The UK has closed the golden visa program. They allowed investors and their families to freely enter and live in Britain.
Not all that glitters is gold. Holders of “golden passports” should now worry. In Europe, more and more countries are beginning to change the rules or are going to abolish the procedure for issuing citizenship by investment.
Britain cancels visas for investors who have invested at least 2 million pounds in the national economy. To such a decision, as the British press assures, the government of the country was pushed, including crisis around Ukraine and calls from many politicians to stop the influx of “dirty money” from Russia.
“I have zero tolerance for abuses in our immigration system. Under my new immigration plan, I want to ensure the trust of the British in this system. I also want to stop corrupt elites who threaten our national security and drive dirty money through our cities,” British Home Secretary Priti Patel says.
From 2008 to 2015 Britannia has issued over 3,000 golden visas. The Russians were second only to the Chinese – more than 700 Russians took advantage of this scheme. Some experts consider the abolition of extradition a political PR, while others consider it a regularity. Most of the foreign money that wealthy migrants pour into European economies is indeed of dubious origin. Many oligarchs are trying to legalize funds obtained illegally in their country.
By the way, most often issued “golden passports” are not the richest countries in Europe. As a rule, on the contrary, wealthy foreigners exploited the loopholes in the laws of the poorer countries. In Bulgaria, they found a whole organized criminal group, consisting of an agency that helps with the issuance of such passports, and those who were looking for clients abroad.
“The prosecutor’s office instructed the State National Security Agency to verify the origin of the funds that were used for investments, as well as the movement of these funds subsequently,” said prosecutor’s office spokesman Hristo Krastev.
Entire firms, especially in the post-Soviet space, have long been helping wealthy Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, and Kazakhs to obtain a “golden passport.” As a rule, some of the holders of such documents avoid the taxation system in their home country and try to hide illegal income. Many countries turned a blind eye to this for a long time.
Many changed their national passport for a passport European Union. A similar scheme exists in many states. Approximately 200 or 500 thousand euros – and that was enough to get a document.
And in recent years, the conveyor of “golden passports” has been working almost around the clock. Checking the issued documents in Cyprus (and wealthy Russians especially loved it) showed that the procedure for issuing citizenship for investment was put on stream, and often there was no real reason for issuing a passport or the information was not checked.
Many agencies providing such services in the last two or three years have even begun to offer non-EU passports. I understand that the shop will be closed.
Investors looking to travel freely in Europe are choosing affordable programs in the Caribbean and Vanuatu. The second passport, which opens visa-free access to 150+ countries, can be obtained in 1-2 months for investments from $100,000.
Of course, only 100 thousand dollars is not enough. Agencies charge a commission for their services. But, apparently, in the near future, many such contracts for the provision of services may be declared invalid. Both officials who fled and businessmen who earned money from the budget or deceit in their native country will most likely have to return to their homeland, where, although they are not very well liked, law enforcement agencies are clearly waiting. However, it is possible that lobbyists in the same Britain, who do not want to lose the influx of any investment in the economy, will adopt another program for issuing passports to the so-called investor-innovators.
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