EU and UK citizenship comes to the fore in wake of #Brexit

UK citizenship is a thorny issue. Negotiations are currently ongoing about the rights of EU citizens in the UK after Brexit amid countless media stories. Expats living abroad are struggling to attain rightful British passports for their families. A scandal erupted last year when a Home Office error brought about the cancellation of the rightful citizenship of tens of immigrants of West Indian origin which resulted in their deportation, writes Joshua V. Leonard, a Riga-based analyst focusing upon British-Russian relations and the European energy security.

Citizenship struggles are part and parcel of life. Except, it appears, for the super-rich.

Contrary to the trials endured by many, individuals with significant net worth are eligible for a hassle- free route to a new, British, nationality. The majority come from the upper echelons of power in some of the world‘s most opaque economies. While most applicants with previous convictions are advised not to bother applying , this group is actively welcomed into the country with minimal of Home Office checks, regardless of their criminal record.

All they have had to do is pay for it.

Christened the “golden visa”, the UK’s Tier-1 investor visa was introduced in 2008 as one of a number of initiatives to rejuvenate the country’s economy after the financial crisis. Aimed at encouraging wealthy foreign investors to bring their families and their money to the UK, the visa provides a route to citizenship in return for investment in Britain. Applicants commit to invest over £1 million into UK government bonds, share capital or loan capital in active UK companies; this figure rose to £2m in November 2014. This investment allows these individuals to achieve  ‘Indefinite Leave to Remain’ status after five years, and citizenship after six. Accelerated options include investing £5m for three years, or £10m for two.

On the surface, the scheme has been successful. It has been calculated that 12,000 people have come to the UK on a Tier1 investor visa since its inception. The majority of these, over 7,500, were dependent family members. This would entail over £9 billion in investments in the UK economy by foreign nationals as a direct result.

The intention of the Tier 1 Visa is clear- give us your money and we will give you a home.

But at what cost?

There is no publicly accessible list of those that have entered the UK on a golden visa. However, the figures do show that the majority of applicants have come from China, Russia and India, countries that sit 87^th, 138^th and 78^th respectively in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index. An investigation by British newspaper The Times has showed several specialist law firms offering routes to citizenship to a Hong-Kong based executive seeking to “hide the full picture underlying their wealth”. The firms described how techniques could be used to evade minimal Home Office checks on criminal history and sources of wealth.

The executive happened to be an undercover reporter.

Reported criminal cases  shine a light into how a number of high-ranking individuals have used the golden visa to hide themselves, their assets and possibly their criminal past in the UK. A well-publicized example is that of Indian national Nirav Modi, who was arrested in London in May 2019. He is accused of defrauding of the Punjabi National Bank of over £100m by faking documents to access credit, allowing him to import jewels. He had reportedly been a fugitive from Indian justice since January 2018.  He entered the UK on a Tier 1 visa.

Russian tycoon Vladimir Makhlai was granted an investor visa having originally arrived in the UK in 2005. It is believed he currently resides in Knightsbridge even though he’s reportedly wanted for questioning in Russia where, according to media reports, he's accused of embezzling millions of dollars during his time of owner of an ammonia plant. He has been reportedly sentenced in absentia to nine years in prison. He strongly refutes the allegations and denies any wrongdoing.

Other individuals the UK has welcomed to its shores have included the son of Kazakh national Mukhtar Ablyazov, members of the Gaddafi family, and Zamira Hajiyeva, the Azerbaijani subject of the UK’s first ever Unexplained Wealth.

All have been investigated but, it is argued, because they possess the means to pay for an investor visa, the UK chooses to overlook their past. Although it is predicted that 2020 will see further “scrutiny” of the scheme by the government, in reality little is likely to change.