Rupert D’Cruz KC and Alexander Bryant of Littleton Chambers and Ramby de Mello of No 5 Chambers (instructed by Jackson Lyon LLP) appeared for the Respondent in the Supreme Court on 4 May 2023 in Secretary of State for the Home Department v Wang [UKSC 2021/0125].
The appeal concerned the validity for Tier 1 Investor visa purposes of a £100 million investment scheme (“the Scheme”) in which Ms Wang and 100 other high net worth individuals participated. The Tier 1 investor regime (established under the Immigration Rules) enabled high net worth individuals to obtain entry clearance; temporary right to remain; and then indefinite right to remain in the United Kingdom if they invested no less than £1 million in qualifying investments for a specified period.
The Immigration Rules:
(i) allowed such investments to be funded by loans from UK regulated financial institutions if the loan funds were under the control of the investor; but
(ii) excluded certain types of investments, including investments in pooled investment vehicles.
The legal points in issue before the Supreme Court were:
(i) the correct approach to interpreting the Immigration Rules;
(ii) the degree of “control” that Tier 1 investors needed to have over loan funds under the relevant Immigration Rules and whether the Scheme investors had the required “control” over their loan funds; and
(iii) the meaning of “pooled investment vehicle” and whether the Scheme fell within that meaning.
The Secretary of State was represented by the Sir James Eadie KC and Tom Cleaver.
The Supreme Court has reserved judgment.
