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Quadrupled in 6 Years: American Clients Now Dominate Investment Migration · IMI Podcasts

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: The investment migration market has changed beyond recognition from six years ago when IMI first began conducting its 2025 Investment Migration Executive Survey.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Americans have flooded into a market that was once the near exclusive domain of wealthy individuals from emerging economies seeking better passports and expanded travel access.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: And with them, they've brought transformative changes to the market.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: The Investment Migration Executive Survey, the only industry-wide study of its kind, gathers data and sentiments from the heads of 40 of the largest multinational investment migration firms to help identify trends and market attitudes.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: The sample size is small but representative of the broader market because of the selection criteria.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Participation requires that firms meet two conditions.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: They source clients from many different countries and markets, and they help clients qualify for a wide array of investment migration programs.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: These executives are positioned to identify fluctuations and trends in their clients' preferences and in the relative demand for the programs in their portfolios.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: The corporate expansion plans and industry sentiment they reveal also provide a macro perspective on the directions in which the industry at large sees the market moving.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now, in its fifth edition, the 2025 survey builds on prior year's data, adding new questions while maintaining continuity for longitudinal comparison.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Respondents represent 40 multinational firms headquartered in 17 countries, with over 250 offices and 2,600 staff worldwide.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: This year's survey was conducted in partnership with Art and Capital, an IMI official partner company.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: The headquarters and global office locations of the firms surveyed make for a representative sample of the global investment migration industry, as exemplified by the IMI Rolodex, the world's largest database of companies in the investment migration market, some 1,300 firms, which point to Dubai as the industry's de facto capital, and London, Lisbon, Malta, Toronto, Singapore, Kuala, and Hong Kong as major hubs.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: This year's survey confirms that the surge in American participation is no temporary spike.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: US dominance is now established beyond question.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: North America is now the largest client source market for 40% of responding firms, and fully 50% identify Americans as their fastest growing demographic segment.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: IMI's own readership analytics align closely with this finding.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Nearly half of our readers are now based in North America.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: The surge in American interest isn't just a transient phenomenon, but a genuine shift in who's seeking global mobility and citizenship alternatives.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: In our 2019 survey, only one in ten firms indicated that North America was their largest source market.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Six years later, that share has quadrupled.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: The MENA region, which in 2019 was the biggest source market for six in ten firms, has now dropped to a 23% share.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: This is all the more noteworthy given that a third of firms surveyed are headquartered in MENA, the highest share since our surveys began.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Half of responding firms identified North Americans as their fastest growing client demographic segment, more than double the share two years ago and up from 0% in 2019.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Concerns about political polarization, government overreach from both aisles, or simply the desire for optionality are motivating Americans to enter the investment migration market in unprecedented numbers.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Firms are capitalizing on it.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: While in our 2023 survey, a quarter of firms cited Africans as their fastest growing client group, that share has now dropped to 10%.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: The share of firms reporting that Russian nationals were their fastest growing client group was elevated in 2022 and 2023 as demand from that demographic segment reached record levels and certain programs like Grenada's CIP remained temporarily open to them.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: In 2025, however, this share has contracted to historically more normal levels.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: The share of firms reporting that Europeans, excluding Russia and the CIS countries, is their fastest growing customer group has risen to a record 8%.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: This could be an early indicator that Europeans are following Americans in appreciating the value of investment migration products.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: If that is the case, the sector will have transformed beyond recognition in a very short period, from being of interest chiefly to wealthy people in middle-income countries to one that attracts the upper middle class in the already rich world.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Fully three-quarters of firms now say their average client is between 45 and 54 years old, up from 60% two years ago.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: This is likely a reflection of growing American participation since millionaires in mature markets tend to skew older than in emerging ones.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: The primary source of wealth among investor migrants, according to 75% the firms that serve them, remains their own businesses.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: But in the 2025 survey, the share of respondents who said their typical client's primary source of wealth was something other than their own business is markedly up.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: One in five firms now indicates that their clients' most common source of wealth is their investment portfolio.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Here as well, a plausible explanation for the change is the growing US participation.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: 62% of adult Americans at 165 million people report owning a portfolio of publicly traded stocks, a proportion that is far higher than in Saudi Arabia with 24%, China at 19%, and Russia with 11%.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Clients Y of investment migration program participation has grown notably more diverse in the last six years.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: In 2019, 2021, and 2023, an absolute majority of firms said their clients were primarily motivated by a desire for increased travel freedom.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: In this year's survey, however, this share dropped to just one in four.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: The primary motivating factor now most frequently cited is concern about military conflict or political unrest in home country.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Other pull factors, such as improved access to global markets and business opportunities, and long-term settlement in another country, now make up a bigger share of the pie.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Again, the impact of increased American participation in the investment migration market is evident.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: North Americans already enjoy extensive travel freedom, so it stands to reason that this would not feature prominently among their investment migration goals.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Anecdotally, we know that Americans are motivated more by factors like political polarization, rising costs of living, and lifestyle changes, observations that go a long way toward explaining the diversification, from rich clients in middle income countries to the upper middle class in rich countries.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: The data confirm what many in the industry already suspected.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: American participation is no temporary spike.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: The surge represents a fundamental realignment in who seeks investment migration services and why.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Europeans appear to be following the American lead.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: The share of firms reporting Europeans as their fastest growing client group has hit a record 8%, suggesting the sector is transforming from one serving primarily wealthy individuals in middle-income countries to one attracting upper middle class clients in already rich nations.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: Travel freedom, once the overwhelming driver of demand, now motivates just one in four clients.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: The market has moved west, and it's brought a new set of priorities with it.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: This episode first appeared as an article by Ahmad Abbas on IMIDAily.com.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Subscribe for free to the IMI newsletter for breaking news and updates from the investment migration industry, and upgrade your membership to IMI Pro to get access to our exclusive professional community, citizenship catalogue, investment migration company Rolodex, private briefings, and more members only content.