Britain tightens rules for issuing golden visas

In the UK, tougher rules for issuing investment visas (Tier 1) come into force in April, writes the Financial Times. Potential applicants will now be required to prove that they have owned the money they want to invest in the economy for at least two years before applying instead of the previous three months. Investment visas have been a popular way of obtaining citizenship for immigrants from Russia and China.

What is a Tier 1 visa? Investment visas, or "golden" visas, are a way to quickly obtain a residence permit in the UK in exchange for investments in the millions. Tier 1 allows its holder and his family members to live and do business in the UK for up to 3 years and 4 months. After that, the visa is extended for 2 years. After 2-5 years after receiving (depending on the amount of money invested), it allows you to obtain a residence permit.

Current rules. Now, in order to obtain an investment visa, you need to invest in the British economy (for example, in a business in the country, government bonds, securities or local real estate) from £2 million to £10 million. At the same time, candidates must provide proof that they disposed of this amount on for at least 90 days.

What will change. Under the new rules, candidates will have to have at least £2 million in cash for at least two years. Also, it will now be possible to invest money only in British business. Government bonds are excluded from the number of investment instruments for obtaining Tier 1.

These are looser rules than previously proposed, Duncan Haymes, director of Britain's Transparency International, told the FT. For example, the final version did not include a clause on the verification by an independent organization of the status of 3,000 persons who were issued investment visas before 2015.
British authorities are still discussing checking the sources of funds of wealthy residents, sources in the British Home Office told the newspaper.
But the rules for issuing two other visas - for the founders of startups and entrepreneurs - will be relaxed. The first will be available to all aspiring entrepreneurs, not just recent university graduates. They will also have more time—two years instead of one—to successfully launch a business before applying for the next visa. And to obtain an entrepreneurial visa, you will need to invest at least £50,000 in your business instead of the current £200,000. Business experts and relevant organizations, and not the UK Home Office, will make the decision on issuing visas to start-ups and entrepreneurs.

Context. In March 2018, after the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, the British authorities announced that they would check the legality of issuing investment visas to 700 Russians obtained in 2008-2015. The timeframe for processing Russian applications for Tier 1 doubled . In May, just such a visa was not renewed for Roman Abramovich, who eventually decided to withdraw his application and received an Israeli passport instead of a British visa.

Over the past year, due to tensions between the two countries, the number of Russians who received a Tier 1 visa has significantly decreased, from 46 in 2017 to 29 in 2018. This is the lowest rate since the introduction of this visa in 2008.

Liana Faizova