The UK Investor visa scheme, which enable HNWs’ to live in the UK, have existed since 1994.
Between 2008 and 2015 Q1, UK has approved 3,002 tier1 investor visas on blind faith with minimal check on applicants source of wealth.
During the period applicants were required to invest £1m, were given visas before they opened a UK bank account. In Oct 2014, the Home office increased the investment threshold from £1m to £2m
The Home Office reformed the programme in April 2015 requiring all the applicants to open a bank account and were required to provide clean criminal records. Bank clients were subjected to due diligence and compliance checks on source of money.
| Quarter | Tier 1 Investors (Main apps) |
| 2008 Q3 | 19 |
| 2008 Q4 | 24 |
| 2009 Q1 | 31 |
| 2009 Q2 | 32 |
| 2009 Q3 | 53 |
| 2009 Q4 | 37 |
| 2010 Q1 | 49 |
| 2010 Q2 | 41 |
| 2010 Q3 | 60 |
| 2010 Q4 | 61 |
| 2011 Q1 | 44 |
| 2011 Q2 | 70 |
| 2011 Q3 | 126 |
| 2011 Q4 | 91 |
| 2012 Q1 | 100 |
| 2012 Q2 | 102 |
| 2012 Q3 | 147 |
| 2012 Q4 | 121 |
| 2013 Q1 | 105 |
| 2013 Q2 | 156 |
| 2013 Q3 | 176 |
| 2013 Q4 | 128 |
| 2014 Q1 | 213 |
| 2014 Q2 | 251 |
| 2014 Q3 | 237 |
| 2014 Q4 | 471 |
| 2015 Q1 | 57 |
| Total | 3002 |
During the same period large number of Russians and Chinese main applicants invested in High value UK investor visas
- China – 1040
- Russia – 695
- USA – 148
- Hong Kong – 75
- Canada – 64
- Pakistan – 61
- India – 60
The UK government in 2018 pledged to crack down on ‘illicit and corrupt’ wealth in the UK, and announced in March that Russians who had obtained permanent UK residency through investor visas would have their files subjected to review.
A Home Office said the scheme had also been ‘tightened up’ which included new powers to refuse applications where there are reasonable grounds to believe funds have been obtained unlawfully.’
The Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) was Incorporated into UK law in January 2018 as part of the Criminal Finances Act 2017, an UWO is a type of court order issued by a British court to compel someone to reveal the sources of their unexplained wealth. A UWO is a new power which has been designed to target suspected corrupt foreign officials who have potentially laundered stolen money through the UK.
The UK Government is may further tighten the visa requirements after the formal Brexit deadline next March.
