London Tops Billionaire Residents

Cynthia Barker writes…Hey, maybe London’s streets really are paved with gold – we are home to more billionaires than any other city in the world.

The UK has become the billionaires’ choice of residence, with more than 100 of the word’s super rich living here. The 104 billionaires who live in the UK have a combined wealth of £301billion, according to claims the Sunday Times Rich List.

Not surprisingly, property prices in London are literally going through the roof, with 72 billionaires living right in the centre of the capital, ahead of Moscow, with 48 billionaire citizens, and New York City in third, with 43.

To get into the Top 50 wealthiest UK residents you need a fortune of £1.5billion - almost $2billion dollars.

Migrants have again come out top of the pile, with Indian-born siblings Sri and Gopi Hinduja (who famously obtained British passports with the help of the 'friend of the rich' former Labour Minister Peter Mandelson) heading the list of Britain’s wealthiest billionaires with a fortune of £11.9billion.

The businessmen own the global conglomerate Hinduja Group which helped their wealth soar by £1.3billion in the last year.

The richest Briton, the Duke of Westminster, only just reached the top ten with his fortune – he owns most of Belgravia which houses my favourite store, Harrods - rose to £8.5billion! How can you even put a value his land, which the family will never sell since they have been passing in down through the generations for hundreds of years?

The UK is favoured by the rich for it's steady, growing economy, rule of Law, world class schools and universities, shopping and a safe environment.

Britain is also the second most popular destination for overseas students after the U.S.

The Rich List is based on published details of the wealthy, but nobody really knows how many millionaires and billionaires live in the UK. You only have to walk around Kensington and Chelsea, or Mayfair to count the thousands of multi-million pound properties to realise that London is loaded with money - and UK jobs for migrant and local workers.

So boys and girls, if you want to meet a billionaire, London is the place…but don’t put that on your tourist visa application or you will definitely be refused by the Home Office! Ha ha!

If you need advice on any immigration matter, including overstaying your visa, EU or UK immigration law, or want to appeal against a refusal, call Cynthia Barker on 07850 307687 or 0208 731 5972 or email her your details to immigration@londonccs.com. Cynthia Barker is a qualified OISC Registered Immigration Adviser, with 15 years experience in immigration matters, with a team of Level 3 Immigration Law Practitioners, Concept Care Solutions, Middlesex House, 29-45 High Street, Edgware, HA8 7UU.