Ultra-high net worth individuals from India, the US and UK accounted for the bulk of investment migration inquiries in 2021, a report by residence and citizenship planning company Henley & Partners has said. Indian citizens accounted for the highest number of investment migration inquiries last year by a significant margin, the report said, and queries within this group surged 54 per cent annually.
US citizens were next, with a 26 per cent increase in such inquiries during the same period, the report found. Inquiries by Britons and South Africans shot up 110 per cent and 38 per cent, respectively, in 2021, Henley & Partners said.
Investment migration refers to wealthy investors acquiring an alternative residence or additional citizenship in exchange for a substantial contribution to the host country. The Middle East and Africa have seen strong surges in investment migration solutions since the outbreak of the pandemic
“This applies both to inbound investment migration programmes such as the UAE’s Golden Visa options and outbound in the form of investors securing second or third homes via investment migration-linked real estate acquisitions. Particular countries of interest in this regard are Greece, Portugal and Spain.”
The global residence and citizenship-by-investment industry was valued at $21.4 billion annually, statistics compiled in 2019 by Investment Migration Insider showed. By 2025, the market could generate $100bn in revenue, the magazine predicts. The cost of acquiring second Citizenship or permanent residence ranges from $100,000 to $2.5 million, the International Monetary Fund found.
Such programmes date back to the 1980s when tax havens in the Pacific and Caribbean began to attract wealthy foreigners. Canada and the US were among other early adopters. Programmes have also been launched by Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Malta, Portugal, South Korea, Thailand, the UAE, the UK Vanuatu and most recently Bahrain among others. The UAE introduced Golden Visas, which are valid for up to 10 years, to encourage exceptional workers and foreign investors to seek deeper roots in the country.
