The number of wealthy foreign investors applying for visas to enter the UK has dropped significantly in the first nine months of 2015.
In that period, there were 136 applications for special investor visas. During the same period in 2014, there had been 780 applications.
The visa is for residents of countries outside the European Economic Area who are able to invest more than £2 million in the UK.
Until November last year the investment sum required had been £1 million.
The higher threshold excludes investment in property investment firms, property management or property development.
Since the scheme began in 2009, applications had been rising steadily going from 180 at the outset to 1,290 in 2014.
With the doubling of the entrance fee has come the dramatic drop in applications.
The drop has been particularly noticeable from citizens of Russia and China, countries which are both experiencing their own economic concerns.
More probing criminal checks have been put in place which could be another factor behind the drop.
Competition from other countries, such as Portugal, Spain and Malta, may have led potential applicants to look outside the UK for countries from which to obtain EU visas and eventually EU passports.
Of the more than 3,000 applications since the scheme began, people from China made up 37%, followed by Russians (20%). Just over 91% of applications were approved, 8% were rejected and the rest were withdrawn or lapsed.
Comments
Why go for the more stringent police checks of the UK when you can get in through the backdoor in countries like Portugal ? And the UK mistakenly thinks that the criminality checks have already been done. That was part of my old job.
Isn't this what unravelled The Portuguese Golden Visa's - other more developed countries EU kicking off at the number of bandits being slipped into them?