Investment migration people in the news this week included:
- Mo Bennis and Armand Arton of Arton Capital
- Dominic Volek and Basil Mohr-Elzeki of Henley & Partners
- Adriana Coco Ruggeri of Coco Ruggeri & Associates
- Collins Bogatsu
- Morgan Bailey of Mayer Brown
- Micha-Rose Emmett of CS Global Partners
- David Kuenzi of Creative Planning
- Global Citizen Solutions
- Steven Reingold and Rohit Kapuria of Saul Ewing
- David Lesperance of Lesperance & Associates
Fox News – Top 5 ‘golden’ visa destinations that elitists eyed for residency in 2025
Mo Bennis, an associate vice president at Arton Capital, a global financial advisory and consultancy firm, told Fox News Digital that many Americans realized these special visas represent “the ultimate insurance policy against uncertainty.”
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“Portugal continues to be the benchmark for golden visas. Even with longer processing timelines, it remains one of the most effortless ways to secure EU residency,” said Bennis, “particularly through fund-based options with minimal physical presence requirements. For many investors, the long-term citizenship pathway far outweighs any short-term hurdles.”
CNN – ‘Grab what you can:’ The global rush for second passports
That appetite for a new start abroad is reflected in an increasing number of applicants for second passports, says Dominic Volek, group head of private clients for Henley & Partners, which assists high-net-worth individuals in attaining dual citizenship around the globe. In 2025, they assisted clients of 91 nationalities, but Americans were top of the list.
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“Three or four years ago we didn’t have a US office and now we have nine,” he says, adding that there’s been a “huge uplift” in the number of Americans seeking dual citizenship. They include those unhappy with US politics (from both sides of the political divide), and ultra-wealthy individuals who realized during Covid travel restrictions that a US passport couldn’t open as many doors as they’d thought. American clients now represent 30% of the firm’s business, he says.
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On an emotional level, acquiring a second citizenship can strengthen ties to ancestral homelands, or offering a connection to a long-admired country. Some diasporas, such as those of Ireland and Italy, have helped burnish the reputations of their mother countries around the globe. “It has fostered a transnational Italian cultural identity and reinforced the enduring value Italy places on familial connection,” attorney Adriana Coco Ruggeri, who specializes in Italian citizenship cases, says of Italy’s diaspora.
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Yes, for all three routes to citizenship. “The demand is unstoppable, it just grows,” says Volek. “But on the supply side there’s a definite tightening.”
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“It violates constitutional principles by retroactively revoking rights already acquired and safeguarded by the Italian Constitution, such as citizenship, family unity, and both individual and collective identity, lacks proportionality, and was enacted through an emergency decree lacking urgency, bypassing proper legislative scrutiny.”
Financial Times – Botswana pitches ‘golden passport’ scheme as diamond sales fall
Armand Arton, chief executive of Arton Capital, a financial advisory firm marketing the scheme, said prospective applicants appeared to be “attracted . . . by the political stability of Botswana, the opportunities and the rule of law”.
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“I don’t think this will be popular,” said Collins Bogatsu, an immigration consultant based in the capital, Gaborone. The government has not yet issued guidelines on how the process would work, he said. “This thing is all about politics, so politicians might have their own people they want [to attract].”
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In May 2025, the European Court of Justice struck down Malta’s citizenship-by-investment programme, which allowed people to acquire a Maltese passport — and by extension EU citizenship — in exchange for a one-off payment of €600,000 and purchasing or renting a property. The ECJ said the scheme, developed with immigration consultancy Henley & Partners, had made “the acquisition of nationality a mere commercial transaction”.
Bloomberg – Work, Invest, Inherit: How Americans Can Actually Move to Europe
“More Americans are thinking about moving,” said Morgan Bailey, a former senior official in US Citizenship and Immigration Services and a partner at the law firm Mayer Brown. “The perception is that Europe offers what some Americans feel they may be missing right now: that predictability, that stability, that sense of balance without stepping off the global career track.”
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Basil Mohr-Elzeki, managing partner at residence and citizenship advisory firm Henley & Partners, said US nationals represented about 4% of the firm’s global business in 2018. Now it’s above 40%.
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“Because the ancestry route is so particular, I would say that 98% of the clients that come through my door do not have that option,” said Micha-Rose Emmett, CEO of CS Global Partners, a citizenship-by-investment firm in London.
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Armand Arton, CEO of Arton Capital, a financial advisory firm that also specializes in second residencies and citizenships, said investors in such projects need to set their expectations. “The return on investment in this type of financial instrument is not measured by the yield that you would normally consider,” he said of investments in funds and properties. “It’s the return that you’re getting from the freedom of that residency, or the flexibility from that second nationality.”
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“Why do you need a golden visa?” asked David Kuenzi, director of international wealth management at Creative Planning in Geneva. “Golden visa gets you a passport. If you’ve got a reasonable amount of money and you want to retire in Portugal, you could get a D7 visa. You’ll get it in two minutes and it’s virtually free. And you won’t have to deal with this investment piece at all.”
Forbes – The Golden Visa Trends Shaping 2026
Indeed, a recent report by Global Citizen Solutions, a residency and citizenship planning firm, shows that 2025 marked a turning point for golden visa programs, as citizens of advanced economies have become one of the fastest-growing applicant groups. Before this year, the historical pattern was that demand was largely concentrated in emerging markets.
Roll Call – Trump Gold Card creates interest, decisions for foreign nationals
Steven Reingold, a trial attorney with law firm Saul Ewing, said the Green Card substantively appears to be an alternative to the EB-5 visa, which grants foreign investors permanent residency in the United States if they agree to invest high-level capital into a U.S. commercial enterprise that creates or preserves jobs.
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Rohit Kapuria, a Chicago-based attorney who has worked with clients who have sought EB-5 visas at Saul Ewing, said he expects “some level of competitiveness” between the EB-5 and the Gold Card initiatives but the fate of those funds is one of the key differences.
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Reingold said the Gold Card initiative has “quite a number of kinks to work out,” including congressional authorization and the regulatory process.
Red 94 – Peter Thiel opens Miami office as California billionaires threaten to flee over $1.2B wealth tax
Establishing a clear residency in another state before January 1, 2026, is critical for billionaires seeking to avoid the tax. According to billionaire tax advisor David Lesperance, creating an obvious presence in another state helps defend against potential residency challenges by the California Franchise Tax Board.
