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Saudi PR Program, Portugal Shortens Path to Citizenship, Analysis of Supranational Settlement Blocs: This Week in IMI · IMI Podcasts

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: You're listening to This Week in Investment Migration.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: 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.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: 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$213,000.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: EB5 application volume more than tripled in 2023 compared to the two preceding years revealed Vivara Latinsava's analysis of figures this week.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: While demand for the program is quickly recovering, rejection rates remain uncharacteristically elevated.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: The program recorded rejections for four in ten applicants in 2023.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: IMI analyzes the nine supranational settlement blocks, groups of countries where citizenship in one gives you the right to live in all the others.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: While most readers will be familiar with the EU EEA settlement block, 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.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: As has become his custom, our regular columnist David Lesperans makes three predictions for the investment migration market in the year ahead.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: This year, he also takes stock of how his predictions from last year performed.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Portugal's parliament has voted in favour of amending the country's nationality law, changing the start date of the five-year naturalization period to the date of residence application rather than the date of approval.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: This crucial change, say Portuguese investment migration experts Adriano Vieira and Anna Rita Reis, could shave two, three years off the time it takes golden visa applicants to get Portuguese citizenship.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: The law still needs presidential promulgation before it can take effect.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Lisbon-based immigration lawyers Sara Sousarabolo and Miguel Silva outlined ten changes and trends that will shape the Portuguese immigration sector this year.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: 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.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Latin America is one of the world's most open regions in terms of the speed and ease with which it lets foreigners naturalize.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: 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.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: In the ongoing Cyprus CBI influence peddling court case, dubbed the Golden Passport Trial, former Cypriot House President Dimitris Siluris and former MP Christakis Giovanis have pleaded not guilty.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: As a reminder, the case revolves around allegations of corruption and misconduct within Cyprus's CBI programme, which preceded the program's sudden suspension in late 2020.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.