UK investment manager Quilter has launched a service to support migrants from outside Europe seeking to obtain UK residency through the UK Border Agency’s Tier 1 (Investor) visa. This visa category is for high net worth individuals who want to make a “substantial” financial investment in the UK.

Working in partnership with the advisors who oversee the visa application, Quilter has developed a bespoke service to handle the requirement to invest a minimum of £1 million (about $1.6 million) through a regulated financial institution in the UK. Key features of the new service include a risk monitoring facility and reporting processes that will meet the UKBA's policy guidelines.

“Our service has been specially designed to ensure that individuals seeking to obtain a visa using the criteria do not have the application compromised by an unstructured investment portfolio…. Importantly, there is an automated alert facility built into our investment management system to advise our investment managers if the portfolio falls below the minimum investment level and to highlight any assets which do not meet the Tier 1 eligibility criteria,” investment managers Jonathan McCall and David Lowe said in a statement.

Other players in this market include Octopus Investments and Collins Stewart Wealth Management, both of which have launched services aimed at HNW foreign nationals this year.

Quilter is owned by its management and European private equity firm Bridgepoint.