St Kitts and Nevis: New anti-corruption leader of Caribbean island vows to clean up trade in passports for super-rich – Prime Minister Timothy Harris admits he is unsure of how many passports have been issued under the CBI program, but is committed to finding out, commenting, “I hope that we can have a look back over the applications – or as many of them as we can find – and begin to document that, so that those statistics can be made to people in a reasonable time [but] within four months we could not undo what was done over 20 years.”
Wealthy Chinese leaving country for basic needs not tax breaks – A number of reports have found that an increasing number of wealthy Chinese wants to emigrate, motivated by desires to escape pollution and improve educational prospects for their children.
IMF Grenada review seeks the transparent and sustainable management of citizenship-by-investment receipts – Grenada commits to publishing on the Ministry of Finance website on a quarterly basis all CBI-related statistics starting in July 2015, also agrees that CBI-financed National Transformation Fund spending will be balanced between debt reduction and transformational investment projects.
Foreign criminals face new crackdown as new visa rules demand police checks – Migrants applying for Tier 1 visas in the UK will be required to show proof of police checks for every country they have lived in during the previous 10 years.
White House Releases ‘Modernizing & Streamlining Our Legal Immigration System for the 21st Century’ – Report specifically addresses the EB-5 program, recommending enhancements to avoid fraud, abuse, and criminal activity; measures to ensure that the program is reaching its full potential in terms of job creation and economic growth; and policies to streamline the program to make it efficient and stable for participants in the program, including petitioners and Regional Centers.
Portugal brings back ‘golden’ migration visas for wealthy foreigners – The Portuguese government has passed a decree reinstating the granting of golden visas for wealthy foreigners. Earlier in the week it had been announced that the program had been suspended since July 1 in order to introduce new regulation.
Governments roll out red carpet for rich foreigners – The Financial Times explores the potential tax benefits of investor immigration programs worldwide.
Rich and American? Australia wants you – Australia has launched its Premium Investment Visa (PIV), initially targeting wealthy Americans. The PIV requires A$15 million in investments but has no physical residence requirement, whereas the existing two-year-old Significant Investor Visa (SIV) has a minimum of A$5 million in investments but requires at least 40 days residence per year.
How Many Passports Has St. Kitts Nevis Sold? – Former government minister Dwyer Astaphan asks “If the Team Unity Government is serious about transparency and accountability, will we have to wait much longer to get a full report on the number of passports issued under the Economic Citizenship Program, a detailed list of diplomatic passports and their holders, etc?”
Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea excluded from Malta’s citizenship by investment programme – Joe Vella Bonnici, chairman of Identity Malta, the official body in charge of passports, identity cards, acts of civil status as well as Malta’s individual investor programme, has stated that Malta refuses applications submitted by Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea nationals.