Latest / IMI Podcasts / This Week in IMI - Sep 15, 2023: SEF on Holiday Mode, 90% of Grenada Applicants Were Russians, How Caribbean CIPs Will Respond to St. Kitts, ++
Transcript
- 0:05SPEAKER_00: You're listening to This Week in Investment Migration.
- 0:10SPEAKER_00: In terms of approval volume, August was the Portugal Golden Visa's slowest month in more than two years.
- 0:17SPEAKER_00: Only 64 main applicants were approved during the month, the lowest such number since August 2021.
- 0:24SPEAKER_00: Despite a backlog of now more than 8,000 unprocessed applications, the SF has clearly permitted itself to go on holiday mode, demonstrating a disregard for applicants who have invested, in good faith and with the expectation of timely processing, some 4 billion euros in the country, many of whom have waited up to two years for their case to be heard.
- 0:48SPEAKER_00: As IMI has postulated numerous times over the last year, the unprecedented rise in application volume recorded under Grenada's citizenship by investment program.
- 1:01SPEAKER_00: Since Q2, 2022 was almost entirely attributable to its remaining open to Russian applicants while the others were closed.
- 1:11SPEAKER_00: In an interview with Local TV this week, the chairman of Grenada's CBI committee confirmed as much.
- 1:18SPEAKER_00: While Grenada releases timely and rich data on its program, it has historically not published data on applicant nationality.
- 1:26SPEAKER_00: This week, however, Chairman Richard Duncan revealed that, quote, the overwhelming majority, maybe 90% of the applicants approved so far, are in the area of Russian nationality.
- 1:41SPEAKER_00: Following St.
- 1:42SPEAKER_00: Kitts and Nevis' unilateral move to double prices for its citizenship by investment program, the remaining Caribbean CIPs have three ways to respond do nothing, raise prices to match St.
- 1:55SPEAKER_00: Kitts, or find other ways to distinguish themselves, writes James Nuvain, who explores the potential implications of each type of reaction in this article for IMI.
- 2:07SPEAKER_00: Was the Whaleyan case really only about capital controls?
- 2:12SPEAKER_00: Assuming so is to engage in magical thinking, writes David Lesperance in his Reasonable Doubt column in IMI.
- 2:20SPEAKER_00: Chinese nationals who have obtained foreign residencies and citizenships, he writes, have reason to be concerned.
- 2:28SPEAKER_00: The Chinese government not only wants to control its nationals and their political and financial activity, it also wants to extract as much information and as many assets as possible from them.
- 2:41SPEAKER_00: In an opinion piece, Sam Bayat explores the implications of economic citizenship, electronic travel authorizations, and data mining for international travel.
- 2:52SPEAKER_00: For a person with economic citizenship, he writes, their intentions, previous travel patterns, and affiliations would be probed just like any other traveler.
- 3:03SPEAKER_00: Data mining can provide a detailed profile, and with the knowledge that the person has essentially purchased their passport, there might be heightened attention to their international connections, business dealings, or financial transactions.
- 3:20SPEAKER_00: Too expensive, not permanent, and not providing any solutions that don't already exist.
- 3:28SPEAKER_00: This was Brian Greco's verdict on Indonesia's new golden visa.
- 3:32SPEAKER_00: The program, he comments, does not offer sufficient benefits to command the high price tag the government has set for it.
- 3:40SPEAKER_00: He points out that for similar capital requirements, applicants can get permanent residency in many equally or more attractive countries.
- 3:48SPEAKER_00: Moreover, he writes, Indonesia already has other, more attractive pathways to residency, which means the new golden visa adds little new value.
- 4:00SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.