“Gold Bars and a Second Set of Papers” – Investment Migration People in the News This Week
Investment migration people in the news this week included:
- Irina Batrakova of Bartrakova Law Office
- United Passport
- Karline Purcell of the Grenada CIU
- Fadi Minawi of VisaPlace
- Parag Khanna and Nirbhay Handa of Henley & Partners
- David Lesperance of Lesperance & Associates
Business Insider – Rich Russians offered a Caribbean shortcut to US visas by paying their way to a Grenadian passport
But the founding attorney for the Batrakova Law Office, Irina Batrakova, told Insider that her Oregon firm had primarily been dealing with inquiries from Russians seeking to move to the US.
In the Telegram channel, United Passport advertised the possibility of getting to the US on an E-2 visa. Russians can apply for an E-2 visa only by first obtaining citizenship in a treaty country, a category that includes Grenada but excludes Russia.
Insider contacted United Passport and posed as a customer who wanted to enter the US with his family via Grenada, insisting that Grenada be merely a stepping stone to a new life in America.
Grenada stopped Russians from applying for citizenship through an investment after their country invaded Ukraine in February. The restriction was lifted in July and replaced by “enhanced scrutiny” of Russian applicants, Karline Purcell, the CEO of Grenada’s Citizenship By Investment Programme, told Investment Migration Insider, adding that only nonsanctioned Russians could apply.
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“The challenging part would be to be able to get to the appropriate consulate in order to actually have an actual interview for the visa,” Fadi Minawi, the lead immigration attorney and managing director of VisaPlace, told Insider.
Time – There’s a Global War for Young Talent. The Winners Will Shape the Future
Parag Khanna, Managing Partner of FutureMap and an advisory board member at Henley & Partners, contributes an opinion piece to Time Magazine, in which he argues that each country must find ways to retain and attract the mobile generation’s best brains, or languish.
The result is a buyer’s and a seller’s market: smart countries can take their pick from the swarms of overeducated and under-employed youth, while young talent shuttle between co-working and co-living spaces in Mexico City, Dubai, and Bali. It’s also a zero-sum game: As the world population crests, one country’s gain becomes another country’s loss.
Forbes India – Classic cars to art, watches and wines: What drives passion investments of India’s rich?
Investment migration historically was centred around people physically wanting to move. But in today’s day and age, besides the fact that families are increasingly becoming cosmopolitan and transnational, they also look at investment migration (or alternative residencies, as in the case of Indians since India does not allow dual citizenship), as an opportunity to build resilience, have a plan B in the current volatile macro outlook, and also achieve the ability to diversify their wealth and not keep all their assets in one jurisdiction, says Nirbhay Handa, group head of business development at investment migration advisory business Henley & Partners. In this age of uncertainty, aggravated by Covid, the war in Ukraine, climate change, the cost-of-living crisis, and political instability in numerous regions, “holding an alternative residence or citizenship”, he says, “is the ultimate insurance policy and hedge against ongoing volatility.”
Lesperance & Associates’ David Lesperance featured in a wide range of publications this week, commenting on diverse topics:
- Financial Times – China’s wealthy activate escape plans as Xi Jinping extends rule
David Lesperance, a Europe-based lawyer who has worked with wealthy families in Hong Kong and China, says Xi extending his rule beyond two terms is a tipping point for China’s business elite, who thrived for decades as China’s economy boomed.
“Now that ‘the chairman’ is firmly in place . . . I have already received three ‘proceed’ instructions from various ultra-high net worth Chinese business families to execute their fire escape plans,” said Lesperance.
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Lesperance said many of his clients spent years preparing their exit from China, legally moving capital to safe offshore jurisdictions and arranging alternative residences and new citizenships outside China for their families.
China’s rich, he said, are not only worried about rumours of an official wealth tax that would replace informal “common prosperity” donations. They are also increasingly concerned for their personal safety, even once they have left.
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“The family motto has always been: ‘Keep a fast junk in the harbour with gold bars and a second set of papers’. The modern equivalent would be a private jet, a couple of passports and foreign bank accounts,” Lesperance says. “That is the world we are in . . . it is tough stuff.”
- National World – Rishi Sunak tax scandal: green card and non dom status controversy explained – what is new PM’s net worth?
- Benzinga – Xi Jinping’s Rising Power Forces China’s Wealthiest To ‘Execute Their Fire Escape Plans’
- ZeroHedge – Wealthy Chinese Activate Financial “Escape Plans” Terrified Of Xi’s Coming Reign Of Terror, And Why This Is Good News For Bitcoin
- The Epoch Times – HK Billionaires Are Fleeing and Those in China Have Had Their Wealth Slashed by Tens of Billions of Dollars
- The Street – Crypto Price Check: Market Sees Relief Rally