Wealthy foreigners should be allowed to make large donations to charities in exchange for the right to live in the UK, according to a report by Kingsley Napley, a law firm specialising in immigration.

Foreign nationals are already able to obtain leave to remain in the UK for five years if they contribute £1m to the UK economy and invest at least £750,000 of that in UK corporate bonds or UK company shares. These are known under immigration rules as “tier 1 investors”.

The Kingsley Napley document, entitled Increasing economic benefits to the UK: recommendations for the UK tier 1 (investor) scheme, was prepared in response to a consultation on tier 1 investors launched last year by the Migration Advisory Committee, a non-departmental public body which advises the government on immigration.

It suggests that wealthy individuals should be allowed to make a donation instead of an investment.

The report said the firm “has considered possible recipients of such donations and identified three example funds which could be established and which would benefit considerably from sizeable donations by tier 1 investors”, including an education fund, an arts fund in partnership with the Arts Council and a health fund to deliver research could be established with the donations.

“Providing much-needed finance for popular programmes which may have been cut would be a clear way to see the direct benefit tier 1 investors are making in the UK and is likely to enjoy considerable public support,” the report said.

“Our conversations with tier 1 investors suggest that the option of donating part or all of their funds would be a popular change.”