Healey scraps wealthy investor visa plan in first Budget

Chancellor John Healey will not revive a wealthy investor visa in his first Budget on 28 October, closing off a scheme that had been developed under the previous administration and was seen as ready for rollout this year, first reported by the Financial Times.

The plan, drawn up by former business secretary Peter Kyle and Varun Chandra — the previous prime minister’s business adviser — would have invited overseas investors willing to commit at least £5 million. Under the proposal, investors would have created funds administered by the state-owned British Business Bank, with the money channelled into UK innovation and scale-up companies, including life sciences, defence technology and artificial intelligence. In return, applicants would have received residence rights and potentially a faster path to citizenship.

Kyle was removed from government in July by Prime Minister Andy Burnham. One person briefed on the plan said strict rules would have applied, reflecting political sensitivity after Boris Johnson’s government scrapped the old Tier 1 Investor visa — closed to new applicants on 17 February 2022 — over concerns about abuse by oligarchs and money-launderers.

Treasury officials have also confirmed that no capital gains tax rise and no cut to the mansion tax threshold from £2 million to £1.5 million will feature in the Budget, according to the FT and the Times via streamlinefeed.co.ke. The decision reverses Bloomberg’s earlier reporting that Healey was actively weighing a new route, signalling a cautious approach to high-net-worth migration ahead of a fiscally constrained Autumn Budget.