No more investors! The UK has closed down this immigration route

by UK Immigration Law Firm in India

Published on: 18th Feb 2022
Reading time: Approx 4 mins

In this audio, Our Director, Mr. Hemang Laaheru explains the current scenario of UK investor visa and what are the impact of its clousure.

The UK Tier 1 Investor visa route is shut to all new applicants from all nationalities with immediate effect, according to the Home Secretary’s decisive action!

The route was for applicants looking to invest in the UK through funds in share capital or loan capital in active and trading UK registered companies.

However, the UK Home Office observed some cases giving rise to security concerns and had been under constant review, including people acquiring their investment funds illegitimately and being associated with wider corruption.

The Home Office has acted by closing the route today, to prevent abuse. The government is demonstrating the new plan for immigration, in action – “being firm against those wanting to abuse the immigration system while those who want to come to the UK and play by the rules will have that opportunity” as per the UK government’s website

The UK Home Office will make reforms to the route and introduce a part of the new points-based immigration system with an aim to provide an investment route that works more effectively in support of the UK’s economy.

The UK Home Office will publish the findings of a review, that looked at all Tier 1 Investor visas granted from when the scheme was launched in 2008 up to 5th April 2015.

To quote the Home Secretary Priti Patel’s words-

“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.”

In this video, Our director Mr. Hemang Laaheru explains the sudden closing down of the route and
how it impacts potential applicants!

Since the points-based immigration system allows target investors, the reforms will see improvements to support this.

Passively holding UK investments will no longer be enough to obtain settlement. It is likely that the modified or new route for investors looking for settlement will be conditional and based on applicants executing an investment strategy that can prove genuine job creation and other tangible economic impacts.

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