Latest / IMI Podcasts / This Week in IMI - Aug 26: Grenada CIP, Greece GV Shatter Records - Portugal President Vetoes Housing Bill - Wailian Arrests Had "Chilling Effect"

Transcript

This Week in IMI - Aug 26: Grenada CIP, Greece GV Shatter Records - Portugal President Vetoes Housing Bill - Wailian Arrests Had "Chilling Effect" · IMI Podcasts

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: You're listening to This Week in Investment Migration.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: The arrest of Linda He, head of Wileyan Group, one of the world's largest investment migration firms, in Shanghai earlier this month on charges of capital control violations, shocked stakeholders in the Chinese market.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: The question on everybody's mind is whether the case is merely about Beijing's wish to prevent unauthorized capital outflows or also about discouraging emigration generally.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Mona Shah and Rebecca Singh, the authors of this in-depth article that contains witness testimony from people on the ground, believe the Waleian arrests are part of a broader Chinese anti-migration effort.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Whether that's the case or not, the matter has already had a chilling effect on the market.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: The frenzied levels of demand for Grenadian citizenship by investment continued its unrelenting ascent in the second quarter of this year, according to figures released today.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: With half a year to spare, Grenada's CIP has already set a new annual revenue record of 573 million Eastern Caribbean dollars, two-thirds of it in the form of real estate.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: In the first six months of 2023 alone, Grenada's CBI real estate developers have raised nearly as much capital as during the preceding two years.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Commenting on IMI's story, Grenada CIU chief Thomas Anthony has already indicated Q3 will be even better.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: In Europe, meanwhile, Greece's golden visa is attaining similar, though not quite as pronounced, record performances.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Already by the 2023 half year mark, the program had received 4,150 applications, equivalent to 95% of the annual all-time high reached last year.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: This sharp rise in demand has been catalyzed by the advertised doubling of the minimum real estate investment requirements, which finally took effect this month, as well as the uncertainty regarding the future of its Portuguese rival program.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Such unprecedented growth, however, has come at the cost of a sharply expanding backlog of applications.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: The backlog, including family members and renewals, has now surpassed 20,000, an increase of twenty seven percent in just the last two months.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: President of the Portuguese Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Susa, this week rejected the government's More Housing Bill, sending it back to Parliament for amendments on political, rather than technical or constitutional grounds.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: The decision means it will take at least another month before the bill can be passed, which in turn indicates the country's golden visa program will also continue in its current form until then.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: This means the program reforms will not take effect until at mid-September, at the earliest.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Should Parliament give the bill another vote of approval next time it meets, the president will be obliged to promulgate it.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: While the federal version of Malaysia's My Second Home, MM2H program, has seen a 90% reduction in applications since the introduction of sharply tightened financial and presence requirements in late 2021, Sarawak State's version of the program is thriving.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Approval volume for the Sarawak program is up 2,800% in the space of just two years, the state's tourism minister revealed this week.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: He chalked the record performance up to the price differential between his program and the national version, which is now seven times more expensive.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: In a contribution article for IMI, Tomas Geraldo Bolivar guides readers through the path to residency and eventual citizenship through real estate investment in Colombia.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: One of the Western Hemisphere's fastest growing economies over the last decade, the country has tremendous investment potential, but also presents investors with a number of challenges they may not be accustomed to elsewhere.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: That citizenship by investment provides a potential refuge for terrorists and money launderers has been a common refrain among EU politicians and their fellow travelers in the mainstream media.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: But scoundrels have many easier and cheaper ways than CBI to get into first world countries, argues David Lesperance, who postulates that such ostensible concerns about program misuse are but a smokescreen for more cynical motives.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.