High net-worth Pakistanis buying global citizenships

KARACHI: Pakistan’s security situation may have improved a notch, but years of turmoil and lack of hope still push the country’s citizens into the arms of another.

Dozens of high net-worth Pakistanis are buying citizenships of countries in North America and Europe every year as they try to secure a safer future for their families, away from the political and security turmoil at home, immigration consultants say.

The citizenship-by-investment programmes offered by countries like Hungary, Cyprus, Grenada and Antigua and Barbuda have caught the interest of Pakistani investors in recent years, following in the footsteps of dual-nationality seekers from the Middle East, China and India.

Citizenships and residency permits are up for sale for between Rs50 million and Rs150 million – an amount around the cost of an average 500 squareyard house in Karachi’s upscale Defence Housing Authority.

“Between a 100 and 200 Pakistani families are availing this opportunity each year,” says Sikander Lalani, CEO of Lalani and Associates, a leading consultancy provider.

Pakistan is among worst countries to live in for people under 25.

“These are the sort of people who invest and then move back and forth. They are doing this to provide better education to their children and secure their capital.”

Financial industry officials say people have seen an impressive increase in their wealth over the past decade — riding on the success of the stock market and rising value of real estate. And every now and then, there comes an unusual request for purchase of US Dollars in the open market.

In a 2014 report, Arton Capital, which specialises in helping wealthy individuals get second citizenships, said Pakistan was among three countries from where 40 per cent of the applications were originating.

Hungary, Portugal, the Carib- bean Island state of St Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Malta and Cyprus and a few other countries allowed foreigners to buy residency in the last five years as a way to shore up national coffer and attract investment.

The programmes differ with some countries offering residency within a few months without the requirement of making a visit.

Yet others ask investors to visit every year with a promise to give residency in five to six years after the initial investment and only after having learned its native language.

Investment has to be made either in real estate, government bonds or a specific development fund depending on different programmes.

Lalani says the charm for countries selling citizenships is not just investment. “They also happen to be attracting the best human capital.

“These investors are businessmen, lawyers, bankers and other professionals.”