The UK suspends the visa program for the wealthy

The UK is suspending the highest category of investor visas, closing the path to permanent residency and British citizenship that has become popular among the wealthy, including Russian oligarchs.

The visa program for Tier 1 (or Tier 1) investors will be suspended from midnight on Friday, ahead of reforms aimed at combating money laundering and organized crime, according to a statement from the Home Office.

It requires applicants to submit audits of their financial and business interests and to exclude government bonds as a qualifying investment. The suspension will be lifted when changes scheduled for 2019 are implemented.

The visa is available to anyone with access to at least £2 million ($2.5 million) to invest in the UK, and is open to people from outside the European Economic Area and Switzerland. Government-backed immigration programs like this are not uncommon. The United States maintains an immigration program, known as the EB-5 visa, that allows immigrants who create jobs in the United States to remain in the country permanently.

This move could hurt people around the world, but Russian oligarchs may be the most affected by this change. The UK has long been a particularly attractive jurisdiction for ultra-rich Russians as a safe and stable place to do business, preserve their wealth and educate their children. But the suspension is the latest sign that that appeal may be fading with the government's crackdown following the poisoning of a former Russian spy on British soil.

“We will not tolerate people flouting the rules and trying to abuse the system,” Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes said in a statement. The new measures “will ensure that only genuine investors, who intend to support British companies, can benefit from our immigration system.”

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