The pandemic has brought with it the opportunity to work remotely and the desire to reside somewhere pandemic-free. And with tourism-dependent countries desperate to replace lost dollars, a flood of digital nomad visa programmes has hit the market in recent months, extending the portfolio of opportunities offered by the global citizenship and residency by investment industry.
Following Saint Kitts & Nevis' recent announcement that it will reopen for tourism on October 31, the Caribbean island, which boasts the world's most established CBI Programme, has outlined the entry and travel requirements of its phased reopening and listed the hotels and resorts that are open.
As international travel resumes following the pandemic, but with Covid restrictions still in place, a new global mobility hierarchy has emerged, according to the just-released Passport Index 2020 Q4 edition. While some of the world's most powerful passports like the US have lost their shine, others have gained global mobility ground.
In October, the Citizenship by Investment Programme of Caribbean island Saint Lucia unveiled its new brand identity and website. With its contemporary and clean branding and content-rich, easy-to-use website, the programme’s unit has upped the ante in the global CBI programme stakes as it continues to grow during the pandemic.
Following huge delays in applicant interviews for Bulgarian citizenship by investment due to the coronavirus pandemic, Bulgaria’s Justice Ministry has announced an increase in the number of time slots available during October 2020 in the online scheduling system of its citizenship by investment directorate.
With the UK set to leave the EU on December 31, and with no deal looking likely, citizenship firms have witnessed a spike in British HNWIs looking to obtain second passports or residency permits via economic residency or citizenship in order to secure easier access to the EU come 2021, with Malta, Portugal and even the Caribbean in demand.
Driven by the rapidly increased demand in the Middle East region for citizenship by investment due to the pandemic, leading Dubai-based CBI advisory group RIF Trust has unveiled the CART Programme, which is aimed at empowering its partners to succeed.
In July 2020, the tourism-reliant Caribbean island of Barbados unveiled a 12-month visa to attract remote workers, and then in September, announced its intention to become a republic next year. With the pandemic having hit its tourism sector hard, could Barbados be revisit its plan from 2016 to launch a citizenship by investment programme?
With Greece’s Residency by Investment programme seeming currently on hold but with plans to continue post-pandemic, and the Greek government looking to boost its struggling economy, the country has announced an attractive flat income tax rate of 7% for overseas retirees, in an attempt to woo foreign pensioners to its stunning shores to live out their retirement.
While, predictably, the pandemic has triggered a sharp increase in demand for citizenship by investment, unpredictably, coronavirus has changed the who, why and where of the CBI landscape, with applicants from unexpected countries surging, reasons for economic citizenship changing, and some CBI countries really standing out from the citizenship crowd.