Category: News

Source: cyprus-mail.com

Published: 24 January 2022

The supreme court on Monday declared null and void a parliamentary resolution last April that had called on the attorney-general and the deputy attorney-general to abstain from taking legal action regarding the findings of a report into the citizenship-by-investment programme.

In a judgement, the top court said the House had overstepped its bounds and acted in contravention of the constitution.

On April 22, 2021 the House plenary had passed a resolution calling on attorney-general Giorgos Savvides and deputy attorney-general Savvas Angelides personally to recuse themselves from the process of assessing any criminal, disciplinary or administrative liability arising out of an interim report on the ‘golden passports’ affair.

The reason behind the parliament’s decision related to the fact that both Savvides and Angelides had served as members of the cabinet during a period of time covered by the interim report, which was produced by an independent committee of inquiry.

In effect, parliament was saying that Savvides and Angelides personally had a potential conflict of interest, and that they should leave the business of apportioning any liability to other officials in the Law Office of the Republic.

This relates to the fact that cabinet had the final say in approving or denying foreign nationals’ applications for a Cypriot passport under the now-defunct citizenship-by-investment scheme.

Savvides attended some of these cabinet meetings, having served as justice minister from May 31, 2019 to June 29, 2020; as did Angelides, the defence minister from March 1, 2018 to June 30, 2020.

The period covered by the passports’ investigation ran from 2007 to mid-August 2020.

In its resolution, the House had also called on the supreme court to act of its own initiative and dismiss Savvides and Angelides should they not comply with the parliamentary resolution.

In addition, parliament had proceeded to publish its resolution in the government gazette, in a bid to impart legal force to its decision.

On May 14, 2021 the attorney-general took recourse with the supreme court, challenging the legality of parliament’s action.

In its ruling Monday, the supreme court said the parliamentary resolution was void in principle, devoid of any legal effect and “it is therefore annulled in its entirety.”

The court dismissed parliament’s pre-trial motion that its resolution was purely political in nature.

Regarding the publication of the parliamentary resolution in the government gazette, the supreme court said this action had sought to “invest itself with the cloak of legal force” – but it was ultimately unconstitutional as parliament did not go through the president of the Republic before publishing the resolution.

“The [parliamentary] decision under judgement violates the powers of the attorney-general as enshrined in the constitution, interferes with his exclusive competences, and impinges on his authority, which is not subject to any control, as guaranteed by Articles 112-114 of the constitution.”

The committee of inquiry’s interim report on the ‘golden passports’ found that half of the 6,770 citizenships investigated had been granted outside of the enabling law and were therefore unlawful. As per procedure, the report was forwarded to the Law Office of the Republic to determine whether there were grounds for legal action.

Source: ec.europa.eu

Published: 12 January 2022

The Commission is proposing today a partial suspension of the application of the agreement with the Republic of Vanuatu allowing citizens of Vanuatu to travel to the EU without a visa for stays of up to 90 days in any 180-period. This is necessary to mitigate the risks posed by Vanuatu’s investor citizenship (or “golden passports”) schemes on the security of the EU and its Member States. Today’s proposal follows extensive exchanges with the authorities of Vanuatu, including prior warnings of the possibility of suspension. The schemes allow citizens of third countries to obtain Vanuatu citizenship – and thus also visa-free access to the EU – in exchange for a minimum investment of 130,000 USD.

Based on careful monitoring of the schemes and information received from Vanuatu, the Commission has concluded that Vanuatu’s investor citizenship schemes present serious deficiencies and security failures, with:

• The granting of citizenship to applicants listed in Interpol’s databases, which raises concerns about the reliability of the security screening;
• An average application processing time too short to allow for thorough screening; as well as no systematic exchange of information with the applicants’ country of origin or main past residence before citizenship is granted;
• A very low rejection rate: up until 2020, only one application was rejected;
• The countries of origin of successful applicants including countries that are visa-required for the EU, with some that are typically excluded from other citizenship schemes.

As a result, Vanuatu’s investor citizenship schemes allow individuals who would otherwise need a visa to travel to the EU to bypass the regular Schengen visa procedure and the in-depth assessment of individual migratory and security risks it entails.

Additionally, investor citizenship schemes operated by Vanuatu since 2015 are commercially promoted with the expressed purpose of granting visa-free access to the EU, while the visa waiver agreement is not aimed at allowing visa-required travellers to circumvent the visa requirement by acquiring Vanuatu citizenship.

The Commission has concluded on this basis that Vanuatu’s investor citizenship schemes present heightened risks for the security of the EU and its Member States and is therefore proposing a partial and proportionate suspension of the visa waiver agreement. The suspension would be applicable to all holders of ordinary passports issued as of 25 May 2015, when Vanuatu started issuing a substantial number of passports in exchange for investment. These holders would therefore no longer be allowed to travel to the EU without a visa (but would retain the possibility to apply for a visa to visit the EU).  

Next steps

It is now for the Council to examine this proposal and decide whether to partially suspend the visa waiver agreement. The European Parliament must be kept informed. If the Council decides to partially suspend the agreement, Vanuatu should be notified at least two months before the suspension is applied. During the period of partial suspension, the Commission must establish an enhanced dialogue with Vanuatu, with a view to eliminating or substantially mitigating the security risks for the EU and its Member States. Should Vanuatu introduce sufficient measures to this effect, the partial suspension should be lifted.

Background

Investor citizenship schemes in countries with visa-free access to the EU may have an impact on the visa-free regime, as they raise security risks.

The Commission’s report on investor citizenship schemes of January 2019 highlighted concerns about such schemes, in particular as regards security, infiltration of organised crime, money laundering, the financing of terrorism, tax evasion and corruption. In the report, the Commission also warned that the schemes could be used to circumvent the regular Schengen visa procedure and the in-depth risk assessment this procedure entails.

Since 2015, almost at the same time as the visa waiver agreement between the EU and Vanuatu was signed and started to apply provisionally, Vanuatu started operating investor citizenship schemes on an increasingly large scale, granting citizenship to a high numbers of applicants. The Commission has carefully monitored the schemes and collected information regarding their management, in particular as regards application requirements, security screening of applicants, exchange of information and statistics the on number of applications, the nationality of applicants and the rejection rate.

At meetings between the EU and Vanuatu held in April 2019 and April 2021, the EU referred again to the potential impact of Vanuatu’s investor citizenship schemes on the visa waiver agreement. On both occasions, the EU urged Vanuatu to immediately address possible risks of infiltration of organised crime, money laundering, tax evasion and corruption associated with such schemes. However, no substantial amendments were made to the schemes and in April 2021 the Government of Vanuatu even took additional steps to set up a new citizenship program.

All EU visa waiver agreements can be suspended on grounds of security or public policy concerns.

For More Information

Proposal for a Council Decision on the partial suspension of the application of the Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Vanuatu on the short-stay visa waiver

Q&A: Partial suspension of the Visa Waiver Agreement with Vanuatu

Visa waiver agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Vanuatu

Source: nordicmonitor.com

Published: 7 January 2022

The Turkish government has made significant changes to a regulation that grants Turkish citizenship in return for investment, the acquisition of property or a deposit of money in Turkish banks, which it has been implementing for a while to meet its foreign exchange needs.

According to an announcement by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the Official Gazette on Thursday, foreigners who want to become citizens of the Republic of Turkey will have to agree that they will not withdraw the money they deposit in Turkish banks or sell their properties for at least three years. The new regulation also promises new opportunities for investors who provide employment. Contrary to the old regulation, the amounts to be taken into account will be calculated only in US dollars or their equivalent in another foreign currency; thus, the expression “Turkish lira” has been removed from the regulation. This also means that the volatility of the Turkish lira against foreign currencies has been accepted by the government despite official statements to the contrary.

According to the new regulation, the Ministry of Industry and Technology will determine whether a foreigner makes a fixed capital investment of at least $500,000 or its equivalent in a foreign currency. 

Those who want to acquire citizenship through the purchase of a house or other real property will have to put an annotation in the land registry that their immovable properties worth at least $250,000 or the equivalent a foreign currency will not be sold for three years.  

Nordic Monitor previously reported that Turkey had launched a campaign to encourage the sale of real estate to foreigners to meet its foreign exchange needs. In addition, it was also announced that a one-year residence permit would be granted to foreigners who buy a house in Turkey, regardless of price. Turkish citizenship was promised to foreigners who bought real estate priced at $1 million. In 2019 this limit was reduced to $250,000, leading to an increase in housing sales.

In 2019 and 2020, according to official statistics, 7,500 foreigners acquired citizenship by purchasing real estate in Turkey. In the first six months of 2021 alone, 10,000 people obtained the right to acquire citizenship. The top 10 countries whose nationals have become Turkish citizens are Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, China, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Pakistan.

Foreign nationals who are deemed to have employed at least 50 people by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security will also be able to apply to become Turkish citizens.

Foreigners who are determined by the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency to have deposited at least $500,000 or the equivalent in foreign currency in banks operating in Turkey can also become citizens, provided that they do not withdraw the funds for three years.

Similarly, an individual who invests at least $500,0000 or its equivalent in mutual funds or real estate funds belonging to banks in Turkey will be able to become a citizen after confirmation by the authorities.

The most important change in the new regulation is that the money to be deposited in banks will be converted into lira and purchased by banks. In other words, they will contribute to meeting the foreign exchange needs of the Turkish Central Bank, which is currently struggling to contain a currency crisis.

Many people claim that these practices will make Turkey a black money paradise. Not being asked about the source of the money transferred to Turkey is one of the most criticized issues. Critics also state that similar practices are implemented by some European countries to encourage investment, but instead of granting citizenship, a residence permit is provided and the source of the funds is questioned by the authorities. It is also known that a considerable portion of the money brought into Turkey by foreigners does not come through banks, but by cash in suitcases. Unregistered money becomes legal by buying real estate or depositing it in a bank. As the economic crisis grows, how the incoming money enters the market loses its importance.

Turkey has hosted a record number of foreigners in recent years due to migration and by providing citizenship in return for money.

The number of foreigners living legally in Turkey in 2021 increased to a record level. According to official statistics obtained by Nordic Monitor, there were a total of 1,300,220 foreigners with residence permits in Turkey in 2021, compared to 886,652 in 2020. The most common type of residence permit was a short-term residence permit granted to 954,812 people. Foreigners who own real estate in Turkey and tourists who extended their stay most frequently applied for short-term residence permits. There are 114,732 people in Turkey with student residence permits. Foreign nationals who are married to a Turkish citizen or have children with them benefit from a family residence permit, which was given to 89,595 people in 2021.

Source: caribjournal.com

Published: 6 January 2022

Buyers seeking dual citizenship in the Caribbean will be pleased to know that St. Lucia’s Citizenship by Invest Program (CIP) recently announced it has extended its special COVID-19 offer through the end of 2022.  

St. Lucia’s CIP is currently offering one of the most affordable second passport options for families with its temporary special COVID-19 offer, which includes a reduction of $40,000. 

This offer gives potential investors the chance to purchase a non-interest-bearing government bond for just $250,000. That is half the original price, or $500,000, of its usual bond investment, for a single applicant with $30,000 added on as an administrative fee.  

Applicants can add dependents to the application for the exact same price. Tajma Brown, marketing officer for St. Lucia’s Citizenship by Investment Program, told Caribbean Journal Invest (CJI) that there is no time limit on when the “add-on dependents” can apply for citizenship.  

Add-on dependents may include a child born, or legally adopted, after the application was made by the citizen or the spouse of the citizen who was married after the application was made by the citizen. 

However, already existing qualifying dependents (a spouse, a child, a parent, a sibling, etc.) of a person who were granted citizenship, will have a maximum of five years after the application had been made by the citizen to make their application for citizenship. 

St. Lucia’s CIP is the newest of the five such programs offered in the Caribbean. It is also one of the cheapest, with a minimum outlay of just $100,000.

Aside from purchasing non-interest-bearing government bonds, other ways buyers can obtain citizenship in St. Lucia is by making an investment into the National Economic Fund and making an investment into an approved enterprise project.

St. Lucia’s CIP is one of the most straightforward in terms of ease and speed of passport processing, said Brown.

Source: in-cyprus.philenews.com

Published: 21 December 2021

Disgraced ex parliamentary speaker Demetris Syllouris will most likely be prosecuted for serious offences, Philenews reported on Tuesday citing insiders.

Syllouris was filmed by Al Jazeera last year while promising to make the Cyprus passport issuance procedure easier for fictitious investors with a criminal record.

An insider said police have rounded up investigations and handed a massive file to the Attorney General’s office a week ago.

Suggestions include the criminal prosecution of a number of people for very serious offences – that of conspiracy as well. Amongst them is the former right-wing MP and second-ranking official, added the insider.

Investigations began in October 2020 following a video by Al Jazeera’s undercover video showing Syllouris and former Opposition Akel MP Christakis Giovanis offering help to a fictitious Chinese businessman with a criminal record.

The aims was for him to secure citizenship through the Mediterranean island’s controversial citizenship for investment programme which was abolished just after the scandal.

The legal action against five individuals and four legal entities was taken based on the findings of an ad hoc committee. They were facing a total of 37 charges.

Nicosia had long faced pressure from the EBrussels to reform the scheme over concerns it may have helped organised crime gangs infiltrate the European Union.

Cyprus had argued the investment was essential following the island’s 2013 economic meltdown.

Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

Published: 16 December 2021

The EB-5 program has always been a topic of discussion and chaos among highly influential investors. Though the EB-5 program has enjoyed a good history, it also had its share of issues and controversies that many investors find difficult to fathom.

This article will discuss some of the most common assumptions that investors may have regarding the EB-5 visa, especially after the program has been put on a “pause” as the deadline to extend the visa by the U.S Congress ended on June 30.

EB-5 Program Expired or Not?
No, it’s not. EB-5 investors who wish to invest in a non-regional center can continue submitting their I-526 petitions for approval in exchange for conditional and unconditional green cards. Please understand that only the EB-5 regional center program has expired. Though, it’s also true that most applications in the last decade have been submitted through regional centers only. The lapse does affect these applicants.

EB-5 Investor Immigration Component

A proposed law includes an EB-5 investor immigration component to renew the Regional Center EB-5 program. There is speculation that a sum of $750,000 will be required as a minimum investment in all EB-5 programs. Investors can come to the U.S temporarily while they await the approval of their EB-5 petitions. There will also be a premium processing option for them. If the bill is passed, the USCIS will resume its operations and accept new applications.

Reauthorization of the EB-5 Program
Many stakeholders hope that the EB-5 regional center will soon be attached to its continuing resolution, and the program will be reauthorized once again. We are optimistic that the reauthorization will happen in February 2022. It is also possible that the deadline will be extended for another 2-3 months. This will depend on the action on the consensus draft in the Senate. More members have expressed their support for the Grassley, Leahy bill to address fraud and national security vulnerabilities in the EB-5 investor visa Regional Center Program been exploited and abused for years.

Please be assured that the U.S is not going to get rid of the EB-5 regional center program. The program will continue to act as a critical component of the U.S.’s economic prosperity. The EB-5 industry has been working proactively with Congress and the key decision-makers to make suitable amendments to the program and fix flaws that invite fraud and abuse.

The current status of pending I-526 forms. What will happen to them?
This is probably the biggest question raised by alien investors with pending I-526 petitions. On October 4, 2021, USCIS updated its website and notified the users about the current lapse of the EB-5 Regional Center Program.

It further confirmed that no applications would be accepted under the regional center unless Congress has reauthorized the program. The same will hold for Form I-485 applications which permit adjustment of status to permanent residence.

USCIS also said that for any Form I-526 applications and I-485 applications pending as of June 30, 2021, USCIS will put these applications on hold until December 31, 2021. USCIS will monitor these applications based on the progress of legislation before the U.S. Congress. If Congress fails to adopt any reauthorization by December 31, 2021, the USCIS could reject pending I-526 petitions.

However, Congress may pass a new EB-5 bill while addressing the issue of grandfathering the current investors. They are in the middle of completing their application process based on the rules that were in place before the lapse happened.

Current regime- The minimum investment amount
The immigrant investor must invest sufficient capital in a new commercial enterprise that generates at least ten jobs for Americans. They must invest at least $1,000,000 in general or $500,000 in a targeted employment area. This is applicable for petitions filed before November 21, 2019. Post this date, the amounts are $1,800,000 or $900,000, respectively, and automatically increase October 1, 2024, and every five years after that.

How does regional center expiration affect quota dates?
All direct EB-5 petitions will have an impact because of the lapse. All regional centers have halted their operations because of the expiration or until the program is reinstated. Ten thousand visas are issued annually, and no country gets over 7% of all visas or 700 slots. While China had been the most significant source of EB-5 petitions for a long time, applications from India have also picked up since 2017.

So, applicants will not face the quota backlog if the program gets reauthorized. Though the quota backlog will be extensive, USCIS will still process them based on the latest amendments.

Source: iiusa.org

Published: 3 December 2021

Yesterday (3 Dec 2021) Congress passed a “continuing resolution” (CR) until February 18, 2022, to keep the U.S. government-funded and operational. By design, CRs are simple measures intended to instruct the U.S. Treasury to continue paying the government’s operation costs. That “simple” instruction, however, is critical to the government’s stability. In the absence of any comprehensive appropriation bill, failure to pass a CR leads to a federal government shut-down. Therefore, any CR is seen as a “must-pass” bill. “Must-pass” bills in turn attract hosts of other legislative items to assure their passage too.

As we head into 2022, IIUSA continues to work with its industry colleagues and Capitol Hill offices to include the Regional Center Program reauthorization on a CR. Yesterday’s CR, however, was “clean,” meaning it did not include any other legislative provisions for any other directives, including the EB-5 Regional Center Program. It is a disappointing outcome, but definitively NOT the end of the process. Yesterday’s CR will expire on February 18 requiring Congress to once again pass either another CR or finally pass the comprehensive appropriations (spending) bills reflecting each agencies’ new funding levels and spending priorities.

IIUSA will continue to work with all parties to finally secure a reauthorization as part of the next spending measure that “must-pass” once again on February 18.

Source: channelstv.com

Published: 1 December 2021

International migration rose last year despite the dramatic impact of the Covid pandemic on migration patterns, including restrictions blocking many from crossing borders, the United Nations said Wednesday.

In a fresh report, the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said the number of international migrants grew to 281 million in 2020, or 3.6 percent of the global population.

That marks an increase from the 272 million international migrants counted in 2019, when they made up 3.5 percent of all people in the world.

And it is nearly 200 million more than in 1970, when a mere 84 million international migrants were tallied, accounting for 2.3 percent of the global population.

But the IOM stressed that there would have been another two million international migrants last year had it not been for the pandemic, which made it far more complicated to move across borders.

Covid-19, the report said, acted as “a great disrupter” to migration and mobility around the world.

During the first year of the pandemic alone, some 108,000 travel restrictions were introduced, while the number of air passengers globally plunged 60 percent to 1.8 billion, down from 4.5 billion in 2019.

Covid “undoubtedly changed the world, and it has touched every aspect of migration,” report author Marie McAuliffe told journalists prior to the launch.

“It definitely had an impact on migration. And it definitely had a downward impact on mobility.”

At the same time as international migration growth has slowed, UN figures show that displacement within countries due to disasters, conflicts and violence soared last year.

Around 40.5 million people were forced to flee internally in 2020, up from 31.5 million a year earlier.

That brought the total number of people living in internal displacement to 55 million by the end of 2020, up from 51 million a year earlier.

“We are witnessing a paradox not seen before in human history,” IOM chief Antonio Vitorino said in a statement.

“While billions of people have been effectively grounded by Covid-19, tens of millions of others have been displaced within their own countries.”

Source: thenationalnews.com

Published: 26 October 2021

The UAE’s 10-year golden visa is the most cherished ticket in the regional entertainment industry.

Ever since the government scheme was introduced in 2019 to attract investors, it has been expanded to also acknowledge the cultural contributions made by creatives, including actors, singers and composers, spanning the Arab world and beyond.

From Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan to Lebanese pop stars Elissa and Najwa Karam, here are 32 cultural personalities, in no particular order, who have been granted the golden visa.

1. Mohammed Ramadan

2. Shah Rukh Khan

3. Ragheb Alama

4. Izu Ani

5. Elissa

6. Najwa Karam

7. Reif Othman

8. Ola Farahat

9. Mohamed Sami and Mai Omar

10. Marwan Khoury

11. Nadine Nassib Njeim

12. Nelly Karim

13. Kosai Khauli

14. Walid Toufic

15. Sanjay Dutt

16. Annabella Hilal

17. Karen Wazen

18. Latifa El Arfaoui

19. Ali Kanaan

20. Hany Shaker

21. Jessy Abdo

22. Myriam Fares

23. Mohanlal

24. Mammootty

25. Tovino Thomas

26. Suniel Shetty

27. Prithviraj Sukumaran

28. Sonu Nigam

29. Safia Alemary

30. Karim Fahmi

31. Boney Kapoor

32. Imad Benaomar

33. Giorgio Armani

34. Ali Zafar

35. Fakhr-e-Alam