Following the announcement last year that Portugal’s highly successful residency by investment programme was removing Lisbon, Porto and the Algarve as property investment options, with the aim of increasing investment in low-density areas, the Portuguese authorities have further announced this will become effective on July 1, 2021.
With the support of its world-leading Citizenship by Investment programme, the Caribbean island of Dominica is working on becoming the world's first climate-resilient nation.
When it comes to freedom of movement, the just-released Henley Passport Index Q1 2021 reveals that while Asia Pacific passports deliver the greatest global mobility, the countries offering citizenship by investment programmes continue to maintain and even increase their freedom of movement footprint with four CBI countries ranked in the top 10 most powerful passports.
As countries continue to roll out long-stay visas for foreigners in an attempt to replace lost tourism dollars and to attract remote workers, Singapore announces the launch in 2021 of a Tech.Pass visa programme offering tech entrepreneurs from across the world the chance to set up and operate companies in the southeast Asia trading hub.
Launched under Saint Lucia’s Citizenship by Investment programme in reaction to the pandemic in May, the temporary COVID-19 Relief Bond which gives potential investors the chance to acquire citizenship by purchasing government bonds for half their previous price, has been extended for one more year.
Thanks to the ongoing pandemic and the upcoming Brexit situation, which from 1st January 2021 will limit British citizens' travel to the European Union, there has been a surge in British citizens enquiring about citizenship by investment in order to guarantee open and easier travel mobility within the EU.
In a bid to combat the economic impact of the pandemic, Slovenia announces it is considering a proposal to launch a citizenship or residence by investment programme for 2021, making it the latest Balkan country to do so.
Adding to the globe's growing list of digital nomad visas introduced in 2020 is Work in Iceland, a programme that allows foreign national remote workers the chance to reside in, and work remotely from, the stunning country of Iceland with their family for up to six months.
In a bid to lure foreigners to invest in property in Thailand, and until December 2022 only, Thai-based property developers are giving investors who acquire a condo worth US$333,000 or more a Thai Elite visa, allowing them residency in Thailand for five years.
Just one of a raft of remote working visas unveiled worldwide in the last five months, Antigua and Barbuda’s Nomad Digital Residence (NDR) Programme, which invites remote-working foreigners to reside on the island for up to 24 months, has witnessed a high number of applicants, especially from the US, UK and Canada, and has been receiving up to seven inquiries per day since its launch in September.