UK golden visa should be abolished says House of Lords peer

House of Lords peer, Lord Wallace of Saltaire, has called for the so-called UK golden visa to be scrapped. Wallace has tabled an amendment to a bill, which is currently passing through parliament, that seeks to abolish the UK Tier 1 investor visa (golden visa) over fears that it is facilitating money laundering and corruption.

Interest in the UK Tier 1 investor visa has increased following a slump amid the coronavirus pandemic. However, in recent years, high-profile cases of money laundering and other abuses of the investor visa scheme have tarnished its reputation. 

The visa route was launched in 2008 and has attracted a number of international high-net-worth individuals from China, India and Russia in recent years. It was dubbed the ‘golden visa’ given that it’s effectively a way for wealthy individuals to ‘buy their way into Britain’ and benefit from an easier pathway to UK citizenship.

Swifter application process 

To secure an investor visa, applicants have to invest a minimum of £2 million in the UK and a decision on a visa application will be made within three weeks. Those eligible for the visa can settle in the UK after five years. If a wealthy individual invests £10 million in Britain, they can apply for UK permanent residency after two years.

Lord Wallace has proposed an amendment to the UK Nationality and Borders Bill, which is currently at the committee stage in the House of Lords. 

His amendment calls on the ‘cash-for-residency’ visa route to be suspended until a review of investor visas granted between June 2008 and April 2015 is published or until the route is closed permanently to new applicants. 

Lord Wallace of Saltaire said: “I’m concerned about foreign influence and political party donations by the recipients of such visas and the ‘importation of corruption’ from countries like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia.”

Amendment debated

Wallace’s amendment will be debated at the committee stage in the House of Lords and then at the report stage, amendments with the most support at the committee stage will be voted on. Amendments that are approved will then be sent back to the House of Commons.

A report published by Transparency International UK back in October 2015 revealed that it was ‘highly likely that substantial amounts of corrupt wealth stolen from China and Russia have been laundered into Britain through the UK investor visa scheme.

During a recent House of Lords debate, Lord Wallace of Saltaire described the UK immigration route as a ‘shameful visa programme’ that ‘allows wealthy people from dodgy nations to buy the right to live in Britain and, after a period of residence, become eligible for UK citizenship.

He said: “It has been reported that more than 6,000 golden visas, half of those yet issued, are being reviewed for possible national security risks, although those who applied in earlier years will have now secured UK citizenship.”

“Two court of appeal judgements in the last year have thrown up questions about the regulation of this visa scheme and the sources of the finance pledged by applicants. In four of the National Crime Agency’s major cases about illicit finance and unexplained wealth orders in the last two years, those under investigation originally entered the UK with a golden visa,” Lord Saltaire added.

A report on Russia by the UK’s Intelligence and Security Committee, published back in July 2020, called for an overhaul of the Tier 1 investor visa route, warning that it was giving Russian oligarchs a means of laundering money through London.

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