Saudi PR Program, Portugal Shortens Path to Citizenship, Analysis of Supranational Settlement Blocs, ++

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Investment Migration This Week

Summaries prepared by James Nuveen.

IMI analyzes the 9 Supranational Settlement Blocs - groups of countries where citizenship in one gives you the right to live in all the others. While most readers will be familiar with the EU/EEA Settlement Bloc, the world has at least another eight similar groupings where you can strategically parlay citizenship in one gateway country into residency rights in multiple others.

As has become his custom, our regular columnist David Lesperance makes three predictions for the investment migration market in the year ahead. He also takes stock of how his predictions from last year performed.

Saudi Arabia has launched its Premium Residency suite of programs, which includes golden visa real estate investment, independent means, active investor, talent, and experience-based categories. Investment-based visas start at US$1.1 million for real estate, and applicants can also buy permanent residency for a flat rate of around US$213,000.

EB-5 application volume more than tripled in 2023 compared to the two preceding years, revealed Varvara Latyntseva 's analysis of USCIS figures this week. While demand for the program is quickly recovering, rejection rates remain uncharacteristically elevated: The USCIS recorded rejections for 4 in 10 applicants in 2023.

Portugal's parliament has voted in favor of amending the country's nationality law, changing the start date of the 5-year naturalization period to the date of residence permit application?rather than the date of approval. This crucial change, say Portuguese investment migration experts Adriano Vieira and Ana Rita Reis , could shave 2-3 years off the time it takes golden visa applicants to get Portuguese citizenship. The law still needs presidential promulgation before it can take effect.

Lisbon-based immigration lawyers Sara Sousa Rebolo and Miguel Silva outline 10 changes and trends that will shape the Portuguese immigration sector this year. Among other events, they expect the Golden Visa cultural project investment option to gain popularity as products are structured around it and that application backlogs for all manner of visas will continue to grow.

Drawing on years of hard-won business lessons, Kemal Nicholson IMCM offers executives and entrepreneurs 11 dos and don'ts for operating a global investment migration firm. Key points include maintaining a consultative approach to each client, continuing to innovate your offer, treating each market uniquely, and never “cheapening” your services.

Latin America is one of the world's most open regions in terms of the speed and ease with which it lets foreigners naturalize. We've prepared a comprehensive analysis of how long it takes to become eligible for citizenship across all 21 countries in Latin America under various scenarios.

Now that the Portuguese government has eliminated real estate options from its Golden Visa program, Empowered Startups argues the Highly Qualified Activity (HQA) residency visa is a superior Portugal residency option for entrepreneurs and investors. Supporting this argument is the HQA visa's shorter approval time and lower investment requirement.

2023 was a turbulent year for investment migration. Emphasizing the sector's growing trend towards bespoke services, Anastasia Barna of One World Migration is bullish. As a self-proclaimed “global mobility engineer,” Barna says the industry has shifted to smaller-scale firms that are better able to cater to the diverse and often multi-faceted needs of high-net-worth individuals.

In the ongoing Cyprus CBI influence-peddling court case dubbed the “Golden Passport Trial,” former Cypriot House President Demetris Syllouris and former Akel MP Christakis Giovanis have pleaded not guilty. As a reminder, the case revolves around allegations of corruption and misconduct within Cyprus' CBI program, which preceded the program's sudden suspension in late 2020.

IMI recaps the 10 biggest stories in investment migration in 2023. The annual review shows readers were particularly interested in the changing fates of Portugal's golden visa, Malaysia's MM2H, and Europe's steps to reduce visa-free travel for the Caribbean CBI countries.

Graph of the Week