United Kingdom, 30th November: The new UK investor Visa rules announced by the government this month are being considered to affect the investment negatively.
Yes, its being stated that the investment in the UK might get affected in a big way.
The UK now requires £2m as a minimum threshold for getting a UK investor visa. The new rules have become effective from November this year and have been introduced by the UK Home Office.
<blockquote> The UK Home Office’s new UK investor visa rules raising minimum threshold to £2m are being considered to be a dampener for investment into the UK. </blockquote>
Prior to the introduction of new UK investor visa rules becoming effective this month, the minimum investment was £1m. But, since 6th November this year, its now £2m.
Aim of the new UK investor visa rules—New UK investor visa rules aim to lure more and more high-net-worth individuals to come to the UK and make investments in the UK firms in lieu of the right to make an application for UK citizenship after a period of five years.
Meanwhile, its being stated that new UK investor visa rules may lead to ‘buy and hold’ than trading in riskier assets, which might be the need of the hour for the UK economy. The reason behind this is –investors will not like to risk their investment portfolio to fall below the required minimum threshold of £2m.
The point of concern is that the level of investment may go down below the threshold of £2m during the qualifying investment period.
As per the MAC(Migration Advisory Committee), the lowest investment level has been quite static since the grant of the first UK investor visa nearly 20 years ago. And it seems like the UK investor visas are being sold quite cheaply, the MAC said. And the change to the rules was not expected by the market because it really restricted ability of the clients to alter their investments for managing the risks taken in investment in the UK assets.
The £2m investment rule is expected to restrict the money from leaving the portfolio. However, the real thing is that investors may be buying and holding the investments rather than opting to trade, the MAC maintained.