What Global Investors Need to Know – Citizenship Network Analysis

The debate over a new UK investor visa is back on the table – and this time it is happening against the backdrop of a record exodus of millionaires, the abolition of the non-dom regime, and a proposed 20% exit tax on people leaving the UK.

For globally mobile investors and families who follow the Citizenship Network blog for intelligence on residency and citizenship options, this is a moment to watch very closely – not just for potential opportunities in the UK, but also for the risks and timing issues around any move.

In this article, Citizenship Network breaks down:

• What UK lawmakers are actually proposing

• Why a new investor visa is being pushed now

• How this links to millionaire migration and tax reforms

• What practical questions investors should be asking before making any UK-related decisions

1. The Background: UK Investor Visa Closed in 2022

The UK’s former Tier 1 (Investor) visa – often described as a “golden visa” – was closed to new applicants on 17 February 2022, following concerns about illicit finance and security risks.

The route historically allowed high-net-worth individuals to:

• Invest at least £2 million in qualifying UK investments

• Obtain residency for themselves and their family

• Progress to indefinite leave to remain (ILR) and ultimately UK citizenship, on a faster timeline for larger investments

Since that closure, no direct replacement investor visa has been introduced. Legal and immigration guidance as of late 2025 still confirms that there is no active UK investment-based residency route equivalent to the former Tier 1 Investor visa, although a range of business and talent routes remain.

This is the starting point for the current political debate that Citizenship Network is following for its global investor audience.

2. What Are UK Lawmakers Proposing Now?

According to a recent report by Investment Migration Insider (IMI), a group of predominantly Conservative-aligned members of the House of Lords have written to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, urging the government to create a new investor visa.

Key elements of the proposal:

• Minimum investment: £2.5 million

• Core objectives:

  • Stem capital flight from the UK

  • Channel investor funds into public services and infrastructure

• Political context:

  • Follows the launch of a fast-track residency pathway for high earners

  • Comes just before a Budget vote on a proposed 20% exit tax on departing residents

The initiative gained momentum during a pre-budget investment summit at the House of Lords, where lawyers and investor groups presented arguments in favour of a new investor visa.

3. A Stricter, “Cleaner” Investor Visa: What Was Proposed

At that summit, Farzin Yazdi, Head of Investor Visa at Shard Capital Partners, set out a vision for a stricter, transparency-driven investor visa that would address many of the concerns that led to the 2022 closure.

His suggested safeguards reportedly included:

1. Independent annual enhanced due diligence

   • Including robust verification of source of wealth

   • Conducted by independent third parties, not just banks

2. Mandatory investment into British Business Bank–approved funds

   • Minimum £2.5 million

   • Capital locked into approved structures until ILR (indefinite leave to remain)

3. Full transparency of outcomes

   • Publicly reportable metrics such as:

     • Jobs created

     • Capital deployed into UK infrastructure or SMEs

4. Alignment across immigration, financial, and tax rules

   • Avoiding the past problem where immigration policy, tax policy and regulatory rules were moving in different directions

According to IMI, Yazdi welcomed the Lords’ letter as a positive sign that policymakers recognize the “economic value of a well-designed investment residency scheme.”

For Citizenship Network clients, the important point is this: this is still a proposal and not yet law. There is currently no new investor visa in force, but the direction of discussion is now much clearer.

4. The Other Side of the Equation: Exit Tax and Non-Dom Abolition

The push to revive an investor visa is happening at the same time as the UK government pursues aggressive tax reforms targeting wealthy residents.

Key elements highlighted in the same IMI report:

• The Labour government ended the long-standing non-dom regime, which allowed certain foreign residents to limit UK taxation on offshore income and assets.

• The government is proposing a 20% exit tax on departing residents, with a Budget vote expected in Parliament.

• Oxford Economics research cited in the debate estimates that reforms to the non-dom framework – especially extending UK inheritance tax to non-UK assets – could cost the Treasury about £1 billion a year, with 83% of surveyed respondents viewing worldwide inheritance tax as a “red line.”

At the same House of Lords summit, Leslie MacLeod-Miller, Chief Executive of Foreign Investors for Britain, argued that these tax policies – including the exit tax – risk accelerating capital flight rather than stabilizing public finances.

He described a properly designed investor visa as a “critical lifeline” to restore mobile capital to the UK and warned that repeatedly raising taxes to plug fiscal gaps “only accelerates disaster.”

This tension – between tax tightening and investment-friendly migration policy – is central to the analysis Citizenship Network provides to global investors evaluating the UK versus alternative destinations.

5. Millionaire Migration: How Serious Is the UK Wealth Exodus?

The numbers driving this debate are substantial.

• Nearly 11,000 millionaires left the UK in 2024, with the outflow accelerating after the abolition of the non-dom regime in October 2024.

• The Henley Private Wealth Migration Report 2025 forecasts a net loss of around 16,500 millionaires in 2025, the largest projected outflow globally that year.

These forecasts correspond to tens of billions of dollars in investable assets leaving the UK, with Henley estimating that the 2025 outflow alone represents approximately USD 90+ billion in mobile wealth.

Other reporting in major financial media has highlighted the same trend: a combination of non-dom abolition, proposed worldwide inheritance taxation, and broader tax increases has pushed many high-net-worth individuals to consider relocation to jurisdictions such as the UAE, Italy, Switzerland and the US.

For Citizenship Network readers, the critical takeaway is:

The investor visa debate is not theoretical – it is a direct response to observable, data-backed capital and talent outflows.

6. What a New £2.5m UK Investor Visa Would

Likely

Mean for Investors

To be absolutely clear:

As of 27 November 2025, no new UK investor visa has been enacted. What we have is a political push and an emerging policy blueprint – not yet a final scheme.

If something close to the House of Lords / Yazdi proposal did become law, international investors could reasonably expect:

• Higher compliance and scrutiny

  • Detailed, recurring enhanced due diligence

  • Clearer scrutiny of source of funds and wealth

• Tighter investment targeting

  • Capital likely required to flow into British Business Bank–approved vehicles and productive sectors rather than passive assets

  • Less flexibility than older versions of the Tier 1 scheme

• More visible impact reporting

  • Government and public scrutiny over jobs created, regional impact, and sectoral support

• Closer linkage to tax and residency rules

  • Less scope to separate “immigration planning” from “tax planning” – these would be increasingly integrated

For readers of the Citizenship Network blog, this implies that a future UK investor visa, if introduced, would be:

• More regulated and transparent

• Less flexible but more politically defensible

• Designed to avoid the security and reputational problems that caused the 2022 shutdown

7. Strategic Questions Global Investors Should Ask Now

Even before any new UK investor visa is launched, globally mobile families and entrepreneurs should be asking some hard questions:

1. Do I actually want long-term UK tax residency under the new rules?

   • With potential worldwide inheritance tax and tougher rules on offshore structures, investors must model the full tax cost, not just the immigration benefits.

2. Is the UK a core or satellite hub in my global structure?

   • For some investors, London remains a key operating base; for others, it may be a secondary hub that can be substituted by other financial centres.

3. What is my plan B if the visa design changes again?

   • The closure of the 2008–2022 Tier 1 Investor route shows that UK immigration policy can change abruptly.

4. How does the UK compare with alternative investment migration options?

   • Several European, Middle Eastern and Caribbean jurisdictions continue to offer investment residency or citizenship frameworks with more predictable tax regimes and clearly codified conditions.

These are exactly the kinds of questions that Citizenship Network works through with clients when building multi-country strategies for mobility, asset protection and succession.

8. How Citizenship Network Can Help Investors Navigate This Transition

The UK’s debate over a new investor visa is part of a broader global trend:

Major economies are tightening tax rules while simultaneously trying to attract capital and talent through targeted immigration pathways.

On the Citizenship Network blog and through our advisory work, we help investors:

• Monitor policy signals

  • Tracking real legislative changes rather than rumours

  • Distinguishing between political messaging and legal reality

• Compare UK options with alternative jurisdictions

  • Analysing residency and citizenship-by-investment frameworks in multiple regions

  • Mapping how each option interacts with your personal tax and business profile

• Design diversified mobility strategies

  • For many globally mobile families, the right answer is not “UK or elsewhere”, but a portfolio approach where the UK may be one hub among several.

As the debate evolves, Citizenship Network will continue to cover:

• Any formal government consultation documents on a new investor visa

• The final shape (if any) of a 20% UK exit tax

• Updated data on millionaire migration and wealth flows

• Comparative opportunities in other leading investment migration destinations

9. Practical Takeaways for Now

Until the UK government publishes a concrete, enacted investor visa framework, the most realistic and responsible position for serious investors is:

1. Do not assume a new investor visa will be launched exactly as proposed – or on a specific timeline.

2. Do your tax homework first. The combination of non-dom changes, worldwide inheritance tax exposure and possible exit tax means the tax tail can easily wag the immigration dog.

3. Use this period to prepare.

   • Clean documentation of source of wealth

   • Clear, documented investment strategies that would satisfy enhanced due diligence

4. Explore parallel options.

   • While the UK debates, other countries are actively refining their own residency and investor-friendly tax regimes.

For readers and clients of Citizenship Network, the message is simple:

Treat the UK investor visa revival as a possible future tool, not a guaranteed solution. Build a global plan that works with or without a UK scheme – and be ready to move quickly only when the rules are clear in law, not just in headlines.