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.
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.
Earlier this year, Malta’s citizenship by investment programme, the Malta Individual Investor Programme (MIIP) came to an end after six years. Despite the programme’s tough stance on due diligence (Malta outranks most other CIPs for its stringent vetting procedures), the Maltese Government decided to scrap the MIIP prematurely and replace it with a new programme which was launched last month.
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.
Following the unveiling of a raft of remote working visas in the last six months, Greece and Croatia are the latest nations to roll out the red carpet for global remote workers, with programmes designed to lure digital expats to their shores in a bid to replace the lost tourism dollars due to the pandemic.
Portugal has seen an increasing number of Chinese and South African citizens rushing to purchase residency and ultimately citizenship in Portugal via the country’s successful residency by investment programme. This comes following a recent announcement that the popular Portuguese areas of Lisbon, Porto and the Algarve are set to be removed as investment regions from the programme at the end of this year.
With the aim of strengthening the Russian economy and creating new jobs, Russia’s Economic Development Ministry has put forward a draft bill for a residency by investment programme, which would allow foreigners to invest in the country via various routes in exchange for permanent residency.