Home Secretary takes to Twitter to announce closure of Tier 1 Investor visa
Home Secretary Priti Patel has today announced that the Tier 1 Investor visa route has been closed.
Image credit: UK GovernmentThe Home Secretary posted on Twitter this afternoon: "I've closed the Tier 1 Investor visa with immediate effect following our review of all those granted."
In a Home Office statement, Patel said: "I have zero tolerance for abuse of our 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. Closing this route is just the start of our renewed crackdown on fraud and illicit finance. We will be publishing a fraud action plan, while the forthcoming Economic Crime Bill will crackdown on people abusing our financial institutions and better protect the taxpayer."
Updated Home Office guidance now states: "From 16:00 GMT on 17th February 2022 the Tier 1 (Investor) Migrant route is closed to new initial applications for entry clearance or leave to remain. If you make such an application after this date and time it will be void and not considered. This includes no longer being able to switch into this route from other routes."
A 12-page statement of changes to the Immigration Rules (CP 632) was published this afternoon, which you can download here.
The accompanying explanatory memorandum explains why the decision was made to close the route with immediate effect.
It states: "The Government considers this departure from that convention to be necessary and proportionate for reasons of national security and the operation of the immigration system, and to be consistent with the purpose of the closure of the Tier 1 (Investor) route to new applicants. It is anticipated that closure of the route with 21-days' notice, or less, would trigger a 'closing down sale' effect, involving a very substantial upturn in application levels in advance of closure. It is, moreover, anticipated that this effect would be most likely to feature a high proportion of applications from individuals that represent some degree of potential harm. A similar 'closing down sale' effect was triggered by anticipated reforms in the wake of a Migration Advisory Committee report in 2014."
News of the plan to scrap the visa route was first reported by The Sun on Tuesday.
The Times reported yesterday that the visa would be scrapped to stop the flow of criminal money into the UK, in particular from Russia.
The Times stated: "The Home Secretary has decided to close the route because of 'long-standing concerns' over abuse of the scheme by criminal groups and the super-rich from several countries, including Russia, China and Kazakhstan."
BBC News reported that the announcement of the closure of the scheme had been expected next week amid pressure on ministers to cut UK ties to Russia due to the build-up of Russian forces near the border of Ukraine.
The Home Office explained today: "The Tier 1 (Investor) Migrant route is being closed to new applications because the Government considers the economic benefit of the route to the United Kingdom to be small, and because any economic benefit that does accrue to the United Kingdom from the operation of the route is not sufficient to mitigate longstanding concerns that the route has been vulnerable to exploitation by those seeking to transfer illicitly obtained wealth to the United Kingdom and by those accessing complex investment schemes apparently in order to circumvent the genuine investment requirements of the route. […] While there have been reforms to the route aimed at reducing this exposure, including a requirement that funds relied upon for the purposes of applications under the route are the subject of due diligence by UK banks, it is not judged that these are sufficient to address the risk of the route being used to transfer illicitly obtained wealth."
Spotlight on Corruption reported in a briefing published last July that half of all Tier 1 Investor visas issued were being reviewed by the Home Office for potential national security risks.
Following the closure of the route, the Home Office says it will be reforming the Innovator route, with settlement to now be conditional on applicants executing an investment strategy that can show genuine job creation and other tangible economic impacts. Passively holding UK investments will no longer be enough to obtain settlement, the Home Office statement added.