A recent report by the UK's Home Affairs Select Committee, a committee of the House of Commons, that recommended a suspension of the Tier 1 visa route, has been criticised for having “a clear lack of understanding” of UK immigration and citizenship law by international law firm Withers.

A recent report by the UK's Home Affairs Select Committee, a committee of the House of Commons, that recommended a suspension of the Tier 1 visa route, has been criticised for  having “a clear lack of understanding” of UK immigration and citizenship law by international law firm Withers.

Withers said that the recommendation in the report on the immigration directorates, published last Friday, was not based on any evidence of abuse and tapped into the current political disquiet with the issue of immigration and the “citizenship for sale” policies of several European countries.

The recommendation by the Home Affairs Select Committee follows a recent report which discussed the Tier 1 visa route by the Migration Advisory Committee, an independent body chaired by London School of Economics professor Sir David Metcalf.

“The committee was alarmed by Sir David Metcalf’s admission about the purchase of gilts for citizenship. The current evidence suggests that there appears to be very little benefit. While the Government considers the options for a system more beneficial to the UK, as outlined in the MAC report, we recommend the Home Office suspend the Tier 1 visa route,” the Home Affairs Select Committee report said.

Tier 1 visas enable high net worth individuals to get a visa by either investing £1 million ($1.65 million) of their own money in the UK, with 75 per cent of these funds invested in government bonds or loan or share capital in UK registered trading companies.

Withers warned that any such suspension could be introduced with no notice and that migrants intending to use this visa route needed to act quickly if they wished to if they wished to use the Tier 1 Visa route while still available in its current form.

“I think it is unlikely the government will accept this invitation, but we can't discount it completely. We have to live under the shadow of the select committee's recommendation until the government responds. The convention is that the government must respond within two months of publication. But populist pressures may require a quicker response," said Philip Barth, head of UK Immigration at Withers.

“However, this recommendation is unnecessarily alarmist. Suspension of a visa route is usually only used in the face of suspected abuse and there has never been a hint of any abuse associated with this visa route, merely a suggestion that it may not be of as much direct benefit to the UK as had generally been presumed. What is clear is that the Tier 1 visa route is 'in play' at a political level and it is extremely likely that changes will happen. Anyone seriously considering relocating to the UK under the route should take action now,” he added.