MOSCOW — When one of London’s premier soccer teams, Chelsea, took the field Saturday in an FA Cup final against Manchester United, the club’s billionaire Russian owner was mysteriously absent. Even after Chelsea won the game at Wembley Stadium in London 1-0, Roman Abramovich was nowhere to be seen.

A person close to the Russian oligarch said that his investor visa — initially valid for three years and four months and normally extended with ease after that every two years — expired at the end of April and that an application to renew it was taking far longer than usual. The British authorities have given no explanation, the person said.



This has fueled speculation that the British authorities may be pulling the welcome mat for wealthy, Kremlin-connected Russians like Mr. Abramovich who have made London their second home.

The British Home Office, the government department responsible for immigration issues, has not publicly commented on why it was taking so long. The security minister, Ben Wallace, said in an email on Sunday, “We do not routinely comment on individual cases.”