UK Abolishes Its Golden Visa Program

The United Kingdom’s government has decided to put an end to its Tier 1 investor visa, known as the Golden Visa, which permitted wealthy internationals to obtain permanent residence in Britain, provided they made a minimum investment of £2 million.

The program, which was launched in 2008, was often criticized for being involved in illicit affairs, VisaGuide.World reports.

In this regard, the Home Secretary of the United Kingdom, Priti Patel, has stressed that she has zero tolerance for abuse of the UK’s immigration system.

“Under my New Plan for Immigration, I want to ensure the British people have confidence in the system, including stopping corrupt elites who threaten our national security and push dirty money around our cities,” Patel pointed out in this regard.

She stressed that this route is the beginning of the renewed crackdown on fraud and unlawful finance.

“We will be publishing a fraud action plan, while the forthcoming Economic Crime Bill will crack down on people abusing our financial institutions and better protect the taxpayer,” the Home Secretary stressed.

Since it was launched in 2008, the UK’s Golden visa has attracted many international investors. According to local media in the UK, more than 13,000 Tier 1 investor visas have been issued up to this point.

Internationals were required to invest a minimum of £2 million in Britain in order to fill in an application, which then could lead them to permanent residency after five years if the applicant met the required conditions.

In addition, if the international investor invested £5 million, it could obtain permanent residence after three years. If the investment was more than £10 million, the applicant could obtain a residency permit for one year.

However, authorities in the UK have offered other alternatives for wealthy internationals, including the following:

• Innovator visa – permits internationals to initiate a new business in Britain that delivers new services or products to the country’s market. Such a program is projected for three years; however, it can be extended for an additional period of three years.
• Global talent visa – is designed for internationals engaged in specific fields such as arts, culture, or digital technologies.
• Scale Up visa – even though such a program has not been launched yet, it aims to help the UK start-up stage business employ highly skilled migrants, as reported by Mondaq.

Besides the UK, other European countries are also famous for their golden visa programs, including Greece, Portugal, Spain, Austria, despite the fact that such programs are often included in money laundering, corruption, and other unlawful affairs.