The ongoing proposals of the government’s immigration advisers suggest that Britain’s visas that entitle the visa holders to reside permanently in Britain could be placed for an auction. The highest bidders will be able to avail these visas. It is expected that this proposal will be unveiled by 25th February, 2014.
By now, the proposal has received criticism from the lawyers of UK who commented that an ‘eBay culture’ is being created for a permanent residence in UK.
According to this proposal, millionaires of the foreign countries will be invited to bid for a tier-one UK visa that are limited in number .The tier-one UK visa holders and their families can live permanently in UK.
The upcoming proposal suggests a second option .According to this proposition, visas can be awarded/provided for a price whose amount would be given away as donations that are offered to either universities or hospitals.
The government is planning to put forward these proposals because of the reasons that the existing route of an ‘investor visa’ is not bringing any benefits to the UK. It has only become a cheap way for some of the wealthiest families of China, Russia and the Middle East to permanently settle in UK.
The existing route of an investor visa lets the rich individuals to be settled in UK permanently in about 2 to 5 years based on the amount of investment done. It is not mandatory that the applicants are capable of speaking English or have employment in UK.
It is an ongoing concern that the major investments that are being made are being made either into government gilts or loans for the applicants’ own business, neither of which is beneficial to the British economy.
Sophie Barrett-Brown, leading immigration lawyer said that the ‘auction approach’ was rejected by the Home Office earlier. The government of UK has to consider wider policies to decide on the policies suggested by the migration advisory committee.
