Priti Patel scraps UK's 'golden visa’ route over security concerns - but what is it?

The UK has closed its golden visa route over security concerns amid the threat of war between Ukraine and Russia.

Priti Patel said she was scrapping the tier one investor visas with "immediate effect", adding that closing the route marks the "start of our renewed crackdown on fraud and illicit finance".

But what is a tier one investor visa and why have warnings of a Russian invasion of Ukraine led to them being axed?

What is a golden visa?

A visa is an an official document that allows the holder to legally enter a foreign country.

A golden visa, also known as a tier one investor visa, is one that allows someone with extreme wealth to enter the UK.

Launched in 2008, they are available to anyone with a UK bank account who also owns at least £2 million in investment funds.

Why did the Ukraine crisis put them under threat?

With the UK and Nato allies not keen on exerting military pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin with the threat of war, the alternative strategy being adopted is economic pressure.

A package of sanctions agreed between Western allies would target "dirty" Kremlin-linked Russian money, which is often laundered through via companies which invest in the UK.

Golden visas, according to Labour former minister Chris Bryant, have provided rich Russians with a “backdoor loophole” to funnel dirty money into the UK.

The MP has previously called for a full review of the scheme as he accused the government of “giving out golden visas to dodgy Russian oligarchs”.

In 2018 a report published by the Foreign Affairs Committee, which at that time included the now Home Secretary Priti Patel as a member, accused ministers of risking national security by “turning a blind eye” to the Russian “dirty money” flowing through the City of London.

Concerns over the practice of issuing golden visas were raised during this inquiry which found that despite the outcry over the Salisbury Novichok nerve agent attack, Russian President Putin and his allies were continuing to use London as a base for their “corrupt assets”.

The Home Office said after scrapping golden visas that the "reformed innovator route will provide better opportunities for business investors from overseas".

Why have they been scrapped?

The home secretary said the visas would no longer be available to any new applicants from all nationalities after accepting the visas had given "rise to security concerns, including people acquiring their wealth illegitimately and being associated with wider corruption".

Patel said:  "I have zero tolerance for abuse of our immigration system. Under my New Plan for Immigration, I want to ensure the British people have confidence in the system, including stopping corrupt elites who threaten our national security and push dirty money around our cities.

"Closing this route is just the start of our renewed crackdown on fraud and illicit finance. We will be publishing a fraud action plan, while the forthcoming Economic Crime Bill will crackdown on people abusing our financial institutions and better protect the taxpayer."

Boris Johnson, asked if he was having to rush forward the ban on tier one visas because of an influx in applications, and if it was a sign of a crackdown on Russian money in the UK, said: "We address all the issues we can, as fast as we can.

"We have already some very tough laws on money laundering, on people laundering ill-gotten gains here in the UK.

"But, clearly, it's time to bring in some tough sanctions against the Russian regime, against big Russian companies - organisations of strategic importance.

"And also making sure we... stop the raising of funds by Russian companies on London financial markets - that's a very, very tough sanction that we'll be bringing in."