Selling Visas and Citizenship: Policy Questions from the Global Boom in Investor Immigration

For more than 30 years, governments around the world have offered permanent residence visas to persons willing to make substantial investments in local economies. Selling Visas and citizenship describes the wide variety of such programs, assesses their economic impact, and discusses some of their unanticipated consequences.

Sumption and Hooper note that there are two general types of qualifying investments: private sector and payments to governments. The former are the only option in countries like the U.S., Singapore, and the Netherlands; the latter are found in some of the Caribbean Islands, and in countries like the UK and Australia that offer both options. Immigrant investors often come from emerging economies like China or countries experiencing political or economic instability. Chinese investors dominate programs in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. Russian investors seem to favor Europe. The authors note that countries vary widely in their residence requirements, with some countries having no or minimal residence requirements, e.g. Bulgaria and Hungary have none, and others requiring more substantial residence periods, e.g. the U.S. requires physical presence for more than half of the five year waiting period for citizenship. Finally, the report concludes with a discussion of steps that have been taken by governments to ensure that investor programs are not used for money laundering purposes. The authors note that the current situation is quite fluid, with some governments scaling back their programs due to skepticism about their economic benefit, but others establishing programs for the first time. (Abstract courtesy of Dr. Nicholas V. Montalto)

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