Author: Prabhu Balakrishnan

The Cyprus government has approved new changes to the cypriot citizenship by investment legislation,  effective from May 2019.   Currently Cyprus offers citizenship to foreign investors for €2 million euros, which requires buying a home for half a million euros.     Cyprus issued citizenships to 1,864 families since 2013 raising some EUR 6.6 billion euros…

  Malta’s takes the first place in Best Citizenships CBI Passport rankings 2019. Bulgaria takes second place while Cyprus on the third place.   Malta has scored 107 points out of maximum 150 points to take the first spot. Malta scored top marks for due diligence, safety, healthcare, human development index, strong currency.   Bulgaria ranks…

  The Golden visa scheme of Greece since its launch 2013, emerged to become the most popular golden visa schemes in Europe.   In 2013,  Greece issued only 31 golden visas, but in 2018, the popularity soared by 100X times with Greece issuing 3620 gold permits for property investors.   On an average Greece approves 330…

Latvia launched golden visa scheme in 2010, since the start of the scheme foreigners invested some €1.5 billion euros in Latvia, according to the new official figures released by PMLV migration office of latvia   The Latvian scheme is also the oldest golden visa scheme in Europe opened well before Portugal launched in 2012.  As of…

  Portugal has raised some €4.25 billion euros by the end of 2018 through its golden visa scheme. The Golden visa scheme in Portugal was launched in 8 Oct, 2012 to revive the economy, since then portuguese golden visa scheme has become the biggest and most popular schemes in Europe. The scheme attracts many chinese,…

Golden visa schemes offer a residence status to foreign investors against an investment . These schemes usually offer a path to future citizenship usually after some years of legally living. Most schemes do not require investors to live or move permanently in the country. Golden visa schemes should not be confused with citizenship by investment (golden…

The concept of Citizenship by investment was first born in the twin island of federation of St Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean in 1984.  It took thirty five years for the number of  citizenship by investment programs  to grow from just one to fourteen schemes in 2019. The demand for citizenship by investment and…

Germany is one of the powerful economies in Europe, well developed country and excellent living standards for HNW investors. Germany has been one of the most popular immigration destinations in the world for high-net worth families. There are few countries as liberal as Germany when it comes to the purchase of real estate by foreigners.…

In today’s capitalist world, money can literally buy anything, not limited to passports. In case you haven’t heard the news, there are 7 countries, “selling their citizenship” for six  or seven figures ($$$$$$) and you can be their citizen in just about few months. Passport shopping is a $2 billion dollar industry. The truth is…

  Montenegro government announced today the development model of citizenship by investment through admission program which offers fast track citizenship to foreign investors. The cabinet announced citizenship by investment programme is of special importance for economic interest of Montenegro, as a development mechanism for creating new jobs and raising living standards of the citizens.   Minimum…