UK closes Tier 1 Investor visa to new applicants over security concerns

The UK on Thursday (local time) closed Tier 1 Investor visa route to all new applicants from all nationalities with immediate effect over security concerns.

Home Office took the action as the route failed to deliver for the UK people and gave opportunities for corrupt elites to access the UK.

UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel took decisive action with immediate effect. "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," said Patel.

"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 crack down on people abusing our financial institutions and better protect the taxpayer," she added.

The route had allowed entry and stay in the UK if an applicant invested funds in share capital or loan capital in active and trading UK registered companies, read Home Office statement.

It has been under constant review and some cases had given rise to security concerns, including people acquiring their wealth illegitimately and being associated with wider corruption.

The settlement will 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 introduction of the points-based immigration system has allowed us to target investors we want in the country. Improvements will be made to the Innovator visa route to support this.

This demonstrates the government's 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, added the statement.