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Changes to immigration rules for the United Kingdom (UK) have been announced and implemented immediately, Emirates 24|7 can reveal.
Immigrants to the United Kingdom (UK) who apply for residency as investors will no longer be able to leverage their investment funds through loans.
Furthermore, investment funds held in offshore custody will no longer be accepted.
This was announced by the UK government on Thursday December 13. The rules came into effect immediately.
Investors and business people make up for the majority of migrants from the UAE applying for immigration to the UK.
This group applies through the Tier 1 programme, which has two routes: the investor route and the business route.
It is mostly the investor route that is impacted by the changes implemented.
Investors have the opportunity to settle in the country on the grounds that they have a net worth of GBP2 million (nearly Dh12 million) or a capital of GBP 1 million on their account, which can be invested in government bonds, for example.
Previously, this option was facilitated by financial institutions, which offer to finance the investment.
"A lot of investors used to do this. But, over the last couple of years, the interest rate on these loans has become very high," says Pej Mohyeddin, Immigration & Business Consultant at Bayat Legal Services.
Under the new rules applicants to the Tier 1 investors’ programme who submitted their application on or after December 13 will not be allowed to leverage their investment funds through loans or funds held in offshore custody.
According to the UK government this was already the case, however, it was never clearly mentioned.
"We accept that the previous rules and guidance were unclear on these points.
“Therefore, we are introducing a transitional arrangement which waives the requirement in respect of such loans and funds held in offshore custody, for applicants who entered the category (or the previous Investor route) or applied to do so before 13 December 2012," explains the statement of changes in Immigration Rules.
Business people are subdued to another list of conditions.
The business person must have an amount of GPB200,000 (nearly Dh1200,000) on his account, have business experience and hire at least two UK citizens in the company.
Minor changes were made to the business application scheme; indefinite leave to remain for a person established in business under the provisions of an EC Association Agreement may be granted, whereas this clause was previously deleted from the Tier 1 programme.
No changes were made to the Skilled Labour Programme, which is considered to be a narrow programme leaving very little opportunity for skilled labourers to apply.
"The skilled labour programme is not a very popular programme in the UAE," says Pej.
"Immigration opportunities to the UK are most appealing for investors and business people.
"This year we saw maximum 25 people apply for immigration to the UK through these programmes," he adds.
The UK remains a popular destination for immigration among UAE residents and is probably the most opted country after Canada and Australia.
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