A report presented by the Home Affairs Committee of the House of Commons is recommending the British government to petition the European Commission about the “extremely worrying” practice of some member states to put their citizenship up for sale.

The Home Affairs Committee warns that if no action is taken “Britain’s immigration controls would be in danger of being sidestepped by those with sufficient wealth”.

The report which was published on March 21, was tabled yesterday in Parliament by Opposition MP Jason Azzopardi during the debate on the legal notice which lays down the regulations for the so called Individual Investor Programme.

A motion filed by the Opposition to repeal this legal notice was defeated with 30 votes in favour and 39 against.

In view of the concerns expressed by the report, the Home Affairs Committee is recommending the suspension of the UK’s Tier1 (Investor) visa route. Through this programme applicants from outside the European Economic Area can be granted a visa for a maximum period of three years and four months, with the option to for a 2 year extension, if they commit to invest the equivalent of £1,000,000.

The report quotes Sir David Metcalf that there appears to be very little benefit from the Tier 1 programme in its current format saying that this is just “selling indefinite leave to remain” in the UK.

While pointing out that Britain has neither power nor control over the policies of other EU States in this regard, the report says that it should not follow the example of Malta, for the reasons stated in evidence.