Spotlight Session: UK Migration | PCD Monaco Conference 2026

Standing between the assembled delegates and their lunch, Sacha Wooldridge, Head of Immigration at Birketts, delivered a presentation that was notable both for its depth of analysis and its candour. The UK's immigration landscape for high net worth individuals has become considerably more complex over the past few years — and yet, she argued, the underlying case for the UK as a destination for internationally mobile families remains entirely intact.

Wooldridge heads a team of immigration specialists at Birketts, a full-service UK law firm with seven offices across the south of England and a growing London and Bristol presence. She was joined at the conference by Deborah, partner and head of Birketts' international tax team, and Jennifer, who leads the firm's international family practice — covering pre-nuptial agreements, international adoptions, and surrogacy arrangements.

The macro picture

The macro picture Wooldridge presented was one of sharp swings. The UK reached peak net migration in March 2023 at close to a million — a phenomenon she described as the "Boris wave," an irony given that Brexit had been framed partly around controlling immigration. As a political backlash, concerted efforts to reduce migration have followed, and the UK is projected to reach net negative migration by the end of 2026. Wooldridge was clear that this is not purely a UK phenomenon: anti-migration sentiment is visible across Western Europe, Canada, and the US. But in the UK, the consequence has been a real tightening, particularly for the high net worth cohort.

The Henley Report's finding that over 16,000 millionaires left the UK in 2024 received considerable press coverage as a "mass exodus," though Wooldridge noted that the Tax Justice Network's analysis suggested this represented less than 1% of UK millionaires. The figures show emigration is happening — and destinations including Portugal, Italy, and Dubai are popular among British HNWIs — but the scale has been contested. More practically, she noted, many of the challenges those schemes present are becoming apparent: language barriers in Italy, questions about long-term political stability affecting rights of same-sex couples, and — most recently — the security situation in Dubai prompting a reassessment among those who had relocated there.

A gap in the routes

The suspension of the UK's Tier 1 Investor Visa in early 2022, following the invasion of Ukraine, has made Wooldridge's job considerably harder. The visa has not formally been closed, but it has not been available, and no replacement has been announced. The consequence is that for non-British individuals without family connections to the UK, heritage ties, a specific employment offer, or entrepreneurial activity, there is sometimes simply no clear route.

Wooldridge noted that this reality prompts creative thinking: many more people than expected can identify heritage connections that open up British passport options — and the history of the UK means these connections run deep across multiple generations and nationalities.

Signs of softening

There are, however, signs of softening. A paper produced by Foreign Investors for Britain and presented to the House of Lords before Christmas proposed a tiered fixed-rate tax regime linked to an immigration offer — effectively a reimagined non-dom arrangement with an annual levy ranging from £200,000 for wealth up to £100 million to £2 million for wealth above £500 million, in exchange for income tax, inheritance tax, and other exemptions on non-UK assets for 15 years.

The government has not commented publicly, but Wooldridge noted that proposals to reduce the qualifying period for permanent residency to three years — for high-earning skilled workers — had been floated proactively. "Nobody was asking for that concession," she observed. "The fact that they offered it up suggests there is a softening in government."

The new Foreign Income and Gains regime is, she argued, underappreciated. For the first four years, the FIG regime can be genuinely attractive for those coming to the UK — a point that Berry Bloomberg had made in the morning's relocation panel. The absence of a clear investor visa route remains a significant gap, but the tax side of the equation is less hostile than the narrative suggests.

Reputation versus reality

Wooldridge also addressed the reputational issues that the UK faces among prospective residents — crime rates and NHS capacity being the most commonly cited concerns among international clients. Both are, she argued, significantly overstated by social media, particularly in US discussions. The private healthcare available to HNWIs in the UK is world-leading, she noted, and actual crime statistics show rates that are lower than in many comparable countries.

The economic argument

Her closing argument was about the economy. A net-negative migration figure might look like a political win in some quarters, but the economic modelling suggests it could shrink the UK economy by almost 4% by 2040. That kind of pressure on growth will eventually force Treasury priorities to prevail over Home Office politics. "The Chancellor has made very public commitments to growth," Wooldridge concluded. "I think there will be real focus on improving the UK economy, and that is good for HNWIs coming to the UK."

The UK, she concluded, remains what it has always been: reassuringly stable, genuinely diverse, legally rigorous, and — for all the present complications — one of the most enduring destinations in the world for internationally mobile people who want a base that will last.