PAUL BOLDY Country Manager

HARVEY LAW GROUP PHILIPPINES

Contrary to what has been depicted of the Philippines as a poor country, the country must really have a good roster of wealthy individuals with a thirst for global mobility either for business or as a lifestyle.

This is what drove multinational law firm Harvey Law Group (HLG), which is based in London, to invest in an office in Manila to push its services of providing immigration option for its government clients, which are selling citizenship by investment to foreign nationals.

Country Manager Paul Boldy sees great potential of the Philippines as he scouts among the country’s elites for possible candidates for citizenship in foreign countries and other holiday destination islands of the world.

Harvey Law Group is looking to help Filipinos and Philippine residents interested in living, working, and doing business in countries and areas such as Australia, Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, Cyprus, New Zealand, Spain and the Caribbean Region, to obtain permanent residency or to secure a second passport through citizenship-byinvestment programs.

Harvey law group

Founded in 1992 by Jean François Harvey, Harvey Law Group (HLG) has maintained a presence throughout Asia, South America, and the Middle East since its early beginnings.

Today it has evolved into a leading multinational immigration and business law firm that has developed a worldwide reputation of excellence by providing sophisticated legal representation to businesses and individuals.

With offices notably in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang, Manila, Phnom Penh, Yangon, and Montreal, along with a regional and international network, HLG has an extensive team that provides exceptional support to a diverse global clientele. The firm focuses on investment immigration programs particularly residence and citizenship-by-investments in over 20 jurisdictions.

Harvey Law Group also advises businesses on the following areas: mergers and acquisitions; commercial leases, shareholder, and partnership agreements; joint ventures and other strategic alliances contracts; intellectual property and technology protection; property ownership structures; and cross-border trade.

Harvey Law Group has quickly established a footprint in Southeast Asia, a region expected to be the fifth largest economy in the world, with a population creating and growing wealth at a faster pace.

Its movement into Southeast Asia recognizes the growth the region has seen over the past decade. Now home to over 600 million and a rising middle and upper class, Harvey Law Group believes the region is at the beginning of a growing market for mobility in Southeast Asia.

Harvey Law Group said that if countries in the region continue to pursue initiatives that would allow more people to accumulate and grow their wealth, ASEAN countries can expect double digit growth figures within the next 10 years.

Global mobility HLG operates on a thesis that mobility is important to facilitate business globally, provide international education opportunities, assist in wealth planning and reducing risks, and offering families options.

Since not all countries look at each other with favor, some governments will not grant free visas to nationals of countries with unfavorable situations. Poor and developing economies are the usual victims, but nationals from developed economies enjoy visa-free entries to most countries.

For instance, Germany has 176 visa-free including EU, UK, Schengen countries and Canada. Singapore has free visa to 173 countries, while Philippines got only visa free to 61 countries, excluding EU.

But there are ways to resolve these hurdles. In the case of EU – apply for Schengen visa and citizenship by investment. The Schengen visa though is short term, but the citizenship by investment program is long term.

Among EU countries, the Cyprus government has friendliest citizenship by investment program. It has the fastest way to enter EU and do business there without being constrained by visa issue. HLG is the lone business law firm accredited by the Cyprus government to market the country’s citizenship by investment program.

According to Boldy, the Cyprus citizenship program is the fastest way to get your second citizenship in the EU in three months. With a minimum investment of only 2 million euros plus in residential property, this citizenship can be extended to dependent family members. You can also sell 1.5 million euros of your investment and keep the rest.

Most of all, the Cypriot citizenship is hereditary, meaning it can be extended to family members up to 8th to the 12th generation.

The property investment also allows for an excellent return with business permit processing time of only 10 days. It has the lowest corporate income tax in EU at only 12.5 percent.

“You will have access to EU, can go anywhere you want in Europe because you are an EU citizen,” he adds. As a citizen of Cyprus, you will have visa free access to 158 countries, including UK, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand. Cyprus is also strategically located in EU with a population of only 1.1 million, multi-lingual and highlyeducated workforce. It has sophisticated infrastructure.

Lots of foreign nationals are taking the program as their entry point to get to their real destination in EU. Most of those who enrolled in this program went to Germany and Italy as their real country destination. Germany because people want their educational system. As an EU citizen, you only pay the same amount of tuition and enjoy the same medical benefits as any other EU citizen.

“Germany is especially good for cancer so it is a good place for medical reason because it is very inexpensive and treatment is fantastic. It is also a great place to do business,” adds Boldy.

Boldy explained that Cyprus opened the program for quite a long time now, but the devastating financial crisis in 2007 made it a basket case as it went under in financial ruin. The state was “absolutely ruined” and faced difficult decision to look at ways to generate revenues. The Cyprus government has already generated $4 billion in investments from this program.

This citizenship by investments of Cyprus has attracted wealthy foreigners not just from developing countries but by nationals of fairly developed economies.

Following the collapse of the economy in 2007, the housing market in Cyprus is just ripe for the picking. Many problems in the property sector still remain unsolved because developers got bankrupt.

Investors came in by phases. In the early days, they were the Russians drawn by their proximity to Cyprus. The wonderful weather is also a big factor, and the English law and banking rules. There are establishments in Cyprus with signages in Russian language.

“But the real destination of the Russian investors is England,” says Boldy, although that may change now once Britain completes its exit from EU. After the Russians, came the Chinese, Koreans and Japanese.

No mass market “If you are a company selling to EU, you really want your sales director and CEO to go there to meet clients in Germany and other EU member countries,” says Boldy, who is armed with global career spanning 35 years working across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, including almost 20 years working across countries in the Asia-Pacific Region.

“England is tremendously popular because Cyprus is part of the old British Commonwealth and has bases in Cyprus. They have a long history and to a certain extent if I am English, the Cyprus government gives pension and vice-versa, it is reciprocal,” he adds.

In fact, there are 60,000 British people living in Cyprus because they love the climate, which is not humid, no typhoons and no hurricanes. More than that, Cyprus is very safe, it is the third safest country in the world with low cost food, wine and housing. Everything is affordable.

“People are very welcoming and it is a shipping port,” adds Boldy.

These are the same reasons for the rich people in the Middle East, China and South Korea to invest in Cyprus and elsewhere to get their second passport.

But marketing this kind of investment model has been unique. In the first place, Boldy said, the target market is very sophisticated, well-educated, and most of all, wealthy. So, they select potential individuals, mostly businessmen. They also get referrals at times. Mostly, they invite them to one-on-one meetings, hold dinners together with their lawyers, accountants and wealth managers.

“We are not selling boxes but we target families that we can talk to,” he adds. This is not mass marketing. Decisions can either take longer or quick depending on family situation. “Every family situation is different and it depends on what are you trying to achieve,” he adds.

But definitely, he said, there is a good number of Filipinos and businessmen interested for this Cyprus program.

There is also a lot of trust involved during the decision-making process.

“We are the only group accredited by the Cyprus government to sell its investment program,” says Boldy, whose first university degree is law but his skills mostly concentrate on largely professionalizing business.

Aside from the Philippines, the law firm is also aggressively promoting Cyprus citizenship in other ASEAN countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar.

“It took us 9 years to break into the Vietnam market,” adds Boldy, who used to run a law firm.

Aside from Cyprus, this law firm also represents other citizenship programs offered by other countries such as those for the Caribbean countries such as Antigua, Granada, Dominica and St. Lucia or the five islands of the Confederation of the Caribbean. Investors can live in any of these five islands, which are closely situated to each other.

Aside from that, Harvey Law is also the exclusive marketer for Vanuatu, which is just 3 hours away from Brisbane, Australia. Vanuatu is a tax haven with VAT and consumption tax at 12 percent only. They also do the Spanish citizenship by investment program.

HLG is working on other residency programs for Canada and permanent residency for UK, Australia, New Zealand, Spain and Portugal and retirement program in Thailand.

The law firm earns legal fees from these transactions.

Filipinos as market

The Philippines is still a developing economy, but Boldy said there are real rich Filipinos who can afford to get a second passport via investment program of other governments. Most Filipinos get their permanent residency status in other countries by virtue of their having served in these countries as overseas Filipino workers.

Actually, there are already rich Filipinos who have availed of this citizenship especially those doing business and exporting to EU, but Boldy said this is covered with absolute confidentiality.

HLG just started in January this year and they have now a team of 14, mostly Filipinos, including lawyers. HLG operates a headquarters in Singapore, but they decided to put up an office here because they want to work closer to the market and to be there when their clients have issues and problems.

The number of employees at the Harvey Law Group in Manila is a strong indication of how much focus they are putting on in this country.

“The Philippines is top five percent of high net worth individuals in the world. These Filipinos must have amassed incredible amount of wealth. They are educated overseas that when they come back they already have a different view of the world. So, they are already looking at second citizenship option and look into assets elsewhere in the world to spread their risks in currency and real estate,” says Boldy.

With a growing middle class, a development plan driven by an infrastructure push, and one of the highest growth rate among Southeast Asian economies, the Philippines has cemented its status as one of the most promising economies in the Asia-Pacific.

For multinational immigration and business law firm Harvey Law Group, the country’s status as the second-fastest growing economy in Asia has opened up new opportunities for individuals and corporations alike.

In recent years, the Philippines has emerged as an economic powerhouse. HLG sees the country generating a lot of interest as an investment destination, but also sees a huge opportunity in working with high net worth Filipinos and Philippine residents establishing themselves in international markets.

Filipino diaspora

HLG believes that the country’s growth also offers an opportunity for Filipinos to redefine what global mobility means for the Philippines. With the Philippines enjoying strong people-to-people links with countries such as the United States, Australia, and Canada, Harvey believes that Filipinos are now in a position to leverage these strong ties.

Filipinos have a reputation as one of the world’s most mobile citizens with the first few stages of the Filipino diaspora involved professionals responding to the demand in talent in areas such as the US, UK, and Middle East.

With the Philippines emerging as a fast-growing economy, the next chapter of Filipino mobility would involve entrepreneurs, investors, and venture capitalists expanding their footprint to international markets through our investment programs. These programs will provide them with greater flexibility, allowing them to live, work, and own property in these countries.

Boldy said that since their kind of business is so picky and the market is sophisticated, the challenge is on getting people know about them. To create awareness, Boldy conducts special events to introduce themselves. They get invited to special events with select audience.

The attractiveness of the Philippine market is doubly interesting because of the government’s aggressive infrastructure program where everybody becomes passionate about.

With the improved economy, Boldy said the Philippines is also becoming a good destination. He has only praises for the charismatic and passionate President Duterte although he may not be the most diplomatic.

“It is good to have a leader who is passionate in managing his team in the Build Build Build. He is inspired, passionate and seeks to deliver to change the Philippines,” adds Boldy, who has been to the beautiful islands in the country such as Bohol, Taal and Pangasinan. He is also looking forward to visiting Palawan and Boracay.

Boldy also finds his young Filipino team fun and willing to learn. He expects business to grow more in the country and they would like to hire select people as needed.

“We have a lot of prospects but we are still in the education phase,” he adds noting that some people are not sure where they want to go so they just are exploring. As a multinational consultancy firm, they need to provide all the facts to help potential investor come up with informed decision.

What is certain though is that the Philippines is a good market and that getting a second passport or dual citizenship is not far for many Filipinos.