A surge in the number of immigrant applicants for UK Tier-1 Investor Visa

With the changes to Immigrant Investor Visa, UK has become a popular investment opportunity. The visa has seen changes to the US $1 million EB-5 immigrant investor visa. The number of immigrants has seen an increase of 46 percent in 2017.

Prominent investors in the UK including Chelsea Football owner Roman Abramovich had visa delay issues. This was because the British Government instructed to inquire the immigration status of various rich immigrants. Due to the delay, he moved to Israel.

However, 405 HNW and UNHW foreigners applied for UK Tier-1 visa between March 2016 and 2017. The special visa program lets people stay in Britain for three years. However, they must invest £2 million in the UK, as quoted by the Guardian.

Out of the total applications received, 123 of them were by Chinese citizens. In 2016, 98 Chinese citizens had applied for the visa. However, now the number has risen to 123. The number of applications has increased from 34 to 52 by the Russians and from 13 to 24 by the Turkish nationals.

The main factors that attract immigrants to the UK are financial and investment opportunities, cultural appeal, and the education system. Due to political issues in the US, the UK’s stock market is going high. While the records show that the number of applications is increasing, the Roman Abramovich issue has created financial problems in the UK. Since then, Mr. Abramovich has obtained Israeli citizenship.

The UK government has been strict towards the wealthy Russians holding the Tier-1 investor visa since March. Due to that, the Russian tycoons must prove their wealth. Lord Hain, the former Labour Cabinet Minister, and a Chelsea fan said that the UK government has been clumsy with the issue. He said that the government should focus on Vladimir Putin and not Chelsea. If similar issues occur to other wealthy persons, there can be a potential loss in the UK investment.

Y-Axis offers a wide range of Visa and Immigration products as well as services for aspiring overseas immigrants including Student Visa for UK, Work Visa for UK, and Business Visa for UK.

If you are looking to Study, Work, Visit, Invest or Migrate to the UK, talk to Y-Axis, the World’s No.1 Immigration & Visa Consultants.

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