Latest / IMI Podcasts / This week in IMI - May 27: Quebec IIP to Reopen, CIU Denounces Fraud Claims, IM Firm Sanctioned, Irish IIP Backlog Worth €2bn, and Much More

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This week in IMI - May 27: Quebec IIP to Reopen, CIU Denounces Fraud Claims, IM Firm Sanctioned, Irish IIP Backlog Worth €2bn, and Much More · IMI Podcasts

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: You're listening to This Week in Investment Migration.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: The Irish Immigrant Investor Program, IIP, has a backlog of 3,127 applications worth€2.12 billion in investments, following a torrent of last-minute filings before the program's suspension in February.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: The government received 1,316 applications in 2022, five times as many as the preceding year, and has received a further 1,350 applications in 2023 alone.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Based on historical per-approval average investment amounts, the pending files, if all ultimately approved, would garner some 2.12 billion euros for Ireland.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: The St.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Lucia Citizenship by Investment Unit, CIU, has denounced claims made on an online blog that Les Kahn, former head of the St.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Kitts and Nevis, CIU, and his current employer Caribbean Galaxy were involved in, quote, the biggest scam in Caribbean history.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: The blog post claimed that Kahn and the developer colluded to defraud St.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Kitts and Nevis out of$2.2 billion by siphoning off invested capital into personal offshore accounts and had perpetrated the same scam with St.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Lucia's CIP.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: The St.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Lucia CIU has categorically refuted the claims, describing them as incredulous, not factual, and clearly malicious.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: The Quebec Immigrant Investor Program is set to reopen, likely by the end of the year, according to Patrick McCarthy, with sweeping reforms.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: The new rules stipulate a French language requirement, a$200,000 non-reimbursable contribution, and a five-year$1 million bond investment.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: After four years of the program's suspension, stakeholders welcomed the news but expressed reservations about the marketability of the language requirement.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: While Singapore's global investor program costs millions, and its entrepass visa requires VC funding, the country's EP visa can be a cheaper, less complicated route to active investor residency in Singapore, argues Hanama in an article this week.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: By registering a company in Singapore and having it employ them, entrepreneurs can submit an EP application that grants a two-year residence permit, extendable indefinitely.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: The unauthorized discounting of Caribbean CBI real estate was the subject of intense discussion during IMI Connect in Malta last week.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: The consensus among practitioners was that discounting will continue until governments put their foot down and impose real consequences.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Sam Bayat of Bayat Group called for more industry-wide coordination to prevent improper practices and to impose a code of conduct, but also remarked that ultimately the solution to the problem rests with the governments of each CBI country.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: The U.S.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, OFAC, has imposed sanctions on John D.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Hanafin and his firm Huria Private for allegedly facilitating sanctions evasion on behalf of Russian clients.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: The wider sanctions package covers 22 individuals and 104 entities and targets those attempting to circumvent or evade sanctions and other economic measures against Russia.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Hurria allegedly helped high net worth Russian Federation nationals procure non-Russian passports under assumed names to avoid financial scrutiny and sanctions.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Tamor Polding of CIP Turkey, a firm that specializes in citizenship by investment in the country, told our reporter on the sidelines at IMI Connect Malta that an opposition victory would almost certainly spell the end of the program.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: If Erdogan wins, commented Polding, the consensus is that the CIP will continue.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: If he loses, the opposition party has stated that they want to eradicate the program entirely.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Runoff elections in Turkey will take place tomorrow, and Erdogan is the clear favorite to win.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.