Citizenship by Investment Chinese Edition Summer 2016
Global Real Estate
Feature
! Nico-Jan Kok
F
o r the past several months, the global markets have shifted into unpredictable financial territory.
Citizenship by investment programs are becoming increasingly widespread, with over 20 destinations now offering their own iterations. The pull for UHNWIs toward obtaining secondary citizenships are the host of benefits they provide such as visa-free access to a host of countries that may have been previously inaccessible to them. Nearly 60% of UHNWIs applying for secondary citizenship originate from countries in the Middle East, refer to the diagram opposite. A popular destination for residency by investment is the USA and its corresponding EB-5 program. EB-5 granted foreign investors a green card (permanent residency) if they could meet a minimum investment of USD 1 million and the investment resulted in the creation of at least 10 new jobs. This was particularly popular with Chinese investors, who amounted to over 80% of EB-5 applicants. These investors showed a preference for investing in high rise flashy architecture.
14
Pakistan
17%
Lebanon U.S.A
7%
Russia
6%
15%
Syria
7%
Egypt
7%