Russia's Anti-Woke Visa, Complete Guide to Swiss Residency, and Why The CBI Market Is So Prone to Scandal

Remember that you can listen to a professionally-read audio version of this newsletter on our Spotify channel.

You can also get this weekly newsletter via email.

Investment Migration This Week

Summaries prepared by James Nuveen

Russia has introduced the Shared Values Visa (SVV) program, set to begin on September 1st, 2024, offering streamlined residency permits to foreigners who align with Russia's "traditional values" and oppose "destructive neoliberal ideology" in their home countries.

Anastasia Barna and Ilja Belobragin expect?the program to be of high interest with conservatives from developed nations who appreciate Russia's recent conservative political agenda, stance on traditional family values, and restrictions on LGBTQ+ expression.

Is the appeal of Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programs declining? And is that decline due to regulatory challenges or reputational risks – or both? Stephen Barnes believes the industry will shift towards Residency by Investment (RBI) programs as a more sustainable alternative because they’re viewed more favorably by governments and offer a safer, more secure path to global mobility.

With increasing scrutiny, Barnes claims the CBI industry needs more skilled practitioners in immigration law to navigate the complex landscape of RBI programs and providing tailored guidance to investors.

Switzerland offers high-net-worth individuals various paths to residency, including routes for EU citizens, retirees, individuals of public interest, and highly qualified individuals, with the potential for permanent residence after 5 years and citizenship after 10 years. The country provides two main taxation frameworks: the forfait fiscal system, which taxes based on expenditure and is available in most cantons, and the ordinary tax regime, with rates varying by canton.

In this feature, Guillaume Grisel, LL.M. (Cambridge), Ph.D. examines the five ways to get Swiss residency, the path to naturalization, and the Swiss special tax regime.

The Cypriot government has announced plans to revoke the citizenship of 10 more individuals who obtained passports through the now-discontinued Citizenship by Investment Program (CIP), bringing the total number of revocations since 2021 to 219.

A comprehensive review of the program, which revealed that 51% of the 6,779 citizenships granted between 2007 and 2020 were issued to unqualified applicants, has exposed various forms of abuse including conflicts of interest and fraudulent property agreements. A recent court ruling has allowed rejected CIP applicants to seek judicial review of their cases.

In this week's wide-ranging edition of "10 On The Weekend", IMI Pro Mohamed Hassan discusses the fast-moving and complex regulations in the RCBI industry and his company’s growth in Egypt since the introduction of the citizenship by investment program in Cairo.

Mohamed Hassan states that contending with global immigration policy shifts while maintaining a high service standard "is a constant challenge.”

“Planning Private Cities for Refugees”: Investment Migration People in the News This Week

Investment migration people in the news this week included:

• Dr. Christian H. Kaelin , Tom Scott , Elvis Liu , and Denise Ng of Henley & Partners - The Firm of Global Citizens?
• David Lesperance of Lesperance & Associates
• Florence Ten of Starcity Global SDN BHD
• Nicholas Mastroianni III of the US Immigration Fund (USIF)
• Saju James , Bo Cooper , Scott M Leeb, and Enrique Gonzalez of Fragomen

Graph of the Week

This week's graph is a sneak preview of our upcoming IMI Rolodex, a product of many months of intense work.

Briefly put, it will make business development for IM professionals easier than ever. It's the world's biggest investment migration database (essentially a CRM) containing the essential details on the entire RCBI industry.

This powerful business development tool contains the following data on more than 1,200 companies involved in investment migration:

• Company Name
• Company HQ Location
• All Office Locations?—?Over 3,000 offices mapped out across the globe
• Company Type?—?Whether it’s a pure-play RCBI company, a law firm offering RCBI services, or a professional services firm
• Headcount?—?A?proxy for size of their operation
• Senior Management LinkedIn Profiles?—?Direct access to key leaders and?decision-makers

This is the product of hundreds of hours of IMI research, and it's worth thousands of dollars in the right hands. But we're giving it away for free to all IMI Pro members in the coming weeks.

Watch this space.