As the recession grips several places all over the world and causes people to lose great amounts of finances, new trends have been occurring, as such people try to maintain and keep as much of their revenue as they can. One of which is bankruptcy tourism.

This is when people who have fallen into debt move to other parts of the world, to try and lessen the financial burdens that they are going through.

It has recently been revealed that the Kent towns of Tunbridge Wells and Greenhithe have been invaded by bankruptcy tourist from coming from Germany, making the area, the hub for 'bankruptcy tourism'.

A German insolvency expert has set up a branch in the Kent location and is charging thousands of pounds to relocate German citizens, who are in financial difficulty, in the UK.

Marcus Kray, the founder of Insolvenz Agentur, a firm which helps to relocate people who have becomebankrupt, stated that he has helped more than 150 Germans resettle since the company was founded in 2007 and claims 85 per cent of people decide to stay on due to the higher quality of life in the UK.

In Germany, if someone falls into bankruptcy, bailiffs could seize any earnings over €980 a month they would earn for up to seven years.

Speaking about these figures, My Kray said: "For someone who is, say, 55-years-old, it is too difficult for them to survive on this up to the age of 63-years-old. They may have to move out of their home and so they decide to leave it all behind and move here.

"We have the Kent region to place people into, so that they have other German speakers nearby or a German doctor or dentist for quality treatment in their native language."

When asked if his clients found it difficult to find jobs when in the UK, Mr Kray said: "There is always something for them to do. They can become litter pickers or something like that. They can earn £5.60 an hour. Anything is better than staying at home for them."

Higher quality of life and lenient debt rules enticing the banktupt

The numbers quoted by Mr Kray is a fraction of the numbers of people filing for bankruptcy in Britain. A record 19,000 people went bankrupt in the UK between April and June this year.

There has been a significant increase in foreign bankruptcies declared in the UK because the bankruptcy laws here are far more lenient than those in other European counterparts.

Under the EU regulations, all EU citizens are able to travel freely around Europe and take advantage of local laws in whichever country they settle.

As a consequence, it is possible for overseas tourists to visit the UK and live here for a short while enabling them to take advantage of the somewhat lenient UK bankruptcy laws and effectively reduce the impact on them in the medium to longer term.

A citizen from Germany, who has declared themselves as bankrupt can completely escape their debts after just one-year in Britain, compared to seven in Germany.

Criteria for bankruptcy tourism

The only thing that 'bankruptcy tourists' have to do is prove their 'centre of main interest' - job and main residence - is in the UK and they are fee of debt after one year, which other European countries are obliged to recognise after changes to EU law in 2000.

Neil Smyth, an insolvency specialist and partner with law firm Taylor Wessing, said: "Our European offices have been approached by people seeking advice on this.

"If they have genuine reasons to move and genuinely want to establish a long-term residence in the UK, we are happy to advise them. However, if they are just thinking about moving here short-term to escape their debts, we will not assist.'"

Mr Smyth added: "This problem can only get worse with time as more and more people become unemployed across Europe and realise the disparity in bankruptcy laws between member states.

"We have even heard about companies setting up in Germany that set clients up with a temporary address and help them to jump through the various hoops to become bankrupt over here."