Russian-born billionaire Roman Abramovich has been granted Israeli citizenship following a recent souring of relations between Moscow and London.

Abramovich, who has been the Chelsea football club owner since 2003, applied for Israeli citizenship after Theresa May began applying restraints on oligarchs in an ongoing row with Vladimir Putin.

The 51-year old businessman has been caught up in the issues following the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury.

It was reported that Roman Abramovich landed his $56 million custom-adapted Boeing 767 airliner in Tel Aviv on Monday due to his British visa taking 'longer than usual' to renew.

Abramovich was able to apply for Israeli citizenship due to the Law of Return which has been in place since 1950, and allows people born to a Jewish mother, or who have converted to Judaism to become an Israeli citizen.

In 1970 the law was extended to allow Jews to gain citizenship if their parent, grandparent, or spouse is Jewish.

The Chelsea-owner, who is now worth US$ 11.5 billion, was born to Lithuanian Jewish parents and so was eligible to apply for an Israeli passport, and a spokesperson for the Nativ Liaison Bureau confirmed the Tycoon's application when speaking to Channel 10 news: "Roman Abramovich arrived at the Israeli embassy in Moscow like any other person," as per the Daily Mail.

"He filed a request to receive an immigration permit, his documents were checked according to the Law of Return, and he was indeed found eligible."

Roman Abramovich owns a £125 million Kensington mansion and has been a victim of Whitehall crackdowns on Russian applications with 'unexplained foreign wealth', but also owns a former hotel in Neve Tzedek in Israel and has previously made generous donations to Israeli-based charities, such as a £60 million donation to the Sheba Medical Center and a £30 million to the Tel Aviv University.

Due to the Russian-Israeli's delayed British visa, he was unable to see his team beat Manchester United to the FA Cup earlier in the month.

But the latest development would allow the Chelsea owner to return to the UK for short stays.