Investor visa proposed by Labour-aligned think tank
Investor visas should be offered to 100 applicants each year, who would offer £3m in an upfront cash injection in return for residency rights in the UK, a think tank favoured by Labour has said.
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), which has had a number of policy recommendations adopted by Labour, said the government should create a ‘British Business Investment Visa (BBIV)’ to attract around £425m in investment each year.
The think tank estimated the investment could add £900m to the UK economy each year and support around 4,000 jobs.
The funds would be managed by the British Business Bank, according to researchers, to ensure that “capital is directed towards sectors where it can have the greatest impact”.
Tory officials closed the previous “tier 1” investor visa in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine over concerns it had allowed Russian oligarchs to threaten national security and “push dirty money around our cities”. Prospective investors from Russia would be banned while other applicants would face security checks by the Home Office.
A new investor visa scheme has been on the cards over the last four years, with advisory companies bidding for a government contract to create an “innovator business angel visa”.
One Home Office contractor, Envestors, argued that its scheme would be “dramatically beneficial” for the UK economy but government officials have declined to create a new scheme.
Business secretary Peter Kule has pushed for a scheme to be introduced despite some resistance from the Treasury and Home Office, the Financial Times reported recently.
Under the IPPR’s proposed scheme, applicants would not get tax relief as offered by the previous non-domicile regime, which was fully scrapped by Rachel Reeves in her first Budget, nor special settled status rights. Home secretary Shabana Mahmood has already announced that higher rate taxpayers will be able to qualify for settled status in the UK in three years compared to 10 years for most migrants.
Investor visa to bring only ‘below market rate’ returns
According to researchers, investors would benefit from gains on assets although returns would be expected to be “below market rates”. IPPR analysts said this would ensure that the visa is more attractive to the Treasury as capital could otherwise be raised from borrowing or commercial banks.
Investors would also have to stick to minimum holding periods or accept staged withdrawal restrictions on their investments while cash would be funnelled towards high growth sectors outlined in the government’s industrial strategy, such as defence and creative industries, researchers said.
The IPPR’s report said the investor visa would be attractive for wealthy migrants looking for a better quality of life in Britain. Immigration law firms argued that current visa routes for high net worth individuals were inappropriate given it tied wealthy investors to single employers and creating businesses.
“A new British business investment visa would aim to channel funds from overseas applicants into innovative businesses looking to scale up, in order to support economic growth and jobs across the UK,” Marley Morris, director for migration and trade at IPPR, said.
“Our proposal would address the weaknesses of the UK’s former investor visa by ensuring investments are deployed in innovative and strategically important sectors, while putting in place robust safeguards to prevent abuse.”