Over 800 high net-worth Britons to make UAE their home this year

Dubai: More than 800 high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) are set to move to the UAE from the UK this year, investment migration advisory firm Henley and Partners revealed Tuesday.

The migrating HNWIs are among nearly 9,500 UK-based HNWIs forecasted to leave the country this year. They are expected to head to the European Union (EU), which is set to enjoy an entry of over 6,500 millionaires from Britain by the end of December.

The UAE will welcome the next biggest cohort of over 800 wealthy individuals and their families, followed by the US (+720), Australasia (+300), and the Caribbean Islands in 5th place, with +250 millionaires making a permanent move.

The findings are a follow-up on the 2024 Henley Wealth Migration Dashboard, released in June this year, which predicted that a global 6,700 millionaires and centi-millionaires are expected to move to the UAE this year. HNWIs refer to individuals with liquid investable wealth of $1 million or more, and ‘centi-millionaires’ refers to individuals with liquid investable wealth of $100 million or more.

“The UAE consistently attracts large numbers of millionaires from India, the Middle East, Russia, and Africa. In 2024, large inflows are also expected to come from the UK and Europe, which shows its growing appeal,” Henley and Partners said.

The company teamed up with wealth intelligence firm New World Wealth to publish the latest forecast and review the potential impact of the upcoming budget on UK wealth migration trends.

Where are the HNWIs moving?

Based on data collected over the past nine months, the HNWIs from the UK are expected to include 85 centi-millionaires and 10 billionaires. About 68 per cent are heading for Europe, with their favoured destinations being Italy, Malta, Greece, Portugal, Switzerland, Monaco, Cyprus, France, Spain, and the Netherlands.

Andrew Amoils, New World Wealth’s Head of Research, expects over 10 per cent of the UK’s centi-millionaires to exit the country this year. “Over 60 per cent of centi-millionaires are entrepreneurs and company founders, which makes them key to wealth creation.”

Amolis said, “The businesses they start-up have a significant positive spillover effect on the middle class as they create large numbers of well-paying jobs in their base country. It is also worth noting that most of the companies on the FTSE 100 were started by individuals who went on to become centi-millionaires.”

Moreover, the company said the total number of applications for investment migration programs from UK nationals received by Henley and Partners has risen by an astonishing 337 per cent in the last five years (2019 versus 2023 totals).

As Wakeling, head of Henley & Partners’ UK office said, “The last two quarters have both been record-breaking, with a 160 per cent increase in applications by UK-based investors for residence and citizenship by investment programs over the last six months (April to September 2024) compared to the previous six months (October 2023 to March 2024).”

High tax rates

The UK’s high tax rates and concerns about additional tax hikes are highlighted as among the main reasons Britons leave the UK.

Wakeling says looking at the wealth migration data, “It’s clear that next year’s increase in tax for non-domiciled individuals prompted people to start considering leaving, and this had a domino effect on UK nationals when they realized that capital gains and inheritance tax were the last ones remaining that could be changed and make a difference to the budget shortfall.” Amoils agrees and points out that the UK’s capital gains tax and estate duty rates are among the highest in the world.