Ten Russian oligarchs who were recipients of the UK’s so-called “golden visas” have since been sanctioned as a result of the invasion of Ukraine, UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman has revealed.
The Tier 1 Investor visa, launched in 2008, has often been called a “golden visa,” as it offered residency to those investing £2 million ($2.4 million) or more in the UK, and allowed their families to join them.
The UK Home Office scrapped the visa just days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine started in February 2022, citing “security concerns, including people acquiring their wealth illegitimately and being associated with wider corruption.”
The government first commissioned the review into this visa route in 2018 after the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in Britain. After keeping the findings secret for years, the government released details of that investigation to Parliament on Thursday….