Golden visas offer host of opportunities
Residency by investment programmes offer benefits for a wide range of people, from investors seeking opportunities to those who want to provide education and security for their children.
Golden visas, or residency and citizenship schemes, are becoming in vogue, not only in the traditional markets of Europe, North America and the Caribbean but more recently in many emerging markets such as the Seychelles, Dubai or Thailand who are planning to benefit from the working from home culture. In the past, golden visas may have received a bad rap, being seen as a gateway for individuals who have acquired their wealth by dubious means to acquire citizenship or residencies in countries that offer them comfort and security, away from the source of their riches. However, the reality is far from that, with many people from all walks of life taking advantage of the growing number of citizenship or residency by investment programmes.
“The multiplicity of citizenship is something that has become more and more common, people with two, three, even four passports. I’m one of them,” says Nicolas Salerno, managing director of Golden Visa Consultancy, a boutique advisory firm focused on real estate, business immigration and citizenship by investment.
Who’s applying?
Citizenship by investments (CBI) programmes – or golden visas, as they are more commonly known – have proliferated in recent years, and the pandemic has only led to increased demand for second passports or residences, especially for countries that are perceived to offer greater security as well as access to first class education and health care systems.
Golden visas for European Union countries are particularly desirable, given their access to the whole of the Schengen area, though many other countries that offer golden visas are also able to guarantee visa-free travel to the EU for their residents.
“Investors are looking for passports that can give them visa-free access to the most countries, that is the most important thing for them,” says Tiago Gali Macedo, an immigration consultant from Portugal and the managing partner of NEXT/Gali Macedo & Associados, a law firm based in Porto and Lisbon with offices in Angola and Belgium.
“After that, they are looking for countries where they can safely and easily relocate along with their families,” he adds. “Therefore, politically stable countries are on top of the list. With the Covid-19 pandemic, finding a country with a good public health system has also become paramount.”
Where to go
Nowadays it’s not just island nations like those in the Caribbean that offer investment-based immigration, with many EU member states and countries like New Zealand opening their doors to those willing to put their money into real estate or governmental bonds or initiatives. In Africa, island countries such as the Seychelles and Mauritius are looking at certain schemes to encourage individuals to relocate, given that a physical presence at work is not seen as paramount. They offer both tax advantages but also a much better lifestyle than overpriced and congested urban centres without the array of activities and beautiful surroundings they offer. Dubai is also changing its policies so that residencies are less tied to an employment contract, which was often the case previously.
Citizenship-by-investment programmes vary in details, notably cost and residency requirements, but all offer the same basic trade: residency in exchange for investing a not-insignificant amount of money (anywhere from $100,000 to a million or more) either in real estate, government bonds, or as a donation or contribution towards certain projects.
As of now, more than two dozen countries offer some sort of programme that allows individuals to gain citizenship or residence rights in return for investing in their host countries. The Geneva-based Investment Migration Council (IMC) estimates that investment migration is now a form of legal migration used by over 80 sovereign states worldwide.
For many of these programmes, those applying don’t need to have a prior residence permit card, live in the country, or even take a language proficiency exam, though some countries require the latter. Often you don’t even need to relocate to your new country. Meanwhile, residency can be obtained in just a couple of months, for you and your whole family.
In September, Thailand announced that it was joining the ranks of those targeting “affluent global citizens”, by offering long-term visas to foreigners who invest $250,000-500,000 in property or government bonds. For the country, whose tourismbased economy was ravaged by the pandemic, it’s an opportunity to raise investment capital. They are targeting wealthy citizens, retirees and high-skilled professionals.
Africans rising
Africans still make up a small percentage of the overall number seeking investor migration, though that number is growing.
According to official data, in recent years Chinese accounted for nearly 50% of total applications approved in the EU, followed by Russians, with 27%. Meanwhile, the Middle East and North Africa represented around 18% of approved investors in Greece since 2014 and 10% in the UK since 2008. Between 2012 and 2019, 275 South Africans applied for residency in Portugal, 4 to Latvia and 40 to the UK, placing the country sixth overall.
“I think Africa is underserved in terms of people trying to present the option in the market,” says Pierre-Marc Lecompte, director of the Irish Investor Programme, who has worked on the Irish, Canadian and Portuguese investor migration programmes over the last 12 years.
“In the Asian markets you’ve got massive agencies, all of our clients are coming from agencies,” he says. “When it comes to Africa, clients are literally ringing us, people from South Africa and Nigeria particularly.”
Even so, Lecompte says they’ve gone from zero cases to an average of at least 15 to 20 cases per year coming from those two countries.
Others agree that there is a steady rise in the number of Africans taking advantage of citizenshipby-investment programmes, albeit from a low base.
“Greek Residence by Investment initiated mainly based on the Chinese and Russian market, whereas the current landscape is different, with Turkish, Arabic and African citizens establishing their presence in the sector,” says Christina Georgaki, a Greek attorney specialising in Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and investment migration.
She adds that the Greek programme is constantly expanding, with the purchase of real estate worth €250.000 remaining one of the top choices and the latest addition of a new residence permit through bank deposits of €400.000 drawing substantial interest.
Best nations
The latest CBI Index, released earlier this year by Professional Wealth Management (PWM) magazine, awarded St Kitts and Nevis the best citizenship-byinvestment programme for 2021, based on aspects like the ease of processing, due diligence, family, and mandatory travel or residence criteria.
The Caribbean island nation has a fast-tracked process that offers successful applicants citizenship within 60 days of applying, with those applying until the end of this year able to obtain citizenship for a family of up to four for as little as $150,000.
However, there can be other important considerations, notably the ease of movement that new passports allow – particularly important for people coming from regions like Africa, where local passports do not allow for easy access to much of the world, including, paradoxically, even within the African continent.
Citizenship-by-investment in Africa?
Citizenship-by-investment programmes are yet to take off in Africa, though those involved in the industry see some interesting trends. “It’s interesting to look at what Ethiopia did, because Ethiopia, without doing a proper immigration programme,
St Kitts has a fasttracked process that offers successful applicants citizenship within 60 days of applying