Review of 'golden visas' finds risk of links to corruption among wealthy investors

A review of so-called "golden visas" has found a "small" number of foreign investors were "potentially at high risk" of having links to corruption or organised crime.

The findings were set out by the home secretary after the government shut down Tier 1 investor visas last year.

The fast-track scheme was introduced in 2008 to encourage wealthy people from outside the EU to invest in the UK.

Prior to being shut, there had been concerns the scheme was open to abuse.

The government halted the scheme in February 2022 saying it had "failed to deliver for the UK people and gave opportunities for corrupt elites to access the UK".

At the time, Labour's shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the Conservatives had "failed to stamp out the influence of Russian money in the UK".

As far back as 2020, Parliament's intelligence and security committee had argued for a "more robust" approach to approving Tier 1 investor visas as part of a report on Russian influence in the UK.

The Tier 1 investor visa offered residency to those investing £2m or more in the UK, and allowed their families to join them.

Holders of these visas could then apply for permanent residency in the UK, at a speed depending on how much they invested.

A £2m investment allowed an application within five years, shortened to three years with £5m or two years if £10m was invested.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said in a written statement to Parliament that the home office had looked at 6,312 Tier 1 investor migrants and adult dependants who had obtained leave to remain between 2008 and 2015.

She said each case was reviewed for "potential links to criminality or other risk factors". Officials also considered wider risks in the design of and implementation of the scheme, and the overall economic benefit of the route.

"The review of cases identified a small minority of individuals connected to the Tier 1 investor visa route that were potentially at high risk of having obtained wealth through corruption or other illicit financial activity, and/or being engaged in serious and organised crime."

In response, the Liberal Democrats said the move "stinks of a cover-up" as the government had not published the actual review into Tier 1 visas, just a statement on it.

"We need to know to what extent the government let Kremlin-linked oligarchs treat this country as their playground.

"If the Conservatives have nothing to hide, then they will have nothing to fear. The review must be published in full, right away," said Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesperson Layla Moran.