Demand for RCBI Highlights “Polarization in American Politics”: Investment Migration People in the News This Week

Investment migration people in the news this week included:

• Kristin Surak
• Armand Arton of Arton Capital
• Christian H Kaelin of Henley & Partners
• Julian Johnson of Tejo Ventures
• Pedro Lino of Optimize Investment Partners 
• David Lesperance of Lesperance & Associates
• Carolyn Lee of Carolyn Lee PLLC
• Mitch Wexler of Fragomen

The Washington Post – This Caribbean nation is preparing for the ravages of climate change by selling citizenship

With small countries, “it doesn’t take a lot of money to move the needle,” said Kristin Surak, a professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science and the author of “The Golden Passport,” a book about the global citizenship trade. “They don’t have a lot of options.”

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“If you’re a Pakistani and have to travel for your job — ‘Oh, we have a meeting next week in France’ — you’re never going to make it,” Surak said.

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“This is the soft power of a passport: Where can it take you?” said Armand Arton, president of Arton Capital. “Dominica constantly has a high number of applicants.”

Der Standard – Migration researcher: “Some states are highly dependent on the passport trade”

With all the debates about the asylum system and the targeted immigration of skilled workers, there is also a completely different form of migration. One that is rarely discussed and seems to have less to do with flight and work than with money. Some, albeit increasingly fewer, countries operate official programs that offer citizenship or a visa in exchange for investments, donations or the purchase of a property. In an interview with STANDARD, US social scientist Kristin Surak explains who makes money from this “passport trade”, why it is not just the super-rich who benefit, and what the motives behind it are.

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The media has uncovered some cases where programs have been used for money laundering and to conceal criminal activities. So there are problem cases, no question. But when I traveled to 16 countries around the world for my book, I found that the vast majority of people are interested in better cross-border mobility, better visa-free access.

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The number one country in terms of selling citizenships is currently Turkey. This is particularly interesting because it does not give you visa-free access to the EU. But the Turkish passport is still much better than a Syrian, Iranian or Iraqi passport. In addition, Turkey naturalizes Russian citizens, while many countries such as those in the Caribbean or Malta no longer do so due to pressure from Washington and Brussels.

Quartz – A lot of millionaires are considering leaving the U.S. after the election — regardless of who wins

“Our survey has revealed just how tired many Americans are of the rising political division at home. Many are now looking to hedge their bets and secure a ‘plan B’ residence overseas, regardless of the outcome of the election,” said Armand Arton, founder of Arton Capital and The Passport Index, in a statement.

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“The appetite for golden visas and citizenship by investment programs recorded amongst younger people is especially revealing. It exemplifies how the polarization in American politics, whether on the right or the left, is pushing many citizens to consider another future away from the US’s shores,” Arton said.

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“For many, political instability is the factor that forces them overseas, and elections in the United Kingdom, France, and the United States have led many investors to find out how beneficial an additional citizenship or residency can be.”

Fortune – Rich Americans prefer Harris over Trump—but want a second passport no matter who wins

Armand Arton, president of Arton Capital, a global citizenship financial advisory services firm, tells Fortune wealthy Americans are increasingly ill at ease in their home country and looking to acquire the safety net of a second (or third) passport. COVID-19 supercharged the trend, as those with money looked for better ease of movement; now the presidential election is setting off a wave of interest in relocating.

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“It’s a political statement, a personal statement,” says Arton. “It doesn’t matter who wins.”

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“It doesn’t matter which party wins in November, that feeling will be there,” says Arton. “But if Trump wins, it will be a little bit higher.”

Wealth Briefing – EU Top Legal Official Says Malta Is Entitled To Its Golden Visa Regime

“Its [the opinion] significance goes well beyond the niche of investment migration, which only accounts for 200 to 300 cases in Malta annually, compared to the 700,000 citizenships granted across the EU without investment each year,” Dr Christian H Kaelin, chairman of Henley & Partners, said. “The fundamental question centres on EU competences and the European Commission’s approach towards member states on a core sovereign matter: the right to control national citizenship.”

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Dr Kaelin added that the case directly addresses the balance of power between national sovereignty and EU oversight, and the Advocate General made it clear that “the duty under EU law to recognise the nationality granted by another member state is a mutual recognition of, and respect for, the sovereignty of each state and is not a means to undermine the exclusive competences that the member states enjoy in this domain.”

Bloomberg – Why the ‘Golden Visa’ May Be on Borrowed Time

Julian Johnson, co-founder of Tejo Ventures, saw an opportunity to offer investment in Portugal’s solar infrastructure. “We are using the Portugal golden visa almost as a Trojan horse for us to invest in climate,” Johnson said. “There’s a massive amount of pipeline that we are essentially stepping in to finance.”

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The video format of the article listed another investment migration professional:

Pedro Lino of Optimize Investment Partners says the golden visa properties accounted for 0.4% of the propertiesthat were sold in Portugal, so it was not a big impact on the price.

Spear’s – International governments duel over IHT

In the UK, the impact of greater IHT liabilities on wealthy non-doms under the new foreign income and gains (FIG) regime from next year is likely to be mixed, says international tax and migration adviser David Lesperance. While those of working age who are temporarily in the UK may not be threatened by the new IHT rules if they know they’re ‘going to go back to where [they] came from or [will] move on somewhere’, he predicts the richest UHNWs will abandon the UK en masse – which could leave a significant dent in the UK’s tax coffers.

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‘If you look at the Sunday Times Rich List, they’re going to leave. I’ll use [Rishi Sunak’s wife Akshata] Murty as an example. The year before she volunteered to no longer be a non-dom, she paid £4.4 million in UK tax.’ The contributions of a small number of UHNWs really do make a big difference, in other words.

Coin Telegraph – OpenAI’s move to for-profit: Is it indeed ‘illegal’?

One must take Musk’s assessment of the legality of OpenAI moving from nonprofit to for-profit “with more than a grain of salt,” according to Lesperance and Associates founder David Lesperance.

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“Elon Musk views OpenAI as a competitor,” Lesperance said in a statement to Cointelegraph, adding that OpenAI had already secured a strong legal opinion from top specialist lawyers on their move to a for-profit corporation.

Times of India – USCIS protects genuine investors in EB-5 green card program

Carolyn Lee, investment immigration attorney, told TOI, “The protections offered intend to cover good faith investors, who through no fault of their own are associated with terminated regional centers or debarred new commercial enterprises. These provisions are intended to confer generous remedies to affected investors, including age-out protection of children, preservation of priority date, and shielding from ‘material change’ challenges to their cases.”

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“If the regional center is terminated, the affected investors’ NCE will equally have the opportunity to re-associate with another RC in good standing. The new RC may be anywhere in the US. Alternatively, investors may make a new investment in another NCE altogether,” explained Lee.

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Mitch Wexler, partner at Fragomen, a global immigration law firm said, “Generally, pre-Reform and Integrity Act (RIA) and post-RIA investors are extended the same protections if their RC or NCE is terminated or debarred due to noncompliance. They both get a chance to reassociate with a new RC or invest in another NCE. In addition, pre-RIA investors may be able to rely on direct and indirect job creation despite termination of their RC. “

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“Where the investor’s capital remains invested and at-risk with the NCE and the requisite jobs have been or will be created according to their existing business plan, termination of the associated RC for failure to pay the EB-5 Integrity Fund Fee or for reasons related to a different NCE would generally not, by itself, negatively impact the investor’s eligibility. USCIS determines on a case-by-case basis whether these investors continue to be eligible despite termination of their RC.” added Wexler.