In this commentary from a legal expert, the authors lays out why, if a new residency-based system to attract HNW individuals to the UK is to work, it must be in sync with a new investor visa regime.

The ways in which the UK might be able to win back its status as a friendly jurisdiction for HNW individuals, foreign and domestic, and widen the tax base and boost growth, are key topics. Consequently, we decided that the following article deserves to be our “opinion of the week.”

Zoe Jacob, head of immigration at law firm Boodle Hatfield argues that introducing an investor visa route could well be the saving grace of the government’s immigration proposals, because it could attract much-needed foreign investment and ultra-high net worth people to the UK. It was recently reported that the Starmer administration is considering a programme for foreigners who invest significant sums in the country.

Controversial, citizenship/residency-by-investment programmes have been implemented, and sometimes been retired, in dozens of jurisdictions. US President Donald Trump plans to introduce a “golden card” visa open to those who pay $5 million as a route to citizenship. In late April, by contrast, the European Union's top court condemned Malta for allegedly commercialising citizenship, a position that could cast a shadow over other programmes in the EU bloc. Jacob warns that the UK’s new foreign income and gains (FIG) regime will only attract HNW individuals if there is a visa route to match it. Immigration must be considered as a central pillar of economic growth strategy, she says. The stakes are high: tens of thousands of resident non-domiciled individuals have left the UK, shrinking the tax base.

The editors are pleased to share these views; the usual editorial disclaimers apply. To respond, email tom.burroughes@wealthbriefing.com and amanda.cheesley@clearviewpublishing.com

On 15 May 2025, Bloomberg UK reported that the UK government was planning to introduce a new investor visa category for high net worth individuals "willing to fund strategically important industries such as AI, clean energy and life sciences."

This is welcome news for those with globally mobile high net worth clients, as the UK immigration system has been without a visa predicated on investment since 17 February 2022 when the Tier 1 (Investor) visa route was closed to new entrants, without notice. 

The closure of the Tier (Investor) visa category left a lacuna in the immigration system for those who wish to come to the UK to invest rather than work. With other countries including Italy, Dubai and Portugal, actively promoting their visa by investment schemes, this led to some high net worth individuals, who would otherwise have relocated to the UK, choosing other jurisdictions as their base. As a consequence, the UK has missed out on valuable inward investment. 

The timing of reports of a new investor visa category are not coincidental. The government's white paper on immigration, published on 12 May 2025, was noticeably silent on a visa based on investment, despite its clear focus on ensuring that "the very highly skilled have opportunities to come to the UK and access targeted routes for the brightest and best global talent." 

This led many, including myself, to comment that a new investor visa category is an essential part of any economically beneficial immigration system, and must be introduced alongside other changes. A well drafted investor visa route, which ensures investment in the industries the government has identified as target areas for growth – which includes AI and life sciences – would go some way to lessening the potentially economically disastrous impact of the white paper's proposals to cut off the supply of much-needed migrant labour to the UK, as investment could be directed towards upskilling the domestic labour force. 

Another key contributor to the timing of the Bloomberg report is the significant tax changes for foreign nationals relocating to the UK, introduced on 5 April 2025, which marked the end of the “non-dom regime." In place of the “non-dom regime” the government has introduced the Foreign Income and Gains (FIG) Regime, which exempts individuals, who have been non-resident in the UK for a least 10 years, from paying tax on any FIG during their first four years of UK tax residency. 

Effectively the scheme encourages overseas nationals to move to the UK for at least four years, and to bring their assets to the UK, with the aim of boosting foreign investment and spending, and consequently generating economic growth.

Given the requirement to have been non-tax resident in the UK for at least 10 years, it follows that many of those who want to come to the UK to take advantage of the FIG regime require a visa to live in the UK. The lacuna in the UK immigration system created by the closure of the Tier 1 (Investor) route is particularly problematic here. 

The natural path for an individual relocating to take advantage of the FIG regime would be to apply for a UK investor visa – but at present no such route exists. It is hardly surprising, in this context, that the government is planning to reintroduce such a route. In my opinion, the reintroduction cannot come quickly enough.