“The Largest Intergenerational Wealth Transfer in History”: Investment Migration People in the News This Week

Alex Ingrim of Liberty Atlantic Advisors

• Henley & Partners
• Adalberto Pucca of Global Citizen Solutions
• Grahame Salt of Frank Salt Real Estate
• Dr Jacinto Soler-Matutes of Emergia Partners
• Kristin Surak
• Sandeep Jain and Nirbhay Handa of Multipolitan
• Giorgos Gavrielidis of Elxis
• David Lesperance of Lesperance and Associates
• Arielle Tucker of Connected Financial Planning
• Megan Frye
• Alex Ingrim of Liberty Atlantic Advisors

The Telegraph – The European golden visa hotspot where inheritance tax bills don’t exist

And as other residency-through-investment schemes close in southern Europe – Spain is ending its golden visa in January and Greece has increased its minimum investment in the most popular locations to €800,000 (£661,000) – Malta now has the most popular such scheme, according to Henley & Partners, the migration advisory firm.

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Allow €50,000 for government application fees and due diligence, according to Adalberto Pucca of Global Citizen Solutions, another migration adviser.

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“This is not the best route if Maltese citizenship is the end goal,” he says. For that, there is the Malta Citizenship for Exceptional Services by Direct Investment (known as CES, MESDI, or golden passport). This is considered to be the fastest path to European citizenship through investment, according to Pucca.

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The abolition of the non-dom tax regime in the UK, plus increases in capital gains tax and inheritance tax allowances is making more wealthy British people consider Malta, says Grahame Salt, a director at Frank Salt Real Estate, the largest estate agent chain on the island.

Euro News – Spain flip-flops on Golden Visa ban as applications continue to flood in

Dr Jacinto Soler-Matutes, Senior Partner at Emergia Partners – a company focused on business development in emerging markets – told Investment Migration Insider that Congress could ratify the ban in any one of its forthcoming plenary sessions scheduled in December, with publication in the Official Gazette in early January. “We must count on the Spanish Golden Visa finally phasing out around April 1,” he added.

Reuters – Golden visas are a leaden answer to economic needs

For example, Cyprus’s golden passport scheme appeared to have been successful. By requiring a 2-million-euro minimum investment, it brought in around 1.4 billion euros per year, contributing more than 4% to GDP between 2017 to 2019, according to a study, opens new tab by LSE professor Kristin Surak. But the government had to scrap it in 2020 after failing to properly screen criminals. Since the Ukraine war, politicians have also had to revoke some passports for sanctioned Russian oligarchs.

Wealth Briefing – “Golden Visa” Industry Seen Surging To $100 Billion In 2025 – Report

“The global wealth landscape is evolving rapidly due to technological advances, demographic shifts, and the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in history. With younger investors and a dynamic geopolitical environment, new asset classes and markets are being unlocked,” Sandeep Jain, senior managing partner at Multipolitan, said. 

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The report has been issued at a time when countries such as the UK have squeezed resident non-domiciled individuals, France is hiking taxes and some US citizens dislike their country’s domestic politics. Previously, much of the interest in such visa/residency regimes came from emerging market countries, Multipolitan’s CEO and co-founder, Nirbhay Handa, said. 

GTP Headlines – American Interest in Buying Vacation Homes in Greece Soars

Elxis CEO Giorgos Gavrielidis noted that the interest from American buyers in the Greek holiday home market has been significantly stronger in 2024 than in previous years.

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“In 2024, one in eight of our clients—12.3 percent—are from the United States. We project that in 2025, Americans will become our third-largest customer group, following Germans and Dutch buyers,” he explained.

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International firms specializing in investment migration, such as Henley & Partners, have reported a dramatic increase in American interest in international properties, with demand surging by 400 percent in the week following the U.S. elections compared to the prior week. Many of these prospective buyers are not yet planning to relocate but are interested in securing property options abroad.

The National – Driven to Dubai? The exodus of rich non-doms from the UK under new inheritance tax rules

“For those who wanted to specifically avoid the IHT hit on their pensions, it was key that their future destination have a tax treaty with the UK,” David Lesperance, founder and principal at the immigration and tax advisers Lesperance and Associates told The National. “This requirement limited the number of potential future tax homes Dubai quickly became popular for three reasons. First, it has a double tax treaty with the UK. Second, it has all the lifestyle requirements for retirees. Third, the processing is the fastest and most straightforward of all the tax treaty countries.”

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Tax advisers and immigration experts are seeing a significant rise in the number of clients now actively pursuing an exit strategy. “Since the budget I have been averaging two or three UK clients per day who have actually spent money,” Mr Lesperance told The National. “These new clients are serious both in their intention and effort to properly relocate their families. In 34 years of practice since I helped my first UK based client this is unprecedented.”

CNN – Considering moving out of the US in 2025? These are the best countries for American expats

“It’s been such a gut reaction of, ‘I want to move, but I don’t know where, and I don’t know how,’ ” says Arielle Tucker, a Switzerland-based certified financial planner who specializes in assisting US citizens in moving abroad and says her business has seen a massive uptick in inquiries.

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It’s also important to consider the impact of your move on a new host country, especially in destinations that are seeing big upticks in immigration from the United States and other wealthy nations, says Megan Frye, a relocation consultant and writer who has lived in Mexico City for the past nine years.

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“My focus with my clients is to be very clear about the gentrification problem that Mexico faces, and to give them an opportunity to think about what our role is in that situation,” says Frye, who is originally from Michigan. “I believe all people should be able to move freely wherever they want, but there’s a clear injustice considering how easy it is for US citizens to relocate to Mexico in comparison with the other way around.”

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In addition, Costa Rica offers some tax incentives that appeal to foreign nationals. “Costa Rica only taxes income earned in the country, which means that non-Costa Rican pensions, investments or employment income do not incur an additional Costa Rican tax burden,” David Lesperance, founder and principal of Lesperance & Associates, a tax and immigration advisement firm, tells CNN Travel.

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However, in the spring of 2023, Portugal made significant changes to the program, effectively ending the real estate investment aspect. It also changed its non-habitual resident regime, says Alex Ingrim, president and co-founder of Liberty Atlantic Advisors, which specializes in wealth management and tax strategies for US expats.

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“Portugal’s a little bit harder of a place to immigrate to [now] if you want the flexibility of a Golden Visa,” Ingrim tells CNN Travel. “It’s not as attractive from a tax jurisdiction standpoint. And we’ve seen a lot of people kind of lose interest in Portugal frankly, and start planning for other jurisdictions in Europe.”