Investment migration people in the news this week included:
- Nuri Katz of Apex Capital Partners
- David Lesperance of Lesperance & Associates
- Murat Coskun and Idil Hamzadi of Get Golden Visa
- Giorgos Gavriilidis of Elxis
- Marcus Beveridge of Queen City Law
- Paul Stannard of Portugal Pathways
- Sam Stubbs of Simplicity
- Jonathan Grode and Dan Berger of Green & Spiegel
- Jeff Robins of BAL
Bloomberg – Caribbean Islands Fear Economic Hit From EU Golden Passport Crackdown
Without the travel perk, it’s hard to see how the programs can remain competitive, according to Nuri Katz with Apex Capital Partners, which helps investors navigate CBI programs across the globe.
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“If they lose their visa-free entry to Europe their revenues are going to tank,” he said. “They’re going to take a shellacking.”
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Katz said the fear is misplaced. “Europe doesn’t understand or care to understand that, at the end of the day, these immigrants are some of the most vetted immigrants of any class in the world,” he said.
Daily Mail – Why we should ALL fear the exodus of Britain’s ‘wealth creators’: Inside the reality of Labour’s spiteful war on success… and the stark impact it will have on hard-working Britons
David Lesperance, a tax and immigration adviser who was interviewed by the Rich List, has blamed the move for driving his clients overseas.
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‘Everyone has inertia when it comes to making a move,’ he said. ‘It often takes a significant force to propel someone to go and in this case it was the removal of non-dom status. You can see why many came to the view, “I like London just not that much.”’
Forbes – The End Of The Universal Plan B
Murat Coskun, Founder of Get Golden Visa, is an entrepreneur in global mobility, investment migration, residency, & cross-border real estate
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For most of the past two decades, mobility was discussed in simple terms. A second residence or citizenship was a “Plan B,” an additional layer of security that was assumed to be valuable almost by default. In a period of growing global integration, that logic was rarely questioned because, for the most part, it did not need to be.
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There is no universal ranking of countries because business leaders are not all trying to solve the same problem. An entrepreneur may prioritize growth and access to capital. A CEO may be focused on operational resilience and talent. A business leader approaching retirement may be more concerned with succession and preserving what they have built, while another may place greater emphasis on protecting family wealth.
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What you need is likely not a universal backup plan, but a well-considered personal geography: a clear view of where you may live, invest, educate your children, operate your businesses, hold assets and eventually retire; and you need to know why each place matters.
Business Standard – 15% property tax in Greece: Why Golden Visa investors may face bigger bill
For example, on a €800,000 property, a 3% transfer tax would amount to €24,000, while a 15% rate would amount to €120,000. That represents a potential additional tax burden of €96,000, before taking into account the municipal levy and other transaction costs. On a €400,000 property, the same calculation would mean a transfer tax of €12,000 at 3% versus €60,000 at 15%—a potential difference of €48,000. On a €250,000 property, the difference would be €30,000. The actual amount payable will depend on the final legislation and the taxable value used for the transaction, explained Idil Hamzadi, Greece Partner at The Get Golden Visa & Founder of Paladin Investment Aegenestate.
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“The advantage over the coming months will therefore be in identifying strong opportunities early and assessing them not only on price, but also on location, rental potential and a realistic transaction timeline,” said Hamzadi.
Tovima – Government Overhauls Golden Visa Rules to Tackle Housing Crisis
Giorgos Gavriilidis, chief executive of the real estate agency Elxis, At Home In Greece, said that share of demand comes mainly from retirees.
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“That 30.8 percent of demand comes mainly from people, chiefly retirees, who want to acquire a permanent home in Greece,” Gavriilidis said. “It’s a significant share, and a particularly positive trend, since these investments carry high added value. They are not limited to the property purchase itself. These buyers go on to contribute to the local economy as new residents.”
Newstalk ZB – “Kiss of death”: ACT’s visa shakeup would ‘torpedo’ Golden Visa, lawyer says
But Queen City Law’s Marcus Beveridge told Mike Hosking there’s no need for this at all – the current system has enough flexibility and has worked well over the last 30 years.
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He also believes it would torpedo the Golden Visa, as a big part of it is the ability to come ang go as you please.
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Beveridge says the changes would tie people down here, describing it as the “kiss of death”.
Portugal News – What the new Nationality Law means for Golden Visa applicants
“There’s a lot of noise around what has and hasn’t changed with the Golden Visa this year, and some of it is simply wrong,” said Paul Stannard, chairman and founder of Portugal Pathways and the Portugal Investment Owners Club. “This session is about giving investors and their advisers a clear, current picture, rather than guidance that’s a year or two out of date.”
New Zealand Herald – Simplicity applies to use golden visa funds for build-to-rent developments
Simplicity co-founder and managing director Sam Stubbs confirmed the company was surprised and pleased by the Government’s recent announcement.
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Stubbs said Simplicity has had no difficulty funding build-to-rent projects to date, but diversification of the company’s investors through the visa programme was “prudent” and would help the firm manage investor liquidity.
Forbes – DHS Proposes Immigration Rule To End 60-Day H-1B Grace Period
Third, ending the 60-day grace period will almost certainly increase the number of applications USCIS must adjudicate, thereby increasing, not reducing, the agency’s administrative burden. “The DHS argument in the proposed rule on reducing administrative burden is counterintuitive,” said Jonathan Grode of Green & Spiegel in an interview. “Ending the 60-day grace period will increase the number of applications because when a foreign national is given a notice of separation, we and other law firms file Form I-539 to extend the stay and change the individual’s status to a visitor status.”
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Grode said that is what employers did before the 2016 rule. Dan Berger, his colleague at Green & Spiegel, confirms that employees used to change to B-2 visitor status and still try to do so today, unless they don’t have enough time.
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If DHS forecloses the path to extending one’s stay via B-2 visitor status, the proposed rule will not reduce the “administrative burden” of the federal government but only shift processing elsewhere, according to attorneys. “The proposal would likely shift many cases from domestic USCIS adjudications to consular processing abroad,” said Jeff Robins, a senior counsel at BAL, in an interview. “That does not eliminate the need for adjudications, but simply shifts responsibility to the State Department, which already faces significant demand for visa appointments in many locations. The rule may relocate bottlenecks elsewhere in the system.”
