Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what checks are in place to ensure that the sources of the funds of foreign nationals seeking to invest in the United Kingdom are legitimate; and who carries out such checks.

Any application for a visa will be subject to checks undertaken by an Entry Clearance Officer (ECO), which will include checks on the applicant’s criminal history. In addition, applicants for a visa under the Tier 1 (Investor) category will be subject to checks to establish that the applicant’s funds meet the relevant requirements of the Immigration Rules, which include a requirement that the funds are held in a regulated financial institution.We require specific evidence of funds to be provided, and we do not accept evidence from financial institutions with which ECOs are unable to carry out satisfactory verification checks.