The FT has reported that:
The number of wealthy Chinese acquiring UK “golden visas” that give residency in return for investing £2m or more in assets rose sharply last year as worries over Brexit paled next to Britain's attractiveness as a secure bolthole for international money.
Mainland Chinese took 116 of the 355 “investor visas” granted in 2017 by the UK government to wealthy individuals, up 56 per cent from the previous year.
I have to agree that, relatively speaking, the numbers here are small. But then, so too were the sums involved in the MP's expenses scandal: small numbers do not imply insignificance. This is especially true when this policy is so obviously wrong at so many levels.
At a time when migration is an issue in UK politics passports should not be for sale to anyone. If we are to believe that any policy proposal on migration is not racist we must simultaneously believe that it is not elitist. This policy is glaringly obviously just that. The flaw in doing so is seen by flipping the perspective: the reality is that most people are being excluded from the UK because they are simply not rich enough. That is of course true of most migrants, not least because they are young and hopeful but have yet to achieve their potential. The message is very clear: we are going to deny the chance to do so to them, even if we might gain enormously from their being here.
Secondly, this whole policy clearly undermines the idea of citizenship and commoditises it. This is the antithesis of any idea of nationhood which supposedly so matters to this government.
Third, this does, of course, make us a tax haven: only such places sell such rights.
Fourth, this fuels the property boom, especially in London.
Fifth, there is no evidence that the people who supposedly 'invest' in the UK actually deliver value. They may live here. But do they really deliver for the UK? I suspect not, at all. Tourism is useful, but not that useful and many who acquire these passports will not be here much of the year, I suspect.
Sixth, and perhaps most important, the whole idea that citizenship is based on principles is abandoned. I believe it should be. This reduces it to pragmatism in a way that demeans the whole idea.
This is not taking back control. This is selling the country to the highest bidder. It's a tawdry excercise that undermines and diminishes anything Great in Britain. But that's what we have come to expect.
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I think you are not only right in all respects, but you are being too polite. This policy stinks
because it is symptomatic of the whole rotten edifice that is neoliberalism : entry visas for the elites and nothing for the plebs . And £2m . Seriously ! That’s peanuts . Even £10m. for the right to reside here and stash your cash in what is almost certainly the most stable ( Brexit notwithstanding ) country in the world to do so. This government and its predecessors and all their supporters are fixated on this idea that filthy rich people are ‘ wealth creators ‘ . Well they are, but only for themselves. I’ve yet to see any evidence that they actually invest in anything other than buying up high- end real estate which adds nothing to the wealth of this country .
I agree
I’m hardly sure that long term the UK is going to remain stable after the Double Whammy effects of Austerity and Brexit given a great many voters are ignorant of modern money and global trading mechanics and therefore complicit in undermining their own well-being. There is no certainty either of a Labour victory at the next general election and the ignorance amongst the Labour Party leadership of the above mentioned mechanics is great also.
“I’m hardly sure that long term the UK is going to remain stable after the Double Whammy effects of Austerity and Brexit given a great many voters are ignorant of modern money and global trading mechanics and therefore complicit in undermining their own well-being. There is no certainty either of a Labour victory at the next general election and the ignorance amongst the Labour Party leadership of the above mentioned mechanics is great also.”
Hi Schofield. In what way do you see Britain becoming unstable? How do you make voters complicit in undermining their own well-being if they don’t understand modern money? What part of global trading mechanics do you think labour are ignorant of? You need to explain what leads you to draw these consequences and what do you suggest as a solution please, thanks
Martin
These issues have been addressed here many, many times
But I leave others to comment
Richard
“These issues have been addressed here many, many times”.
Thanks Richard.
I think, like everyone, i am looking for an end to all the terrible, ineffective and corrupt
governance of Britain today and sorry, it was asking perhaps too much to expect Schofield
to engage once more in oft-repeated arguments of the issues in this article.
All I was saying is I cannot always answer every question
I have a life beyond this blog
Perhaps at some point you could look at the council tax exemption for diplomats ( and anyone living with them ) and the same exemption for visiting members of international organisations ( and anyone living with them ). If there are say 10,000 of them paying an average of £2k a household less in council tax than the rest of the year, then that’s an effective subsidy to the property owners and builders that house them.
It’s difficult to find anything to disagree with here but can you see any prospect for change? With virtually the entire media machine supporting this government we can see that democracy – UK style – is a failed experiment. Prepare for worse.
And at the same time they deport (little) people who are prepared to work in a small community and invest in a business. It makes you ashamed to be called British. http://www.thenational.scot/news/15231331.Canadian_Zielsdorf_family_face_deportation_from_Highlands_despite_running__lifeline__Laggan_store/
“At a time when migration is an issue in UK politics passports should not be for sale to anyone.”
Don’t piss about, Richard.
At no time should passports be for sale.
Either we issue them to people who for some reason ‘deserve’ them or they stay in the cupboard.
‘Passport Cheques’: first item in new Private Eye.
On my doormat still….
Must pick it up
I have a British passport by virtue of having been born in London to British parents. Consequently, I do not need a visa to come into the UK, whether “golden”, “investor” or any other kind.
Unless I’m mistaken, these are visas you are talking about, not passports. Having a passport would negate the requirement for a visa. These visas (at least at the level of £ 2 Million investment requirements) are timed barred to just over 3 years.
They can be extended…
“They can be extended…”
How much for an extension mate? Monkey a week do ya ?
For 2 years, yes. But it’s still not a passport, or citizenship.
This post and the comments are all very good, other than being completely, 100%, irretrievably wrong.
UK passports are not for sale and are not being issued to foreign investors.
Those foreign investors remain foreign, must continue to use their foreign passports to enter the UK and receive only a visa to enter the UK which is only good for 3 years and 4 months.
The point I made is exactly right: access is acquired when others are denied as a result of a visa in a passport acquired wholly on the basis of funds
>>>UK politics passports should not be for sale to anyone
The point you make is exactly wrong. Passports and, by implication, citizenship are not for sale to anyone.
>>>this whole policy clearly undermines the idea of citizenship and commoditises it.
Nope. Citizenship isn’t being sold and so is in no way commoditised.
Access is being commoditised
Richard, don’t you have a passport for a country of which you are not a citizen or resident?
I am an Irish citizen
I wouldn’t frame this as necessarily a Brexit issue. All jurisdictions are offering such programs…
So if you can rightly be a citizen of two countries, don’t many of your objections to this scheme evaporate?
No