Category: News

To access the data sheet on the Portugal (GRP) program results as of 31st July 2016, please click here.

The global roll out of the Home Office’s Access UK visit visa

service is now complete.

In 2014 the Home Office introduced a new digital application service for customers in China to apply for visitor visas online.

Following its successful launch, Access UK has now been made available for customers applying to visit the UK in over 180 countries and 10 languages. Over half a million visitor visa applications have been received so far by the new service.

Access UK means visa customers can:

• make quicker visa applications using an intuitive online form
• use easy-to-follow checklists and steps which list the documents required to make an application
• apply flexibly using any mobile device

Simon Peachey, UK Visas and Immigration’s Director of International Visa Operations, said:

“I’m delighted to report that this global roll-out has been achieved on time and without compromising on the quality of the service.”

The service will be rolled out to a further 13 lower volume locations over the coming weeks. Locations such as the Falkland Islands have unique application processes and are not yet able to use Access UK.

Access UK will replace the Visa4UK website, as part of the Home Office’s commitment to making it more convenient, quicker and easier for customers to apply for visas.

 

Source: Home Office and UK Visas & Immigration
Posted: August 2016

 

LONDON — Until Britain voted to leave the European Union, Philip Levine never thought deeply about his Jewish heritage.

But looking for a way to ensure that he could still work and live in Europe once Britain leaves the bloc, Mr. Levine, 35, who was born in Britain and lives in London, decided to do what some Jews, including his relatives, might consider unthinkable: apply for German citizenship.

He did so by employing a provision of German law that has been on the books since 1949 but that has been little used in recent years. It allows anyone whom the Nazis stripped of their German citizenship “on political, racial or religious grounds” from Jan. 30, 1933, to May 8, 1945, and their descendants, to have their citizenship restored. Most of those who lost their citizenship during that period were Jews, though they also included other minorities and political opponents.

He is not alone in turning to the German law after Britain’s decision to end its membership in the European Union, also known as Brexit. Since the vote in June, the German embassy in London said it had received at least 400 requests from Britons for information about German citizenship under a legal provision known as Article 116.

At least 100 are formal applications by individuals or families, said Knud Noelle, an embassy official. “We expect more in coming weeks,” he said, adding that the embassy normally receives roughly 20 such applications every year.

The interest among British Jews is far greater than ever before, said Michael Newman, the chief executive of the Association of Jewish Refugees, who said that he, too, was considering applying for German citizenship. The association is based in London.

“I don’t remember hearing of requests before” for German citizenship in the association’s 75-year-old history, he said. “It’s taken Brexit to do this. It was a game-changer.”

The development is among the most surprising techniques being used by British and European citizens as they seek a second passport that would allow them to retain their ability to travel, work and live anywhere in the bloc even after Britain’s departure is complete sometime in the next several years.

People from the Continent living in Britain, Britons living in Europe and Britons living at home but eager to retain the benefits of European citizenship are investigating their heritage, considering marriage, studying residency requirements and otherwise searching for legal paths to get around the effects of the British vote.

“I didn’t realize how simple it is,” Mr. Levine said of the application process for German citizenship, adding that he had done it initially for practical reasons and because his brother brought it up. “It’s literally a back door” into Europe.

Britain allows dual citizenship, and Jews interviewed for this article said they planned to keep their British nationality. They said they had no immediate plans to move to Germany, either. Rather, German citizenship would allow them to keep traveling visa-free inside the European Union and maintain other benefits of belonging to Europe.

Many British Jews, especially the younger generations, are comfortable with Germany, which they say has done enough to confront its past.

Richard Ferrer, the editor of Jewish News, which is based in London, said he did not plan to apply for German citizenship, but only because he was a “born and bred Brit.” Germany has done everything in its power to right its past wrongs, he said. “I’m very pro-German and I’m very happy with Germany,” he said.

But if the process of applying for citizenship is straightforward, it is wrapped in complex questions of identity and statehood that tore Europe apart in the last century, one more unintended consequence of Britain’s decision to go its own way after more than 20 years in the union.

In Mr. Levine’s case, his grandparents fled Germany in 1939, at the start of World War II. They kept their documents, including old passports and entry visas into Britain, which are necessary for the application process.

About 70,000 Jews from Germany, Austria and the former Czechoslovakia arrived in Britain before 1939, Mr. Newman said. But they were regarded with suspicion by the British authorities. Many were held in internment camps in places like the Isle of Wight, often together with pro-Nazi Germans who had also decided to resettle in Britain.

After the Nazi Party was declared the only legal party in Germany, the government passed a law to strip individual Jews of their German citizenship, with their names listed in the Reich Law Gazette. Jews living abroad lost their citizenship in November 1941. As deportations began and the first extermination camps were being built, Jews were stripped of their assets, leaving many stranded in Germany because their passports had been nullified.

For some of the British Jews now applying for German citizenship, the process has led them to confront, for the first time, a painful family history. Some American Jews are going through the same process, albeit without the additional incentive provided by Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union.

Mr. Levine is an artist and uses his shaved head as a canvas for what he calls headism, artwork intended to raise awareness of mental health issues. He grew up feeling very British, but has also traveled extensively across Europe and has many German friends. His grandparents avoided talking about Nazi Germany — and he did not ask.

Not long ago, for the first time, Mr. Levine held in his hands a passport belonging to his grandfather, a large red “J” stamped on the cover to signify “Jude,” German for Jew. His aunt, who kept the document, also showed him a Nazi government letter notifying his grandfather that one of his names had been changed to sound more Jewish.

In the space of a couple of weeks, as Mr. Levine asked questions and dug around his family archives, what was originally a practical decision took on a more personal meaning.

“My reaction became — I want to spite the Nazis,” said Mr. Levine, who asked some of his German friends to translate the letter because he does not speak German. They, too, expressed outrage over its contents. It was only then that he fully realized his part in history, he said, and felt that “now I can do something about it.”

Thomas Harding is another Jewish Briton applying for German citizenship. “I feel much more comfortable about Germany and Germans,” he said.

Thomas Harding is another Jewish Briton applying for German citizenship. “I feel much more comfortable about Germany and Germans,” he said.

When Britain announced it was leaving Europe, “I felt really distressed,” he said. “I felt like I was losing something.”

The great-grandson of Alfred Alexander, a prominent doctor in Berlin whose patients included Albert Einstein and Marlene Dietrich, Mr. Harding, 48, said that his desire for citizenship stemmed from a project to restore his great-grandfather’s home, which was seized by the Nazis and only recently returned to the family.

The summer house, on Berlin’s westernmost border in Gross Glienicke, Germany, and near what used to be a Nazi airfield, was awarded a landmark status in 2014 and turned into a memorial for truth and reconciliation.

The project was the focus of his recently published book, “The House by the Lake.” Villagers of Gross Glienicke had initially reached out to him for a separate project researching the village’s Jewish families, including his.

In the beginning, “I still had a lot of antagonism toward Germany and the Germans,” Mr. Harding said. “I was very distrustful.”

But as his relationship with the villagers deepened, work on the house progressed and a tentative friendship blossomed, “it gave me the confidence of walking through the door,” he said. “And they welcomed me through.”

His attitude toward Germany brightened further when it began accepting hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. “I was very grateful to the Germans, because I think it was incredibly brave, very difficult, very controversial, but the right decision,” he said.

His sister, who lives in Germany and is married to a Syrian Kurd, brought over their Syrian relatives earlier this year.

Mr. Harding said he felt a sense of wonder at how history is an endless repetition. “This is not about Germans or Jews or Syrians,” he said. “This is a human condition. This is going to happen all the time.”

That all came to a head at 9 a.m. on June 23, he said, barely two hours after Britain finished tallying the vote to leave the European Union. “I thought, ‘O.K., I actually do not want to be apart from Europe,’” Mr. Harding recalled telling himself.

“I love the fact that I’m not applying for citizenship — I’m having my citizenship restored,” he said. “It’s in the initial basic law when Germany was created. I just think that is so powerful.”

Source: NY Times
Posted: August 2016

On July 13, 2016, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund concluded the consideration of the 2016 discussion on the common policies of member countries of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union.
The regional recovery is gaining ground, supported by continued low oil prices, strong tourism arrivals, and robust citizenship-by-investment receipts. Three failed banks have been resolved with no spillovers to the rest of the region and fiscal management has improved.

Executive Board Assessment
Executive Directors welcomed the authorities’ progress in addressing key challenges and the regional economic recovery, which is gradually gaining ground supported by strong external demand, low oil prices, and buoyant citizenship by investment receipts. Risks to the near term outlook are balanced, but growth in the ECCU continues to be hindered by weak competitiveness, banking sector fragilities, susceptibility to natural disasters, and large public debt. In this context, Directors encouraged the authorities to press ahead with sound macroeconomic policies and structural reforms to decisively address these issues and strengthen the conditions for robust long term growth.

Directors commended the decisive actions taken to strengthen the resilience of the banking system. In particular, they welcomed the passing of key banking legislation, and the successful resolution of three insolvent banks. With non-performing loans still elevated and credit continuing to decline, Directors stressed the importance of swift action to help banks clean up their balance sheets and resume lending. Specifically, they recommended quickly operationalizing the regional asset management company and moving ahead with regional foreclosure legislation. While Directors generally supported eliminating the minimum saving deposit rate, a few stressed the importance of accompanying this reform with measures to enhance the financial safety net and to avoid discouraging saving and reducing financial inclusion.

Directors encouraged the authorities to promote consolidation within the regional indigenous banking system to strengthen its long run viability and help lower the risk of further withdrawal of correspondent banking relationships (CBRs) from the region. They agreed that efforts to strengthen frameworks for international tax cooperation and for anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism should be complemented by continued engagement with international partners in order to mitigate the risk of further loss of CBRs. Directors supported further work in this area by the Fund to assist its members, and encouraged increased global cooperation to address this issue.

Directors welcomed the improvements in fiscal discipline, and emphasized that stronger action is needed to achieve the regional debt target of 60 percent of GDP by 2030. In particular, they recommended formulating detailed medium term fiscal adjustment plans and underpinning them with fiscal rules as well as continued enhancements to public finance management frameworks. Given the region’s vulnerability to natural disasters, Directors generally underscored the importance of internalizing those costs in the fiscal policy frameworks. They also encouraged the authorities to develop a strong, regionally accepted set of principles and guidelines for citizenship by investment programs in order to enhance their sustainability.

Directors noted that the quasi currency board arrangement continues to serve the ECCU well by fostering price stability, and that international reserve levels exceed most of the Fund’s reserve adequacy benchmarks. To improve international competitiveness, they encouraged the authorities to pursue structural reforms that reduce the costs of doing business. In this context, Directors commended the initiatives to reduce energy costs-particularly investments in renewable energy sources-and recommended policies to moderate labor costs, improve resilience to natural disasters, and deepen regional collaboration.
Directors recommended improving statistics and data provision in order to enhance economic analysis and better support policy making.

Directors agreed that the views they expressed today will form part of their discussions in the context of the Article IV consultations with individual ECCU members that will take place until the next Board discussion of ECCU common policies.

Source: IMF Communications Department
Date: 12 August 2016

To access the data sheet on the Portugal (GRP) program results as of 30th June 2016, please click here.

Fees for getting a passport through the Dominica CIP will increase for individuals and families wishing to apply for citizenship

If you’ve been thinking of getting a second passport, one of the countries that offers this facility is hiking up the price.

The cost of Dominica citizenship fees is set to increase starting 1st of August. This will impact all applicants who were planning to get a second passport of this country through investment programmes.

The donation amount to participate in the Government Fund for the Dominica Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP) will increase for individuals and families wishing to apply for citizenship via the government fund investment route, confirmed the government.

The new price structure will be as follows:

$175,000 for a single applicant (currently $100,000)

$225,000 for an applicant and spouse (currently $175,000)

$225,000 for an applicant and up to two children below 18 years (currently $200,000)

$250,000 for applicant, spouse, and up to two children below 18 years (currently $200,000, plus $50,000 per additional dependent) and

$50,000 for any additional dependent (this remains the same).

As a citizen of Dominica, you have the advantage of international mobility. Currently, passport holders can use their citizenship for visa-free travel to over 90 countries, including to the United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong and Ireland. Dominica will shortly also be able to offer visa-free travel to the European Schengen states.

There is minimal taxation – no wealth, gift, inheritance, foreign income or capital gains tax in the country. The successful applicants get full residence status, with the right to live and work in Dominica and there is no requirement to reside in Dominica before or after citizenship is granted. The country permits dual citizenship.

The Citizenship by Investment Programme allows foreign investors to obtain full legal citizenship and passports for an investor and their family where the investor has made a significant investment in Dominica which qualifies under the Citizenship by Investment Regulations.

Currently, the qualifying investments are a contribution to the Government Fund of a minimum amount of $100,000 or the purchase of a property to the value of $200,000.

Posted: 27 June 2016
Source: emirates247.com

To access the data sheet on the Portugal (GRP) program results as of 31st May 2016, please click here.

To access the data sheet on the Portugal (GRP) program results as of 30th April 2016, please click here.

On Wednesday April 20th, IIUSA hosted its 11th Annual General Membership Meeting (“AGM”) in Washington, D.C., kicking off the 9th Annual EB-5 Advocacy Conference, the longest running EB-5 conference attended by international investment and economic development professionals around the world.

The IIUSA membership elected one new officer and three new directors to the board. Stephen Strnisha, CEO of Cleveland International Fund, was chosen as the new Secretary-Treasurer, while Daniel J. Healy, CEO, Civitas Capital Group, Charles Foster, Chairman, Foster Global LLP and Kyle Walker, Managing Partner, Green Card Fund, LLC were elected to the board of directors.

In addition, Robert G. Honts, CEO, Texas Lone Star Enterprises, accepted the honorary position of Secretary-Treasurer Emeritus and William P. Gresser, President, EB-5 New York State Regional Center, accepted the honorary position of Director Emeritus.

In addition, IIUSA recently appointed new committee chairs for three of its 10 standing committees. The 2016-2017 chairs are:  William P. Gresser (Public Policy Committee), President, EB-5 New York State Regional Center, Kristen Laughlin (Membership Committee) CMO, Cleveland International Fund and Daniel B. Lundy, Partner, Klasko Immigration Law Partners & Mark Roberts, VP, Alliance Bank of Arizona (Co-Chairs, Banking Committee).

 

Re-Elected (Officers): 

President: K. David Andersson, CEO, WORC Regional Centers (2010-Present)

• Member Since: 2006
• Director (2007-2010)
• President (2010-current)
• President’s Advisory Council (2011-current)
• Company Webpage: www.eb5worc.com 

Vice President: Robert C. Divine, Chair of Global Immigration Practice, Baker Donelson Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, P.C. (2010-Present)

• Member Since: 2010
• Vice President (2010- current)
• President’s Advisory Council (2011-current)
• Public Policy Regulations Task Force (2014- current)
• Company Webpage: www.bakerdonelson.com

 

Newly Elected (Officer): 

Secretary-Treasurer: Stephen Strnisha, CEO, Cleveland International Fund  

• Member Since: 2012
• Public Policy Committee Chair (2015-2016)
• Company Webpage: clevelandinternationalfund.com

 

Newly Elected (Directors): 

Charles Foster, Chairman, Foster LLP 

• Member since: 2009
• Company Webpage: www.fosterglobal.com

Daniel J. Healy, CEO, Civitas Capital Group

• Member since: 2011
• Best Practices Committee Chair (2013-2015)
• Nominations Committee Chair (2013)
• Presidents Advisory Council (2014-Current)
• Company Webpage: www.civitascapital.com

Kyle Walker, Managing Partner, Green Card Fund LLC 

• Member Since: 2010
• Chair Membership Committee (2013-2016)
• Presidents Advisory Council (2013-Present)
• Company Webpage: greencardfund.com

 

New Emeritus Officers & Directors:

Secretary-Treasurer Emeritus: Robert G. Honts, CEO, Lone Star Enterprises

• Member Since: 2009
• Secretary-Treasurer (2010-2016)
• President’s Advisory Council
  (2011-current)
• Chair, Budget & Finance Committee (2010-current)
• Chair, Bylaws Committee (2011-present)
• Association Building Committee (2014-current)
• Chair, Membership, Dues, Bylaws Committee (2010-2011)
• Editorial Committee (2014-present)
• Company Webpage: texaslonestarenterpriseseb5.com

 

Newly-Appointed Committee Chairs 

In addition to changes listed above, IIUSA would like to announce the appointment of new committee chairs three of its 10 standing committees.

Public Policy: William P. Gresser, President, EB-5 New York State Regional Center

Membership: Kristen Laughlin, Chief Marketing Officer, Cleveland International Fund 

Banking: Daniel B. Lundy, Klasko Immigration Law Partners & Mark Roberts, VP, Specialty Banking Manager, Alliance Bank of Arizona

 

A full listing of each IIUSA committee, along with their respective charter, can be found here. IIUSA committees convene on a monthly basis and report to the membership at the annual membership meeting in Washington, DC each spring.
If you are interested in serving on an IIUSA Committee, please carefully review the Committee Participation and Policy Agreement and fill out the Committee Interest Form.

 

 

Posted: 27 April 2016
Source: IIUSA

The St. Lucia government is strongly defending its Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP) in the face of harsh criticism from an expert in residence and citizenship planning, who described it as poorly designed and lacking transparency and said his firm declined a contract to be a marketing agent for it.

In a statement seeking to correct “misconceptions and inaccuracies” about St. Lucia’s economic citizenship programme in an interview with Managing Partner at Henley and Partners, Dr. Juerg Steffen, the Citizenship by Investment Board stood by the CIP.

Asked to give his impression of St. Lucia’s CIP, Steffen had said in the interview published on the firm’s website, that “the programme as it appears now is not well designed and has a number of issues, including structural problems and the lack of transparency”.

He identified several fundamental problems, and the Citizenship by Investment Board responded to them. Of particular concern was his claim that “there has been no transparency or open tender process” for engaging agencies to market the CIP.

The Board said a selective tendering process was used where three recognized marketing agents were invited to make presentations to Board and the names of those selected – Arton Capital, CS Global Partners and Henley and Partners – were published as required by law.

“The Citizenship by Investment Board will not publish details of contracts entered into with any of its service providers, just as it will not publish the details of negotiations and communications with Henley and Partners. To do so would be unprofessional, even as it serves to illustrate that Steffen’s comments represent a new position which had not been previously expressed to us,” it said.

The Board said that Henley and Partners, which had expressed a desire to be the exclusive marketing agent, declined to partner on the progamme.

In his interview, Steffer confirmed the firm’s refusal of the contract.

“We chose to decline the offer because we will not risk damaging our reputation by being involved in the current set up of the programme,” he claimed.

Steffer also had an issue with the CIP’s low real estate investment requirement of US$300,000 – lower than the requirement of US$400,000 in Antigua and Barbuda and St. Kitts and Nevis, and US$350,000 in Grenada.

“St. Lucia therefore positions itself just above Dominica, which has a real estate investment requirement of US$200,000 and is at the bottom end of the market. St. Lucia’s tourism is much more upmarket, as is its real estate market, and thus it should be placed at least on par with Antigua and Barbuda, currently the most important Citizenship by Investment Programme in the Caribbean. Why would you want to place St. Lucia at a lower price band? It kind of cheapens the country’s image,” he said.

“In addition to this, the definition of qualifying real estate seems to be problematic, as it appears to include investments in shares. This raises questions of security regulations both in St. Lucia and everywhere those shares are promoted to investors. All those involved in promoting such shares would need to be licensed in the relevant jurisdictions. Not impossible, but difficult, and bringing a lot of future risks to the country for no obvious benefit when straightforward real estate purchase has worked well to date.”

But the Citizenship by Investment Board said so far there has been tremendous interest in St. Lucia’s real estate projects, precisely because the tourism product is upmarket. It added that the US$300,000 price point is a minimum requirement and does not determine the market price set by the developers.

“Furthermore, our programme is targeted to the development of our tourism product rather that the sale of residential properties which further accounts for the price differential. We wish to clarify that CIP St. Lucia does not award citizenship for the purchase of shares in the development company,” it said.

Steffen also criticized the requirement for every applicant to submit a sworn affidavit to declare financial resources of at least US$3 million. He argued that it is likely to be off-putting to many high net worth individuals.

The Board acknowledged that the issue has been a topic of much debate and there has been both negative and positive feedback on the requirement. However, it maintained that having a minimum net worth requirement is one of the ways in which CIP St. Lucia distinguishes itself.

“Given the programme is limited to 500 approvals annually, it ensures that it is indeed high net worth individuals who apply,” it explained.

Another issue Steffen identified was the introduction of a government bond option, which he described as “absurd”.

“It makes no sense to create an option to increase the country’s debt, when it is proven that investors are happy to make a non-refundable donation to a national sovereign fund, as demonstrated in other reputable and successful programs. This option is only lucrative for investors and agents, but it gives no benefits to the country. Why would a country give full citizenship to someone on the basis of a loan which has to be repaid by the nation after a few years?”

Steffen said Hungary is an example of how poorly that option works. According to Steffen, the Hungarian state actually loses money as a result.

“I doubt that this is what St. Lucia currently needs,” he said.

But the Board said Steffers’ criticism was based on a misunderstanding of the investment option.

“Annually, the Government of St. Lucia raises funds by the issuing of bonds. Often these issues are not fully subscribed and therefore there are short falls in the funding estimates. The Government of St. Lucia has made US$20,000,000 worth of bonds available for sale through the CIP.  These five-year bonds are non-interest bearing. Therefore, the bonds sold under CIP St. Lucia will significantly reduce the cost of borrowing while making the bonds more attractive,” it explained.

 

Posted: 27 April 2016
Source: caribbean360.com