UK may auction residence visas to highest bidders

The highest 100 bidders would be entitled to move to the UK along with their families.

The UK Home Office’s influential Migration Advisory Committee has called upon the government to auction 100 permanent residence visas a year to the highest bidders. Under its proposals, foreigners would make sealed bids of a minimum starting price of £2.5 million. The government would receive £2mil- lion while the rest would go to charity. The highest 100 bidders would be entitled to move to the UK along with their families and achieve permanent resident status after just two years. Under current investor immigration rules, foreigners who invest £1 million, £5 million or £ 10 million in government gilt bonds can apply for permanent residency respectively after five, three or two years. The commit- tee has recommended new rules under which the minimum amount required to be invested would be doubled to £2 million and investors would be allowed to apply for permanent residency after five years. But rather than investing in bonds, the committee has recommended that the money be put into large infrastructure projects.

The committee argues that the current rules entitle fast track immigrants to receive interest on the bonds, which means the government is effectively paying for them to live in the UK.

Committee chairman Sir David Metcalf said that compared with the £300 million of gilts sold every day by the government on the markets, the amount received each year from wealthy immigrants is minimal. While “the Brits get very little out of this at the moment”, Sir David said, “the migrants get a huge amount.”

In the 12 months to the end of September 2012, 1,647 wealthy foreign investors and their dependents have been granted residence in the UK. Russians top the list at 433, followed by 419 Chinese, 93 Americans, 46 Egypt and 44 Indians. The Home Office will now consider the committee’s recommendations.