Category: News

Residence- and citizenship by investment (RCBI) laws allow the sale of passports with negligible or zero naturalization requirements. Any country may consider RCBI, holding recourse to its international recognition as a state to create, tap into, and leverage the asset of citizenship.

In times of pandemics, physically spending prolonged periods in any given place may have become a factor no longer to be avoided but, rather, one that is now actually aimed-at. Physical presence and time in a safe place have regained renewed importance, and so has the bordered paradigm and the claim of the nation-state over a globalized world.

The pandemic is emphasizing the importance of local, physical, and territorial presence. Medium- and long-term strategic relocations have become the subject of renewed focus. In other words, the intentions of those buying passports today may have shifted.

Preparing for a potential deluge
The objective of amplifying visa-free travel opportunities may, in times of pandemics, take a back seat to considerations pertaining to actual relocation. What this means is that, when the music starts again, there may be a sudden – albeit only temporary – influx of actual immigrants, including physical relocations from one place to another, for which small island state RCBI nations, especially, should prepare now.

How do small island havens in the South Pacific fare in terms of RCBI and in view of the pandemic? In Vanuatu, as gazetted, the state of emergency for – initially – cyclone Harold and now only COVID19 has been further extended until December 31st, 2020, and borders remain closed until then, with exceptions for repatriations and the like, subject to controlled quarantining.

One needs to hold no recourse to prophecies to be able to predict that the new world, post-COVID, may likely see the need for expedient economic recovery, which in turn could incent non-RCBI hold-out countries to now seriously consider engaging in the practice. In such case, global (new) market logic of RCBI would have become self-validating through a global crisis, stepping up its game to challenge the conventional systems of bordered power and control, potentially supercharging RCBI globally in unprecedented ways.

Here, in RCBI terms, the ‘value’ of high-demand passports from countries that never even had any case of outbreaks of the virus in their territory may perhaps be on the rise. The list of countries that seem to be without a current case of COVID19 is, regrettably, very short but includes Vanuatu, as well as the Solomon Islands, Samoa, Kiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia, Tonga, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Tuvalu, and Nauru.

Supply-side growth?
Passport sales are nothing new to the region and the early proto-CBI schemes had a problematic past, which is important knowledge if only for realizing how far the field has come in terms of improvements.

One specific question for safety over mobility is the opening of borders and the potential for a sudden influx of actual passport holders into non-COVID19 small island states’ territories.

Take the rather isolated small island state of Nauru, for example: Having depleted its natural resources of phosphate unsustainably, the country today relies heavily on U.S. license payments for fishing rights within its exclusive economic zone (Nauru is a party to the U.S.-Pacific Islands Multilateral Tuna Fisheries Treaty) and on the operation of regional processing centres for asylum seekers to Australia, rather than real estate or tourism.

What if Nauru had revamped an actual, workable RCBI program today (learning from the flaws of the early schemes including its own), selling passports in the thousands? It would now need to urgently consider a factor that was perhaps less pressing pre-COVID: Actual physical territory available to new citizens and residents (vis-à-vis the infinite political space vested in the legal matrix, only conceptually linking the person to the State). Had Nauru sold large numbers of passports today, would the nation’s infrastructure actually be able to accommodate all those that may have initially bought the passport for visa-free travel alone?

Or take a country like Saint Kitts & Nevis, home to just 54,000 people. Should the citizens that have naturalized through its CIP, only a tiny fraction of whom reside in the island nation, decide to actually move there, the country’s population would effectively grow by nearly 40%.

Is the infrastructure prepared for a potential deluge of new residents?
In the unique circumstances of small island states, in particular, special care needs to be taken when establishing RCBI programs: Among the many considerations should perhaps be the now no longer merely theoretical but pressing question: Not what if, but when will there be an influx of larger numbers of passport purchasers (the ceiling is: all purchasers past and present at any one time), focussing on exercising their right to residence, possibly appearing virtually overnight upon the re-opening of borders?

All RCBI countries, but especially the small island nations without COVID cases, may now need to urgently consider strategies for the time after any re-opening of the borders. Again, these numbers could now include those who may, before pandemics, have never had the intention to reside, but had merely purchased to increase global mobility in form of visa-free access into other countries. This issue is then heightened with any sudden movements and developments triggered by upcoming visa-waiver agreements, and, most likely, by further pandemic waves.

In times before the pandemic, it was often uncertain whether a passport purchaser would ever set foot in the country of sale, let alone move there on a permanent basis. The margins of space and time as to RCBI arrivals were a conundrum.

Today, small, COVID-free nations should – by now – have developed certain capacities to deal with that issue, assuming that there may perhaps be an RCBI-specific “pandemic run” as soon as borders re-open. This, again, only considers existing passport holders, not even counting new purchasers as well as all other (ordinary) visa holders. For example, if (or, better, when) a non-pandemic small island state in the Pacific is to re-open its borders to the world, all care should be taken so that the entire infrastructure is not becoming challenged overnight, not least the existing system of healthcare.

An important consideration for the moment is that COVID-free status alone may not necessarily equate a safe place overall, including safety from the pandemic. As John Koetsier opines, the ranking of actually safe places depends on overall infrastructure and ‘[i]sn’t what most people expect: it’s not just about how many infections there are right now, or how many deaths COVID-19 has already caused. Rather, it’s about a complex series of assessments on multiple medical, economic, and political factors.’ However, any such rankings referred to (ie. in this case, the report by Deep Knowledge Group), as Koetsier admits, may again be contentious or circumstantial.

To summarise: In a post-COVID world, there could now be a shift in the balance between the seeking of safe havens and of global mobility, with safety now potentially on the rise, both from the individual’s perspective of strategic relocation and the selling state’s perspective of infrastructure. From the perspective of Pacific safe havens, and the logic of lock-down safety, there may then be no sudden re-openings until the global threat of COVID19 is somewhat contained, which is, regrettably, an indeterminate factor.

Source: imidaily.com
Published: 23 September 2020

The number of British entrepreneurs looking to “buy” citizenship from countries offering visa-free access to the European Union has risen sharply, investment migration firms say, as prospects of a post-Brexit trade deal between Britain and the bloc darken.

Investment immigration firm Astons said it had seen a 50% and 30% year-on-year increase in interest from clients seeking Cypriot or Greek citizenship respectively this quarter, less than four months before UK passport-holders are likely to lose their rights to freedom of movement across the EU.

Henley & Partners also reported a rise in requests for advice on investment migration applications to Malta, Portugal, Austria and several Caribbean islands, which offer a range of residency rights, visa-free travel to the EU and citizenship to investors in local business or property.

Citizens of certain Caribbean sovereign states including St Lucia and St Kitts & Nevis also enjoy preferred access to the EU, thanks to close ties with EU members as a result of historic, diplomatic and modern trade agreements.

“This isn’t about tourists. This is the UK high net worth community that have a constant need to travel to and spend significant time in the EU,” said Henley & Partners director Paddy Blewer.

“This is investment migration as a volatility hedge and a component in a high net worth portfolio value defence strategy,” he said, adding that volumes of client engagement were higher now than immediately after the 2016 Brexit vote.

Interest in additional citizenships is rising even as the European Commission examines possible steps to curb EU states selling passports and visas to wealthy foreigners, due to concerns it can help organised crime groups.

Cypriot residency can be secured in two months with a 300,000 euro ($351,870) property purchase. Securing citizenship takes six months and requires a minimum property investment of 2 million euros.

In December, Reuters reported that Cyprus government documents showed several donors to Britain’s ruling Conservative Party donors had sought citizenship of the island since the 2016 Brexit referendum.

“Both Cypriot and Caribbean investments are proving very popular … primarily driven by high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) from the UK who have an eye on the future and life after Brexit,” said Astons spokesman Konstantin Kaminskiy.

CARIBBEAN DREAM

Henley & Partners said its volume of engagement with clients seeking alternative citizenship or residence by investment climbed 40% in the first quarter of 2020 versus Q1 2019, before flattening during the COVID-19 lockdown in Q2.

But interest has rallied since July 1, with a 15% year-on-year increase in engagement to Sept. 10, as the end of the Brexit transition phase nears.

Henley & Partners’ Blewer said clients were increasingly drawn to Caribbean citizenship applications – which is likely to give them better travel access to the EU than Britain – but which have a lower minimum investment and a quicker approval process.

Saint Lucia citizenship, offering visa-free travel to 146 countries, can be obtained in around four months for a minimum investment of 76,152 pounds, data supplied by Astons showed.

For less than 40,000 pounds more, investors can obtain citizenship of St. Kitts & Nevis – and visa-free travel to 156 countries – in around 60 days.

In contrast, Malta offers citizenship in exchange for around 1 million pounds of investment, but the process takes up to 14 months.

Portugal, meanwhile, typically processes investment migration applications in three months but only grants EU residency to investors and visa-fee travel to just 26 countries.

“With HNWIs, time is often more important than what is essentially a small fluctuation in cost and many are looking to secure additional citizenship as fast as possible in the pandemic landscape,” Arthur Sarkisian, managing director of Astons, said.

EU authorities are under pressure to clamp down on investment migration programmes by member states.

Sven Giegold, a member of the European Parliament from Germany’s Green party, said these kind of citizenship sales “posed a serious threat to EU security and the fight against corruption” in the bloc.

“EU passports and visas are not a commodity. Money must not be the criterion for citizenship and residence rights in the EU,” he said.

Source: reuters.com
Published: 24 September 2020

A crackdown raises questions about citizenship the EU would rather not answer.

An EU passport is one of the most desirable documents on the planet. Its bearer can live and work in 27 different countries, all of them prosperous and peaceful. Many have excellent food, too. In the birthright lottery of citizenship, those with a burgundy ticket marked “European Union” are among the lucky winners. Putting a pricetag on this is hard, but Cyprus has managed it. Invest €2.2m ($2.6m) in the island and a Cypriot passport with all the benefits of eu citizenship can be yours. Malta runs a similar (and, at just over €1m, rather cheaper) scheme for anyone tired of travelling with papers that open fewer doors.

Not everyone thinks this is a good idea. In a recent speech Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission’s president, mentioned such “golden passports” as one of a list of threats to the rule of law in Europe, alongside judge-nobbling. Her annoyance is understandable. Since anyone with an eu passport can move anywhere in the bloc, a quick buck for the Cypriot government can create problems for the rest of the eu. Cyprus has made €7bn from the scheme since its launch in 2013, which amounts to a quarter of the island’s annual gdp. It has sold passports to plenty of rich but disagreeable folk, who are now free to settle in Germany or France.

Banning such sales would be popular. But it is no simple matter. Deciding who is and is not a citizen is a jealously guarded right of eu member states. All eu countries issue passports for reasons beyond the bog-standard naturalisation of those who marry a local or live in the country in question long enough to qualify. Some countries hand them out to curry favour with diasporas, atone for historic wrongs or create new voters. Being an eu citizen may come with common rights. But there is stark disagreement among the member states as to who should be allowed to be one.

Some eu countries, particularly those with large diasporas, dish out the burgundy like a wine wholesaler at Christmas. Ireland allows anyone with an Irish grandparent to claim Irish citizenship. Given Irish enthusiasm for emigration, this leaves an uncountable number of potential Irish abroad. In Britain alone, an estimated 6m people would qualify for an Irish passport. That is about 20% more than live in Ireland, and thanks to Brexit, many have good cause to apply for one. Italy is even more generous to its diaspora. Anyone with a male Italian ancestor has a shot at an Italian passport. Along the patrilineal line, there is no upper limit, so the right goes back to 1861 and the creation of Italy. (The rights of descendents of women only start in 1948.) Between 1998 and 2010, 1m people obtained an Italian passport in this way. According to one estimate, 60m potential Italian citizens lurk around the globe. (However, many have settled in even richer places, such as America, and are unlikely to return.)

Passports can be given out for political purposes. Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, has been the most cunning in this regard. After the first world war redrew eastern Europe’s borders, ethnic Hungarians were left scattered across neighbouring countries, such as Serbia and Romania. Mr Orban’s government has eased citizenship rules in an attempt to naturalise and enfranchise 1m of them. Between 2011 and 2016, 180,000 new Hungarians were created every year—more than the number of naturalisations in France and Germany, according to Yossi Harpaz in “Citizenship 2.0”, a book on dual nationality. Anyone who can trace lineage back to the right part of the Austro-Hungarian empire and is willing to learn Hungarian—a notoriously difficult language—can claim a passport. (Predictably, Hungarian language schools have popped up across Serbia.) The strategy has worked: when these new Hungarian citizens vote, they overwhelmingly support Mr Orban.

Offering citizenship as a form of atonement is common. Austria, which normally restricts dual nationality, now allows descendants of Jews who were expelled, or fled, during the 1930s and 1940s to claim a passport. A similar right can be found in Germany, where it is embedded in the country’s constitution. Spain goes back even further, allowing descendants of Sephardic Jews kicked out in the 15th century to reclaim Spanish citizenship. (Descendants of Muslims kicked out in the same period have no such luck.)

A few countries take the opposite path and hoard their passports. Along with Austria, the Netherlands and Germany both have strict rules on dual-nationals from outside the eu. In the days when citizens were regularly conscripted to butcher their neighbours, restrictions on dual citizenship made sense. Now they seem outdated, serving only to leave immigrants—who may not want to give up their other nationality—as perpetual outsiders.

Who are EU then?

If passports can be seen either as a commodity or political tool, on the one hand, or a life-long civic commitment on the other, devising common rules for handing them out is close to impossible. Although member states are happy to slam Malta and Cyprus, they do not appreciate criticism of how they themselves distribute citizenship. Some may balk at the idea of limiting dual nationality. Others may be uncomfortable with the unknown size of the Irish and Italian diasporas who could turn up as eu citizens. How countries seek to atone for the Holocaust is a deeply inappropriate question for an eu ruling. A clear definition of who qualifies for an eu passport is the obvious next step for any passport-selling ban; it is also a nightmare.

An Al Capone approach may be enough for the eu to crack down on the current schemes operated by Malta and Cyprus. Rather than stop them from selling passports outright, Brussels could pursue them via money-laundering legislation and make life difficult for the dodgier newcomers. But a determined state—and some canny lawyers—could keep the golden passport trade going. Granting citizenship is a huge power and member states are unlikely to give it up. That means they will probably have to tolerate their neighbours selling passports to plutocrats.

Source: economist.com
Published: 26 September 2020

To establish a working group to assist the IMC with drafting a ‘Code of Standards for Responsible Advertising and Marketing’

Published: 23 September 2020

Deadline: 7 October 2020

Background:

The IMC is researching the possibility of establishing a comprehensive set of standards for responsible advertising and marketing of investment migration programmes. Such standards would enhance our governance system that is already in place through the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and the Anti Bribery and Corruption Policy, and would be applicable to all IMC members.

The aim of the IMC Advertising and Marketing Code would be twofold: to contribute towards global standardisation of advertising and marketing standards in the field of investment migration; and to ensure responsible and truthful presentation of investment migration programmes around the world.

The Advertising and Marketing Code would build on thorough research on the subject matter, as well as on the experiences and best practices of the IMC members.

Who is invited?

This call for expression of interest is primarily intended for IMC Members who have experience with advertising and marketing of investment migration programmes. Other interested parties, including representatives of governments, international organisations, and the civil sector, are also encouraged to register their interest to participate in the work of the working group.

How to register?

By email: info@investmentmigration.org

Subject line: ‘Advertising and Marketing Code Working Group‘

Closing date for applications is the 7^th October 2020 for an immediate start through a virtual environment.

Many U.S. citizens whose families immigrated from Europe are eligible, and the pandemic has caused an uptick in applications.

Growing up in Chicago, Juliana Calistri was surrounded by all things Italian: music, food and language. Ms. Calistri’s grandparents were raised in Bagni di Lucca, Italy, and though her father was born in Chicago, he spoke Italian before he spoke English.

“If you ask me to bake, I’m going to make biscotti and lemon knots, not chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies,” Ms. Calistri, 46, said from her home in Nashville. “Being Italian has always been my identity.”

Ms. Calistri, a claims advocate for a brokerage firm, always wanted to live abroad, but thought gaining Italian citizenship would be impossible. According to Italian laws, women could only pass their citizenship to their children after 1948, when Italy’s current constitution came into effect. Ms. Calistri’s father was born in 1947, so he did not inherit citizenship from his mother. His father gave his Italian citizenship up when he was naturalized in the United States.

In May, Ms. Calistri began working with a life coach, who pushed her to look up the laws again. Ms. Calistri discovered that since a landmark ruling was made in 2009, people have been contesting the 1948 maternal lineage law in court, and winning.

She decided to apply. “The pandemic really allowed me to get to basics,” Ms. Calistri said. “You look at what you need in life and what’s most important. It’s my family and not things. This identity and this culture is exactly who and what I am.”

When Ms. Calistri contacted Italian Citizenship Assistance, an agency that helps people acquire Italian passports, she joined hundreds of other people who have reached out to the agency during the last few months, said Marco Permunian, the founder. “We have seen the number of people who contacted us between May and now increase by five times from last year,” Mr. Permunian said. His team of 48 is overwhelmed. “We’re getting so many requests, we’re not even able to handle them all.”

Ms. Calistri plans to move to Italy with her 9-year-old daughter and her 73-year-old mother as soon as she receives her new passport. “It’s such a me-first attitude here, and there’s no sense of unity,” Ms. Calistri said.

As the pandemic has ravaged the United States, some Americans are finding that a second citizenship or permanent residency has a renewed appeal. “Even the most basic things have become politicized,” said Anjelica Triola, 34, a director of marketing at Wethos, a company that helps freelancers grow their businesses, who also has Italian heritage.

She brought up protective masks as an example. “My father’s parents came here to be free, and there is an entire generation that are trying to go back now to pursue similar freedoms,” she said.

Some see it as a kind of insurance policy, a way to ensure freedom of movement in the future. Newfound free time at home has enabled others to engage in a laborious application process they have had on their to-do lists for years.

The Golden Visa

There are two paths to acquiring a second passport that don’t require living or working abroad: spending a lot of money or proving that you have inherited an ancestor’s nationality.

Many countries offer residence visas to people who invest in them, a type of program that is colloquially referred to as “The Golden Visa.” Some nations, like Cyprus, St. Lucia, Grenada, Malta, Turkey and Montenegro, offer citizenship to people who buy property within their borders or invest.

Every country has its own rules. In Cyprus, the government takes about eight to 12 months to process a passport application made through investment, whereas in Montenegro it can take as little as three months, according to Henley & Partners, a British-based law firm that advises high-net-worth clients on these types of programs.

“The pandemic has been terrible in so many ways,” said Paddy Blewer, the director of Henley & Partners U.K. and the group director of public relations. “For lots of our clients, it has been the tipping point for, ‘I’ve been thinking about doing this, but now I really understand how significant volatility can be around the world and I need options.’”

Mr. Blewer said that Henley & Partners has seen one and a half times as many inquiries from January to April of this year as during the same period last year. Those who secure the services of Henley & Partners pay anywhere from 20,000 euros, or $24,000, to €500,000, depending on the complexity of the case.

Families are considering eligibility costs, speed of application approval, and education and health care policies in the various countries.

Freedom of movement is also important. Arton Capital, an advisory firm specializing in investment-based citizenship or residency, has a tool that ranks passports based on different factors, like the mobility they afford their holders. Look up the U.S. passport on the Passport Index today, and you will see that Americans can travel easily to 87 countries. In 2019, that number was 171.

“The drop of American passports over 50 percent in terms of mobility was a wake-up call for a lot of families,” said Armand Arton, the founder of Arton Capital. “The almighty U.S. passport is not as powerful as it used to be.”

Time and Patience

People who are born in the United States are automatically citizens. In many other countries, nationality is passed from parents to their children. In terms of dual citizenship, this has meant people who are descendants of immigrants from some countries can claim citizenship in those countries if they can prove that the lineage has not been broken over a certain number of generations.

Descendants of Latvian citizens who fled the country during the German or Soviet occupations, for example, can apply to have their citizenship reinstated there today, said Evgeny Belyaev, whose law firm offers citizenship and immigration services in Riga, a city in Latvia. People of Italian descent, of whom there are about 16.5 million in the United States, can restore their Italian citizenship through parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents.

Applying for heritage-based citizenship has become popular among Americans with roots in some countries. But in most of the world, heritage-based citizenship is more difficult or less advantageous for a U.S. passport holder to obtain, because nationality is passed only from parent to child, because the country does not allow dual citizenship (which means the American would have to renounce her U.S. citizenship) or because the second passport does not offer benefits like expanded travel options or free education.

The practice of establishing a second nationality has risen in the past few months.

“I see how European people have really stepped up to take a collective problem and work together toward achieving the goal, i.e. of getting rid of the virus,” said Susan Periharos, who began her application process for Greek citizenship about four weeks ago. “The pandemic pretty much clinched it for me.”

Ms. Periharos said she is not fleeing the United States, but she sees certain advantages of having a second passport: She and her husband will be able to travel to Greece even if there are entry bans for Americans in the future, and with a passport from a country in the Schengen zone, her children will be able to live and work in most of Europe.

Andreas Politis, who works as a managing associate for Christina Mantas & Associates, which is helping Ms. Periharos with her case, said that the firm has seen about a threefold increase in the number of people who want to apply for a Greek passport.

“A lot of it is people who come back to Greece almost every year, and they want to make sure they can come back to their families in the future,” Mr. Politis said. Most American citizens are currently banned from entering Greece because of the coronavirus. “Traveling to Greece with a U.S. passport is usually very easy. Before, it didn’t make sense to apply for a Greek passport. Now it does.”

Mr. Politis said that Christina Mantas and Associates charges clients seeking Greek citizenship 600 euros, or $700, to €2,000 for the firm’s help. The process can take from three months to three years. Mr. Permunian’s agency charges an average client about $6,000 for support from beginning to the end.

As part of a heritage-based application, people usually have to submit birth certificates, naturalization records from the United States, and marriage and divorce records. The process takes time and patience.

“With Covid, the world has paused a little bit,” said Bianca Ottone, the founder of My Italian Family, which has been providing citizenship services since 2001. Ms. Ottone said the number of people contacting her company has gone up by about 50 percent during the past six months. “Many people contacted us saying, ‘remember we discussed this in 2018 or 2019?’” she said. “It was in their pipeline and now is the time to pick it up.”

A Different Lifestyle

Ms. Triola, the director of marketing for Wethos, started looking into getting Italian citizenship in 2018 but let the project fall to the wayside after running into some difficulties with obtaining her grandparents’ marriage certificate and with mismatched names on documents from the United States and from Italy. But recently, Ms. Triola decided to pick her application up again.

“It feels as if there is more freedom if you are an E.U. citizen,” said Ms. Triola, who lives in Los Angeles. “I haven’t pursued graduate school because I can’t justify putting myself $100,000 in debt to get a master’s degree or a Ph.D. If I were to do that as an E.U. citizen, that could be entirely free.”

Affordable health care and guaranteed paid parental leave are other advantages to having an Italian citizenship, she said. Ms. Triola, 34, does not expect to see these benefits in the United States anytime soon. The current political atmosphere, she said, makes her “skeptical that we will achieve the things we need to achieve to live comfortably here.”

Dave Gallo, 73, a retiree in San Francisco, began the application process for Italian citizenship in 2017 and was approved in February of this year. The pandemic has confirmed that he made the right choice, he said. Despite the age difference, his reasoning is not all that different from Ms. Triola’s.

“In San Francisco, there’s nothing for old people except nursing homes,” Mr. Gallo said. After visiting Italy for the first time in 2015, Mr. Gallo discovered seven cousins who live there. As soon as he is able to, Mr. Gallo plans to move to the town in north Italy from which his grandfather came to America. There is little traffic there, the cost of living is cheaper, it is surrounded by vineyards, and Mr. Gallo said he finds it easier to connect with people there.

“The pandemic has created so much uncertainty that no one knows what life will be like for the next 10 to 15 years,” Mr. Gallo said. “For an old person, it’ll be even more difficult. Where do I want to spend the rest of my life?” For Mr. Gallo, the answer is clear: Italy.

Source: nytimes.com
Published: 20 August 2020

Vanuatu’s Development Support Program aims to become the first CIP to allow stateless people to apply for citizenship by investment.

Vanuatu Lifestyle (the trade name of VAN-LS Ltd), a company that’s also registered as an accredited agent for the Vanuatu Development Support Program (DSP), has obtained a three-year exclusive license to handle applications from people who have no current citizenship. See the license, signed by the Chairman of the Citizenship Commission.

Malta-based RCBI-specialist Discus Holdings will be VAN-LS’ marketing agent. IMI reached out to Laszlo Kiss, Managing Director of Discus Holdings, who explained that considerable work still remained before Vanuatu would begin receiving applications from the stateless but that he hoped he would see the first applicants before the end of the year.

“Processing applications from stateless people is a little bit different than processing ones from people who are citizens of somewhere,” Kiss points out. “In the majority of cases, stateless people are able to obtain most but not all of the documents required from ordinary applicants. Furthermore, the list of documents that are and are not obtainable by stateless individuals will depend on their country of residence. What we now have to formulate for Vanuatu is a list of what documentation should be required from stateless applicants from different countries, a process that will take a lot of work.”

An example of what Kiss refers to would be a stateless person in, for example, Estonia, who might be perfectly able to provide bank records, prove their source of wealth, and demonstrate a clean criminal record, but who is not able to provide a certified copy of their passport, simply because they don’t have one. In such cases, the evaluation of the applicant would take into account local circumstances and limitations and ask for alternative forms of documentation.

There is plenty of precedence in the CBI-industry for such use of discretion to account for local circumstances. Many Chinese CBI-applicants, for example, if born outside of that country’s major cities in the decades leading up to the 1990s, don’t have birth certificates. Many programs, therefore, wave that requirement for this particular nationality, making up for it by asking for alternative forms of proof.

But Kiss also emphasizes that there will be limits to how flexible Vanuatu can be in their understanding of local obstacles facing stateless applicants.

“For example, there are stateless people from certain countries that are not even able to obtain police records. In these cases, there are no adequate workarounds, so such clients would not be eligible.”

VAN-LS and Discus Holdings will now work with the government of Vanuatu to define documentary requirements for stateless applicants from different countries, a comprehensive task.

Stateless people will be able to apply for citizenship on the same price terms as ordinary DSP applicants (US$130,000 for a single applicant, US$80,000 of which goes into government coffers), although Kiss indicates there will likely be a slightly higher due diligence fee to account for the additional work involved in vetting those who have no existing citizenships.

The biggest untapped CBI-market

Stateless investors, taken as an aggregate, constitute a big market. Most estimates place the number of stateless worldwide at around 15 million. Even if only one percent of them have the means to participate in a CIP, that’s still 150,000 applications, or about half the total HNWI population of the entire continent of Africa.

While, in 2016, Kuwait entered into an agreement with Comoros to buy citizenships in bulk for its own stateless population, there is no historical precedent for a CIP accepting stateless applicants. As Vanuatu prepares to blaze that trail, its authorities are adopting the “Dengian” approach of crossing the river by feeling the stones. As a consequence, Ronald Warsal – Chairman of Vanuatu’s Citizenship Commission – has only authorized VAN-LS to process a maximum of 300 applications from stateless individuals.

“The government is prudent and wishes to move forward cautiously on this in the beginning,” comments Kiss, but adds that, if everything goes well, he expects that number to increase later. “If it works and everything is clean and transparent, I see no reason why it should not be expanded.”

Other CBI-jurisdictions have also publicly indicated they are looking at the possibility of accommodating stateless applicants. In March this year, Antigua hinted it was working on ways to permit stateless applicants from Brunei, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. “This list is subject to review and may be expanded or amended as necessary,” said the Antigua & Barbuda CIU at the time.

Asked whether he believes Vanuatu’s project, if successful, could become a template for other CBI-countries, Kiss says “yes, I think so.”

Source: imidaily.com
Published: 11 September 2020

The government of Dominica has announced that it will be launching the Entrepreneur Visa, designed to recognize the government’s interest in providing a unique status to applicants who make a significant financial investment in the country.

The visa platform is also designed to ‘add valuable foreign direct investment into the private sector. Moreover, it clearly defines the requirements for the grant of a residency permit via investment in an effort to encourage further investment into the island. Finally, this program represents additional avenues for engagement with investors who are looking for options beyond the Citizenship by Investment Program .’

For the fourth consecutive year , the Commonwealth of Dominica was ranked as offering the world’s No. 1 Citizenship by Investment Programme, according to the 2020 CBI Index, published by FT’s PWM magazine.
Last month, prime minister Roosevelt Skerrit introduced five major changes to CBI programme , described the new policy as ‘groundbreaking’ on Monday, stating, ‘Dominica reduced the qualifying fund contribution for a family of four from US$200,000 to US$175,000, comprising the main applicant, their spouse and two dependants other than a sibling.’

On June 24, the government of the Commonwealth of Dominica expanded the definition of ‘dependant’ under its Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programme. The changes allow main applicants to add previously unqualifying adult children, parents, grandparents, and siblings. All dependants aged 16 or over must still pass due diligence checks to qualify.

Entrepreneur visa platform

The client applying for the entrepreneur visa receives a 2-year residency permit, which will be issued within 45 days of approval, and can apply for naturalization after said two years, provided he meets all the criteria.

The applicant has three options with respect to investment:

Invest a minimum of 50,000 USD in an existing government-approved company through the Investment Fund.

Invest a minimum of USD$100,000 in a new startup business locally registered in the Commonwealth of Dominica employing at least three full-time employees.

Invest in a government-approved public sector or private sector venture as an equity investor.

The requirements

Make of a deposit of a minimum amount of USD$ 100,000 in a local financial institution (please note that the funds may be used from Dominica and depleted during the residency period);

Spend a minimum of 90 days out of 365 days per year in the country.

Benefits of entrepreneur visa

Pathway to Dominica naturalization (visa-free travel to 140 countries including Schengen);

Permanent residence for the whole family, including children under 21 years old;
Fast processing time;

Favourable tax regime;

Peaceful and clean environment, low pollution;

Great quality of life set amidst a tropical climate;

Political stability;

Great program for those who continue to live abroad but desire an alternate country of residence for themselves and their family members, for tax planning and other purposes;

Visa-free travel to CARICOM countries;

Ease of doing business in the Caribbean and beyond;

Investors will have real KYC value add from being real contributing members of a society in which they are intending to become citizens and are residents.

Source: menafn.com
Published: 8 September 2020

COVID-19 has shifted the factors people consider when deciding where they live, and many are increasingly looking to establish residence or citizenship for their families in an alternative jurisdiction. This blog looks at their options.

The world has faced a series of unexpected challenges in 2020. The coronavirus pandemic continues to have a wide-ranging health and economic impact worldwide, while political issues, both national and geopolitical, are creating ongoing global uncertainty. In an increasingly interconnected world, how are these global challenges affecting people’s decisions about where they “choose” to live?

Investment migration and the global landscape

COVID-19 has shifted the factors people consider when deciding where they live, and many are increasingly looking to establish residence or citizenship for their families in an alternative jurisdiction. Several factors are informing their strategy:

Increased focus on healthcare: People are concerned with how governments are seen to be handling the health impact of the pandemic. There is a desire to live in a country identified as competent and with a resilient healthcare system

Impact on travel: The pandemic has caused significant disruption to international travel, with citizens of certain countries (in particular, the United States) facing travel bans or prohibitive quarantine requirements. Citizenship of a country that more easily facilitates global travel is increasingly attractive, especially to those with business concerns overseas

Global political and social instability: The upcoming U.S. Presidential election, the remaining uncertainty surrounding a Brexit trade deal and wide-ranging geopolitical instability are focussing people’s attention on strategic planning and risk management for themselves and their families. Residence or citizenship in an alternative jurisdiction can provide the flexibility and adaptability needed to protect business and wealth in response to unexpected economic, political and health changes

There are a variety of investment migration options available to enable people to achieve these aims.

Investment migration programmes worldwide

Investor citizenship and residence programmes offer individuals the ability to acquire citizenship based on a significant investment in that country. So, where are individuals currently looking to establish residence or citizenship and what are the options available to them?

The well-known Citizenship by Investment programmes in the Caribbean offer a relatively quick route to citizenship, with a comparatively low investment threshold (as little as USD 150,000 in Grenada) and no physical residence required. However, investors are increasingly seeking greater benefits from an alternative citizenship than is offered by the Caribbean countries and are focusing heavily on the Citizenship by Investment programmes in the EU, primarily Cyprus, Malta and Portugal.

Cyprus requires a minimum investment of €2 million (typically in property) and has worked extensively to address historic reputational concerns and stress the importance of the integrity of their programme. The first iteration of Malta’s 2014 Individual Investor programme recently reached its cap and closed to new applicants. The programme raised over €1 billion in revenue and the Maltese government has confirmed its plans to introduce a new programme in September 2020, with the terms of the programme expected imminently. Portugal also offers a popular and effective residence by investment programme requiring a minimum investment of €350,000 or €500,000 (depending on the location of the investment) in property, and recently delayed plans to force investment outside of the most popular locations such as Lisbon and Porto – perhaps reflecting an understanding of the increasingly competitive nature of global investment migration programmes. While minimal physical residence is required for applicants to obtain permanent residence, they are required to spend at least five years in Portugal, with onerous residence requirements, to obtain Portuguese citizenship.

The EU is seen as a comparatively stable region with relatively sound health care systems and governance, and free movement rights also offer people the ability to live and do business in any country throughout the EU. In a coronavirus dominated world, many people (for example, U.S. citizens and British citizens who will soon lose their free movement rights) are viewing these benefits as critical to their ability to effectively manage their wealth, safety and business worldwide.

“Safe havens” and emerging jurisdictions

Investors are also looking at new and emerging destinations, including so-called “safe havens,” in which it would be possible to self-isolate comfortably in the event the pandemic worsens. In 2017, Vanuatu (a set of Commonwealth islands in the South Pacific close to Australia and New Zealand) introduced a citizenship by investment programme which has recently attracted significant interest. The programme requires a minimum, non-recoverable contribution of USD 160,000 to the Government of Vanuatu and personal net assets of USD 250,000, and therefore compares favourably with most other programmes in terms of cost.

By contrast, Montenegro offers Citizenship by Investment with a minimum investment of USD 250,000 or USD 450,000 (depending on the location of the investment). Montenegro is an EU candidate country due to ascend to the EU in 2025, at which point its citizens would benefit from free movement rights. The European Commission is aware of the Montenegro citizenship programme and has not raised any objection in its annual reports. While there is, of course, uncertainty as to whether the programme will close before Montenegro ascends to the EU, interest from investors in the programme reflects the extent and importance of long-term strategic planning when considering an alternative citizenship or residence.

The importance of strategic planning

Now, more than ever, an alternative residence or citizenship is seen as providing the flexibility and security individuals are seeking considering the coronavirus pandemic and ongoing geopolitical instability. We have seen a shift in favour of the EU citizenship by investment programmes in Malta and Cyprus, together with the emergence of programmes in “safe haven” island nations and central European jurisdictions such as Montenegro.

In carrying out strategic planning, investors and their families are broadening their search worldwide, creating a more competitive investment migration landscape. The reputation of a particular jurisdiction’s investment migration programme is a critical part of any investor’s planning, and countries will need to ensure their programmes remain subject to stringent due diligence checks and protect against the risk of being undermined by illicit practices.

Source: fragomen.com
Published: 2 September 2020

A leak of government documents obtained by Al Jazeera has revealed that the Republic of Cyprus sold citizenship to dozens of people, many of whom are linked to crime and corruption, through the Cyprus Investment Program (CIP). These documents are now known as the Cyprus Papers and include over 1,400 approved applications to the CIP. The program allows people to purchase a Cypriot passport by investing at least 2.15 million euros into the economy through activities such as the acquisition of real estate. Purchasing a Cypriot passport could be of interest to individuals with restricted access to Europe as Cyprus is a member of the European Union, giving passport holders unrestricted travel, work, and banking in all 27 EU member states. Cypriot passports also allow travel to 174 countries, making it desirable for those from nations where visa-free travel is difficult or restricted. For these reasons, Cypriot passports have been nicknamed “golden passports.”

The CIP began in 2013 in order to keep the nation’s economy from going under and the country has since made over seven billion euros from it. The 1,400 approved CIP applications obtained by Al Jazeera were submitted over a two year period between 2017 and 2019. Some applications include family members, bringing the total number of granted EU passports to about 2,500 people from over 70 countries. In order to be eligible for receiving a Cypriot passport under the CIP, applicants have to prove that they have never been under investigation, faced criminal charges, or had any past criminal convictions. However, as it is up to the applicants themselves to establish this information, it is not necessarily verified by anyone before applicants are approved for the CIP.

In their reports on the Cyprus Papers, Al Jazeera found that among the approved CIP applications, were many individuals who have been convicted of fraud, money laundering, and even individuals who are political figures accused of corruption in their home countries. There were also known politically exposed persons who were approved for the CIP. Politically exposed persons are globally recognized as individuals who may be at a higher risk of corruption because they or members of their family hold a form of government position. An example is Mir Rahman Rahmani, speaker of Afghanistan’s Lower House of Parliament, who purchased Cypriot citizenship for himself, his wife, and their three daughters. Rahmani’s election to speaker of the house was scrutinized by his opponents for allegedly involving vote-rigging. More examples of politically exposed persons who purchased Cypriot passports are Pham Phu Quoc, representative of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnamese Congress, and Igor Reva, former Russian deputy minister for economic development.

According to Laure Brillaud, senior policy officer of anti-corruption NGO Transparency International, the purchasing of Cypriot citizenship by politically exposed persons has the potential to be problematic. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Brillaud said that “[Politically exposed persons] have access to public resources, they can be sitting on a government contract and be in a position to make decisions, so it presents a high financial risk they are being corrupted or corrupting others.” As reported by Al Jazeera, none of the leaked documents prove any wrongdoing or criminal activities of politically exposed persons, but it is worth questioning why officials holding positions of public office in their countries of origin would seek an additional passport for themselves or their family members. Furthermore, it begs the question as to how these public officials obtained a vast sum of 2.15 million euros needed to acquire Cypriot citizenship.

Since Al Jazeera published the leaked Cyprus Papers, the CIP has garnered international criticism. The European Commission as well as multiple anti-corruption NGOs have called for the CIP to be phased out and claim that the program has facilitated the laundering of stolen assets from Russia and other countries. They also say that the program has eroded trust in European financial institutions.

The government of Cyprus says it has tightened its rules regarding the CIP as of May 2019, and in July 2020, parliament passed a law giving the government the power to strip naturalized Cypriots of their citizenship within 10 years of buying their Cypriot passport if they are found guilty of serious crimes, are wanted by Interpol, or if they are subject to sanctions. This comes after multiple scandals involving Cypriot passport purchasers were publicized. Additionally, Cyprus is reviewing all past CIP applications and has announced that about 30 people will be losing their citizenship but did not publicly name those individuals. It should be noted that this new law will not apply to any politically exposed persons who have already secured their golden passport. In comments to Al Jazeera, Cypriot Member of Parliament Eleni Mavrou stated that “the way the program was implemented the last few years was obviously a procedure that allowed cases for which the Republic of Cyprus should be ashamed.”

The CIP can be seen as a success for the Republic of Cyprus. It accomplished what it was set out to do: boost the Cypriot economy, and it did so by over 7 billion euros since its creation in 2013. However, it has simultaneously acted as a backdoor entrance into the EU for very wealthy individuals who may be involved in illicit activities both in their countries of origin and internationally. As discussed, Cypriot citizenship provides the ability to live, travel, and work freely in EU member states, and beyond that allows for visa-free travel to 174 countries. By giving wealthy, potentially corrupt or criminal, people this vast access, it could put a large number of civilians in harm’s way. It could also potentially put the citizens of a Cypriot passport holder’s home country at risk, as politically exposed persons often hold keys to large sums of taxpayer money. The European Union itself has criticized the CIP as a security risk multiple times since the program’s founding.

It is important that going forward the government of Cyprus continues to tighten guidelines on who is permitted to purchase Cypriot citizenship via the CIP. Individuals who participate in illicit or corrupt activity should not be allowed to buy the access a Cypriot passport provides simply because they have the wealth to do so, especially if that creates a security risk for the EU. Furthermore, previously approved CIP applications should be reevaluated and those found to be participating in criminal or corrupt activities should have their citizenship revoked. If the Republic of Cyprus chooses to continue the CIP, they should be wary of granting golden passports to any politically exposed persons.  What the Cyprus Papers exposed is that the CIP was an easy way for corrupt wealthy individuals to protect themselves, and therefore had the potential to act as a medium for more corruption to take place. If the Republic of Cyprus sees the CIP as a necessary part of their economic policy, they must understand the responsibility they have to thoroughly and critically vet all applicants to the program.

Source: theowp.org
Published: 26 August 2020

An international fundraising effort has begun in France to fund a legal challenge to lower the cost to Americans of renouncing their US citizenship.

For most people who move countries the focus is on obtaining citizenship of their new country, which gives them all sorts of extra rights foreigners do not have.

The majority of countries allow people to hold dual nationality – although India is a notable exception – so you can simply add another nationality to the one you were born into.

But for Americans their US citizenship – while conferring many privileges – can be a problem for those who choose to make their permanent home outside the USA.

This problem is particularly acute for the ‘Accidental Americans’ – people who have very little connection to the USA, have lived most of their lives outside it and may not even speak English – but who still have US citizenship through being born there.

This wouldn’t be a problem except that US citizenship brings with it certain obligations – such as filing a tax return in the USA even if you have never worked or earned money there – and certain problems, particularly around opened foreign bank accounts thanks to a piece of legislation called FATCA.

They may then consider renouncing their citizenship, before discovering that this process is complicated and very expensive.

The waiver alone costs $2,350 and since it’s so complicated many people also have to pay for legal advice to make sure they have got it right. Getting the process wrong potentially can potentially lead to fines or an ‘exit tax’.

Fabien Leharge, the French head of the Association of Accidental Americans, said: “To return to a normal life, without discrimination, most accidental Americans would like to renounce their US citizenship, but many cannot afford to do so.

“The waiver procedure alone costs $2,350, which is an exorbitant amount.

“The legal argument goes like this: the right to renounce one’s citizenship is a fundamental right protected by the US constitution. By imposing a disproportionately high fee upon accidental Americans (this also applies to American expatriates) to exercise that right, the US Government and in particular the Department of State is unlawfully infringing upon and abridging the fundamental right to expatriate.

“It is clear that a victory would have a significant impact on number of people are giving up their US citizenship.”

Source: thelocal.fr
Published: 27 August 2020