Latest / IMI Podcasts / This Week in IMI - Oct 17, 2023: More MENA Agents Blacklisted, Americans Set New Portugal Golden Visa Record, ++

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This Week in IMI - Oct 17, 2023: More MENA Agents Blacklisted, Americans Set New Portugal Golden Visa Record, ++ · IMI Podcasts

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: You're listening to This Week in Investment Migration.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: With an entire quarter left in the year to spare, Portugal has already approved more golden visas to Americans than in any previous year.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: 244 U.S.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: nationals, 21% of the 2023 total, received approvals in the first nine months of the year.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: The program is on track to approve investments exceeding$750 million in 2023, a five-year high.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: A big part of my day-to-day is helping clients understand misinformation they read online, says Slava Appel, who this week appeared in our 10-on-the-weekend interview series.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Asked what his biggest business concern was at the moment, Appell indicated unserious practitioners were giving the investment migration industry a bad name.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Appel said, people overpromise, underdeliver, take deposits, bankrupt properties, and close down companies.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: This reflects poorly on the entire industry.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Eric Major and Mimuna Srawi this week appeared on our Mobility Standard podcast to talk about their company's quest for world domination, the role they hope to play in bringing the industry together to face common challenges, and what really went wrong with the Dominica CIP for it to lose visa-free travel to the UK.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Citizenship by investment authorities have added another four companies to their blacklists in recent months, most of them based in the Middle East.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: In the last year, the number of credited CBI agents worldwide has remained stable, including in Vanuatu, which now sees only a fraction of the activity it did before losing visa-free Schengen access last year.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: In part two of their mini-series on the tax implications of moving to the United States, immigration and tax experts, David Lesperancy and Melvin Warshaw, discuss the critical importance of an integrated and coordinated tax and immigration strategy.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: They explain how to gain residency in the United States without becoming a U.S.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: taxpayer, and how a move to America can impact tax declarations, inheritance, and cross-border business dealings.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: A multipolar world and nationalist protectionist policy trend makes sovereign diversification a must rather than a luxury, writes Nirbhai Honda in an op-ed this week.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Arguing that a new geopolitical reality necessitates more hedging and planning to retain global access in a deglobalizing world, Honda says holding residencies in both G7 and BRICS countries will change from status symbol to tactical advantage.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: In another installment of the 10 on the weekend series, Grenada CIU boss Thomas Anthony admits that his chief concern at the moment is tackling the considerable backlog of the program he heads, which, after the first half year of 2023, stood at more than one FIVA hundred files, thanks to a bumper year for the Grenada CIP.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Anthony also gave a tongue-in-cheek response when asked where he planned to be in five years.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be retired in the south of Spain, near the water.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: In an unwelcome surprise to tax, immigration, and real estate professionals alike, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa on October 3 revealed his intentions to scrap the country's hugely successful NHR special tax regime.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Observers expect the legislative proposal to be included in this year's state budget law, which would see the preferential regime end on New Year's Eve.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.