“Political Turmoil is Always a Catalyst for Our Business”: Investment Migration People in the News This Week

Investment migration people in the news this week included:

• Juerg Steffen, Christian H. Kaelin, Dominic Volek, and Rohit Bhardwaj of Henley & Partners
• Vishal Dhawan of Plan Ahead Wealth Advisors
• Dominic Jones of Greener Pastures New Zealand
• Marcus Beveridge of Queen City Law
• Mark Williams of Lane Neave
• Armand Arton of Arton Capital
• Denis Kravchenko of Astons
• David Lesperance of Lesperance & Associates

Business Standard – Golden visa: Greece pips Portugal in investment migration ranking for HNIs

“Acquiring alternative residence and/or citizenship by participating in reputable investment migration programs enables greater flexibility and participation in the world’s leading economies, as well as optionality, which is now an indispensable part of any family’s insurance policy for the 21st century. The more jurisdictions a family can access, the lower its exposure to country-specific, regional, and global volatility, and the more secure it will be over the long term,” said Dr. Juerg Steffen, CEO of Henley & Partners.

Greek Reporter – Greece’s Golden Visa Soars as Europe Cracks Down on Investor Residency

Henley and Partners ranked 26 residence by investment programs and on its website says “Greece offers its residents and citizens a number of reassuring benefits including high levels of safety and security, excellent education opportunities, robust healthcare options, and a dependable rule of law.”

GTP Headlines – Henley & Partners: Greece Holds World’s Most Attractive Golden Visa Program in 2025

“In this era of heightened global volatility, nation states are using residence and citizenship by investment programs as an innovative financing tool to fund development initiatives that mitigate sustainability and climate-related risks, and that directly benefit their citizens,” said Chairman of Henley & Partner Dr. Christian H. Kaelin.

Arabian Business – US citizens lead global rush for second passports as Malta tops citizenship rankings

“2024 was also record-breaking for the UK, with a 57 per cent increase in the number of applications submitted by British citizens versus 2023,” said Dr. Christian H. Kaelin, chairman of Henley & Partners.

[…]

“Faced with unprecedented instability and uncertainty, investors and wealthy families are adopting a strategy of geopolitical arbitrage,” said Dominic Volek, Group Head of Private Clients at Henley & Partners.

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Dr. Juerg Steffen, CEO of Henley & Partners, emphasized that such programmes are increasingly being used by governments as “an innovative financing tool to fund development initiatives that mitigate sustainability and climate-related risks.”

Express – Spain ‘paying the price’ after crackdown on Brits as Greece sees Golden Visa surge

Greece, meanwhile, is set to benefit from Spain’s woes. The 2025 Global Residence Index Program, carried out by Henley and Partners, revealed that Greece’s Golden Visa program has secured the top spot with a score of 73 out of 100. 

News X – New Zealand Revises ‘Golden Visa’ Rules. Do Wealthy Indians Stand To Gain?

“Indian HNWIs often see residency in such destinations as a step toward providing better educational opportunities for their children. The new visa changes will definitely attract more interest in the Active Investor Plus visa,” said Rohit Bhardwaj, Country Head India at Henley & Partners.

[…]

In contrast, the U.S. EB-5 visa requires an investment of $800,000, a more manageable amount for families with available funds. “Indian families aiming for New Zealand’s investor visa may find it challenging to meet the investment requirements within a single financial year due to the remittance cap,” says Vishal Dhawan, founder of Plan Ahead Wealth Advisors.

The Post – Will the new ‘golden visa’ affect the housing market?

Greener Pastures New Zealand works with wealthy investors to gain residency through the Active Investor Plus programme. The company’s managing director, Dominic Jones, says the changes will be attractive to the type of high-net-worth “global citizens’ they work with.

[…]

“Uptake in the active investor category has been low in the last couple of years, but the visa changes will help increase uptake. They are a huge opportunity for the country, and the more we can attract the better.”

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Queen City Law managing director Marcus Beveridge works with overseas investors and developers, and he says the ban leads to a lack of confidence in potential investors.

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“When you are talking to wealthy investors and have to say ‘you can’t buy a house here’, it’s a mumble into your handkerchief type scenario because it’s so embarrassing.”

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Immigration law expert Mark Williams, from Lane Neave, describes the ban as “counter-productive”.

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“But the type of investors the visa changes are targeting are different. They will be contributing to the country, and also present less risk.”

Business Standard – New Zealand golden visa: Why Indian investors are better off in Dubai

“New Zealand has been eager to revamp its programme as the post-Covid changes did not bring the anticipated outcome, and the country actually saw a significantly reduced inflow of FDIs under the investor visa programme. Now, whether that was only a matter of programme parameters or other factors such as programme setup time and administration were at play, is a separate topic,” said Armand Arton, CEO of Arton Capital, a global financial advisory firm that specialises in residency and citizenship by investment programmes.

[…]

“The new Growth category that requires three years of investment at $2.8 million is for investors with a higher risk appetite. It focuses on higher-risk investments, including direct investments in New Zealand businesses and managed funds. The Balanced category will focus on mixed investments, with the ability to choose ones that are at lower risk. You have government, corporate bonds, listed equity, philanthropy, and property developments, which can be new residential or new/existing commercial properties. The investment must be held for five years, and the threshold as I said is $5.6 million,” Arton told Business Standard.

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He suggested that Dubai may be a better option for wealthy Indian investors. “I believe that the best match for wealthy Indians right now is Dubai’s Golden Visa. It comes with a moderate entry threshold, the process is seamless and efficient, there are added benefits for the investor and their families, and it is very attractive in terms of logistics.”

USA Today – You could ‘buy’ European residency for about $500K: What to know about golden visas

“Political turmoil is always a catalyst for our business because people are always looking for a safe haven,” said Denis Kravchenko, business development director at immigration investment firm Astons. “The bottom line is that people want to safeguard their legacy, essentially in terms of assets. How can they protect it from taxes? How can they protect it from whatever mess will happen and so on?”

[…]

“It sounds posh, it does, but in reality, it’s a very straightforward thing,” said Kravchenko. “It’s a residency status, which is long; it’s temporary, but can be at least five years.”

Coin Telegraph – Galaxy, Ripple CEOs lent $160M to MoonPay for TRUMP token launch

Lawyer David Lesperance told Cointelegraph that the release of a memecoin by a president of the United States represents a clear violation of the Emoluments Clause of the US Constitution.