Bottling lightning
Interpol, anti-money laundering regulators and governments have been pressing for tighter reins or an outright ban on the issuance of golden passports.
They have had some success.
Bulgaria has ended its investor citizenship scheme, while Ireland and Portugal have announced that they are scrapping their own popular golden visa programmes.
Canada has revoked visa-free travel for Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Antigua and Barbuda. In July, Britain struck Vanuatu off its visa-free list.
But it is like catching lightning in a bottle.
The small Caribbean nations on the OECD’s watchlist, for instance, rely on citizenship-for-investment programmes to prop up their economies.
Saint Kitts and Nevis derives 40 per cent of its gross domestic product from these programmes, Dr Surak of the London School of Economics said in her book.
Cracking down on golden passports may also feel like playing a game of whack-a-mole. Cyprus may be closed for business, for instance, but there are others filling the gap.
Malta, another EU member state, has taken Cyprus’ place in the pecking order of best places to get a second citizenship, despite its steeper price of entry: at least €1.2 million.
The European Commission has brought a case against Malta before the EU’s Court of Justice, but even if that case moves forward, other nations such as Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria are just waiting in the wings.
Mr Michael Kosnitzky, a lawyer at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman who has helped many of his high-net-worth clients obtain second, and even third, citizenships, told the online news site Vox that “Turkey is hot right now”.
With an investment requirement of just US$400,000, no minimum stay and a waiting time of three to six months, many of Russia’s wealthiest have been scooping up Turkish passports, which grants visa-free travel to 110 destinations, as a hedge just in case the domestic situation in Russia falls apart.
“There is really little incentive for nations to drop their CBI (citizenship-by-investment) programmes and a very low bar to hurdle for those taking advantage of these programmes,” said Ms Teresa Villareal, a lawyer who handles immigration cases in the Philippines.
She said unless powerful blocs like the EU can come up with a wholesale ban, “any hard-charging action will plug one hole only to open up two more holes”.
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2023-08-18 12:30:00Z
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