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Selling citizenship is big business

By Duncan Mil

September 28, 2018 - More than a dozen countries sell “golden visas” to people willing to invest in a country’s economy under Citizenship by Investment Programmes (CIPs), raising some $3 billion a year.

London-based Henley & Partners citizenship planning consultancy named Germany the most desirable passport in the world in its 2017 Visa Restrictions Index -- its citizens enjoying visa-free access to 177 countries in total. Singapore ranks second globally, with visa-free access to 176 countries.

But for those without those coveted passports, CIPs offer an alternative. The programmes’ costs range from as little as US$100,000 to become a citizen of Saint Lucia to as much as $3.3 million to acquire a New Zealand passport.

Wealthy people merely invest money in property or businesses, buy government bonds or donate cash directly as in the case of Austria, in exchange for citizenship and a passport.

In the United States, $1 million buys an EB-5 visa -- and generates about $4 billion a year to the economy -- while a CIP costing $419,200 in Portugal secures visa-free movement throughout the European Union.

Malta’s controversial Henley-designed citizenship programme has come under sustained fire. It’s CIP, which requires a one-off non-refundable “contribution” of €650,000, saw more than 800 wealthy individuals gain EU citizenship between 2014 and 2017. Malta, like Cyprus, seems to appeal to shady Russian oligarchs moving ill-gotten gains to Europe.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 28/09/2018; STORY: Graphic News
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