year of assessment a Category 2 individual is taxed on the first 118,000 pounds of assessable income only. The minimum tax payable is 37,000 pounds a year, or 3,083.33 for each complete or part month the certificate is in force. The maximum is 42,380 pounds. Read that carefully, because the minimum is the part people miss. If your Gibraltar assessable income is small, you still pay 37,000 pounds. Category 2 is not a way to pay less tax on a modest income. It is a ceiling for people whose income would otherwise produce a far larger bill. The arithmetic that decides whether it is worth it is simple. Work out what you would pay where you are now on the same income. If the answer is comfortably above 42,380 pounds a year, the cap does something for you. If it is near or below 37,000, it costs you money. |What it is|What it is not| |A cap on Gibraltar tax at 42,380 pounds for 2025/26|A zero tax arrangement| |A floor of 37,000 pounds a year, payable regardless|A cheap option for modest incomes| |A basis for residence while the status is maintained|Permanent residence or citizenship| |Available to those with the required net wealth|An entitlement, even if you qualify on wealth| You cannot hold Category 2 status without approved residential accommodation in Gibraltar, available for the exclusive use of you and your family for the whole year, and not let to anybody else. The Finance Centre Director checks that the property is appropriate to your family size and circumstances. It can be bought or rented. That requirement is the bottleneck, and it runs the opposite way to how people plan. The instinct is to secure the status first and sort out where to live afterwards. You cannot. The accommodation has to be in place as part of the application, which means you are committing to a Gibraltar property, in a market covering under seven square kilometres of territory, before you know whether your application succeeds. There is a related trap worth naming, a