UK cancels ‘golden visas’ program over concerns of illicit money and fraud

The British government on Thursday announced that it was canceling its Tier 1 Investor visa program, also referred to as the “golden visa,” over concerns that it may be enabling fraud and illicit finance.

“The Home Secretary has taken decisive action to shut the Tier 1 Investor visa route to all new applicants from all nationalities with immediate effect,” the U.K.’s Home Office said. “While work has been done to reform the route in order to prevent abuse, the Home Office has acted to close it today.”

The visa allowed individuals and their families to temporarily reside in the U.K. if they invested at least 2 million pounds, the equivalent of roughly $2.72 million, into the country.

British Home Secretary Priti Patel said that by closing down the Tier 1 visa program, she hopes British citizens can have confidence in the country’s immigration system.

“Closing this route is just the start of our renewed crackdown on fraud and illicit finance,” she said. “We will be publishing a fraud action plan, while the forthcoming Economic Crime Bill will crackdown on people abusing our financial institutions and better protect the taxpayer.”

As the BBC reported, this decision was expected to occur as pressure has grown for the British government to cut off ties with Russia. The outlet noted that 2,581 investor visas are believed to have been issued to Russian citizens since the program began in 2008.

British Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said, “For years the Conservatives failed to stamp out the influence of Russian money in the U.K.” and added that it had “taken international condemnation of our failures… for the home secretary to act.”