MAC publishes new report on Tier 1 (Investor) visas and expresses "healthy scepticism concerning the benefits normally asserted"
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), which provides independent and evidence-based advice to the Government on migration issues, has issued a new report examining the Tier 1 (Investor) route.
You can read the full 108-page report here.
MAC was commissioned by the Immigration Minister last year to advise on whether the current investment limits required under the Tier 1 (Investor) route are appropriate to deliver significant economic benefits for the UK.
The Tier 1 (Investor) route allows high-net-worth individuals to obtain a visa to enter or remain in the UK if they can invest £1,000,000.
In the report, MAC concludes: "We are sceptical that the route, as currently constituted, does deliver significant economic benefits, though recognise that there is some gain to UK residents."
MAC says the favourable economic impacts of the Tier 1 (Investor) route are "typically exaggerated" and it says the £1 million investment threshold is probably too low, having not been raised since 1994. MAC recommends that the threshold be increased to £2 million.
"In this report the Migration Advisory Committee is not stating that there is little or no gain to UK residents from the investor route. Rather, we express some healthy scepticism concerning the benefits normally asserted," MAC's Chaiman, Professor Sir David Metcalf, writes.