Without Golden Visa, Investors “Will Simply Ignore the Country”: IM People in the News This Week
Investment migration people and firms in the news this week included:
- Richard Hallam of Ora Caribbean
- Reaz Jafri of Withers Worldwide
- Arton Capital
- Robert Mogielnicki, Christian Kälin, Ilka Lane, and Dominic Volek of Henley & Partners
- Murat Coskun of Get Golden Visa
- Vasco Silva of Kleya
- David Lesperance of Lesperance & Associates
- Nuri Katz of Apex Capital Partners
Business Insider – Grenada’s ‘golden passport’ comes with tax benefits and makes travel easier — but only if you invest $150,000 in the country first
The so-called “Island of Spice,” known for its nutmeg and mace crops, doles out about 1,500 citizenships a year, according to Richard Hallam, who helped the country develop the program in 2013 and now works as director of CBI for resort developer Ora Caribbean.
Hallam estimated that about 60% of the CBI applicants in Grenada choose the donation route, while the remaining 40% opt for real-estate investment.
“There are people for whom $150,000 or $200,000 for a family unit isn’t a significant amount of money,” said Hallam. “They would rather just donate the money, have it go to good use, get their citizenships, and move on with their lives without having to worry about annual returns or visitation or anything like that.”
[…]
“Depending on what countries one travels to, a U.S. passport can be seen as a liability,” said Reaz Jafri, counsel to private client law firm Withers Worldwide.
“For example, if an American flies into part of the world where the U.S. has tensions — China, for example — an American passport might draw too much attention.” Jafri added that with a Grenadian passport, a traveler doesn’t need a visa to travel to China. “Strangely enough, it’s sometimes a better travel document than a U.S. passport,” he said.
Travel & Leisure – UAE Holds No.1 Position On Arton Capital Passport Index, India Ranks 69th Allowing Visa Free Travel To 24 Countries
Arton Capital has published its global passport index 2022 rankings of the most powerful passports in the world. It has named the United Arab Emirates (UAE) visa the best travel document in the world with visa-free access to over 121 countries. The passport holds a visa-on-arrival facility for 59 countries and requires a visa for 89 countries.
[…]
According to Arton Capital, “Data is based on official information provided by governments, updated in real-time with intelligence obtained through crowdsourcing and enhanced with proprietary research from highly credible sources.”
Gulf Today – UAE passport best in the world with access to 180 countries without a visa
The UAE has added a new record to its list of achievements as the UAE passport has ranked as the most powerful travel document in the world, according to Arton Capital’s Index of the world’s most powerful passport, which includes the top ten places dominated by European countries.
The UAE passport entitles its holder to enter 180 countries without a visa, surpassing seven European countries such as Germany, Sweden, France and Italy, Australia and nine countries such as Japan, whose passport was earlier this year ranked as the best in the world in a list published by Henley & Partners.
[…]
According to Dr Robert Mogielnicki, Senior Resident Scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute and Advisory Board Member of Henley & Partners, said the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) continue to roll out ambitious initiatives and schemes to attract high-net-worth individuals and skilled expatriate professionals.
“These investment migration efforts and new labour market policies are part of a broader strategy to position GCC countries as hubs for global capital and talent.”
Focus – Those Who Want to Become Austrians Pay Hundreds of Thousands as Germans (Vermittlung von StaatsbürgerschaftenWer Österreicher werden will, zahlt als Deutscher Hunderttausende Euro)
Henley & Partners Chairman Christian Kälin grants an interview to Focus:
Is it primarily tax reasons that play a role for wealthy people when they look for another place of residence?
Kalin: No. This plays a role for some clients, but it is usually not the focus. From a tax point of view, it is increasingly difficult to leave Germany. The “exit taxation” is tantamount to a fiscal wall. Germans who want to leave the country tend to do so because they are dissatisfied with the political situation and are looking for countries where there is more entrepreneurial freedom and security.
Reuters – Investors eye Portuguese golden visas as authorities ponder programme’s end
But Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Nov. 2 his government was going to evaluate the 10-year-old scheme, questioning whether the programme could still be justified.
Murat Coskun, Get Golden Visa CEO, said Costa’s comments had had a “significant impact on the appetite” for the measure, with his company seeing a five-fold increase in inquiries.
[…]
Vasco Silva, the CEO of Kleya, which helps foreigners move to Portugal, said his company had received many queries about what was going on, adding that some investors had rushed their decision just incase the programme was altered or binned.
“If there is no residence by investment programme, (investors) will simply ignore the country,” Silva warned, arguing the more than 10,000 visas issued since 2012 had put Portugal “on the map”.
The Street – Crypto Price Check: FTX Collapse Puts Exchanges Under the Microscope
“It is worth noting that even thought there is an extradition treaty between the Bahamas and the U.S., extradition is a long and complicated process,” said David Lesperance, managing partner of immigration and tax adviser Lesperance & Associates.
“A simpler and faster way to get SBF into the U.S. would be to ask the Bahamian government to deport him since SBF no longer fulfills the underlying condition of possessing a valid current passport,” he added.
Lesperance said that “this is such a tried-and-true method to end-around extradition that it is actually described in the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Manual.”
Mansion Global – Wealthy Americans Are Hunting for ‘Plan B’ Citizenship in Record Numbers. Here’s Where They Should Look.
Interest has more than doubled in overseas programs offering citizenship or residency for investment—otherwise known as golden visa programs, which generally give buyers the right to live and work in the country and potentially apply for citizenship—according to a report released earlier this month by Henley & Partners, an investment migration consultancy based in London.
Furthermore, the U.S. has become the biggest market for these programs, Dominic Volek, group head of private clients at Henley & Partners, told Mansion Global.
“There’s just such a big population of high-net-worth individuals there. We’re barely scratching the surface, even though it’s our No. 1 market now,” he said.
The first consideration when applying for these programs is not usually the monetary return on the investment, nor is it always the quality of the real estate itself—the perk of a visa or passport is the priority, said Nuri Katz, founder and president of Apex Capital Partners.
[…]
“Demand for Portugal remains high, with an 83% increase in interest in the Portugal Golden Residence Permit Program” by mid-November, compared to 23% growth in 2021, Ilka Lane, also of Henley & Partners, said in an email.