Passport Collecting Has Become The Biggest Luxury Travel Flex. Heres Why.

In March, the Egyptian prime minister announced a new system aimed at stabilizing the economy in free fall. He said foreigners seeking Egyptian passports would have to spend just $500,000 to eliminate the country's $3 billion IMF debt and reduce inflation, which hit 26.5% in January, down 33% from the year before. past. Prices are still low: You spend just $300,000 on state property, and citizenship is your reward.

Egypt is not the first to see a wealthy second passport as a source of income, and it won't be the last. In times of social unrest, political divisions, pandemics, superpower conflicts, and global warming, the world's wealthiest citizens are enthusiastic consumers, and more and more countries are happy to call them customers. While some techies have ventured into New Zealand's bunkers and private islands, a more common way to future-proof your lifestyle is to acquire one or three nationalities.

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Companies that handle the paperwork for paid citizenship programs are reporting an increase in business from wealthy Americans looking for Caribbean or European part-time workers.

"The US market is closer to 100 times what it was five years ago," said Paul Williams of La Vida Golden Visas. "It came out of nowhere and continues to grow."

Andrew Henderson, another facilitator who runs Nomad Capitalist, reported that applications for St. Lucian citizenship increased ninefold from US passport holders alone.

"When we started, about 40% of our clients were American, but now the figure is about two-thirds," he added.

It is the second source of traditional passports in the Caribbean through a process that began in 1984 with the program in St. Kitts and Nevis. The state has reduced the fee for a limited time only, through June to $125,000 to speed up passport issuance within 60 days. European passports, however, are more useful and expensive, and the shortest route into the EU is through Malta. It offers an expensive, but simple way. The program launched a decade or more ago, but has only recently garnered much interest in the state, said John Green, managing partner at Latitude North America, another passport provider.

"When I started in this industry 15 years ago, I asked why Americans want a second passport." He said: "But in the last five or six years, demand from the US has increased, so we opened an office there. Malta is the gold standard and the number one choice."

Of course, the second passport industry has long been associated with those who wish to circumvent the rules or loopholes associated with native citizenship: think visa-free access to the EU's Schengen area, which citizens of India or South Africa they can't do , for example, or a tax regime, the most lenient: the ability to live in a country with Americans, of course, who already have visa-free access, and the IRS taxes income worldwide, regardless of where you live. So what's the boom in apps for the rich here?

Industry insiders say the pandemic is in the crosshairs. The shift to remote work has opened up the possibility of living anywhere, as Paul Williams notes: "It caught us by surprise, and if you asked me two years ago, I wouldn't say we would have benefited. I never thought we would, it will come out like this.

Green agrees. A client who had purchased a vacation home in Miami now chose St. Lucia or Antigua. “Buying property in the Caribbean is diversifying beyond your home country, and you may even gain a second citizenship with that purchase,” he says.

Don't underestimate the emotional impact of border closures.

"When Covid hit, all of a sudden everyone said, 'I want a passport as a backup plan,'" says Henderson, who has five passports (though she recently gave up a US passport).

Even a US passport has its limitations, of course: if your business regularly takes you to mainland China, for example, a Grenada passport offers visa-free access while a US passport does not. In fact, one of Henderson's clients was turned down when he applied to Grenada after deciding to collect all Caribbean nationalities like a baseball card. Still, he's happy to have it all when the plague strikes.

"He had his own jet and he wanted to go to South Korea, and only one thing kept him going: Dominica."

Political uncertainty was also decisive. Americans, both left and right, are leaning towards the Gold Visa option as a safeguard against careers that are looking in the wrong direction.

"The Western world has been lagging behind for 25 years and we want honest people to know they have a chance," Henderson said.

America's troubled reputation around the world means globetrotters increasingly prefer less controversial roles.

"In the noisier parts of the world, you can show a passport from a small, peaceful Caribbean nation to check into a hotel," says Latitude's Green, adding that this reduces the chances of being mugged or coddled while a guest.

Why the island nation of Vanuatu thinks a 7-year citizenship investment program will appeal to Americans. The Caribbean-inspired program is being expanded, said Juris Gulbis, a lawyer who is working with the government to make it easier. The minimum entry threshold is now a bond investment of AU$150,000 (approximately $99,000).

“People want to self-isolate with certain countries, which allows companies to make last-minute trips without getting a visa,” he explained.

Vanuatu citizenship has been used to provide visa-free travel to the Schengen Area, a benefit partially temporarily suspended in response to this effort. But Gulbis thinks he should bounce back quickly.

Taxes are also a growing factor: Countries like Malta allow residents an effective tax rate of 5 percent, and these drivers represent a surge in Americans getting a second passport so they can later renounce their original citizenship and take advantage of benefits. favorable rules. Golden Visa's Paul Williams said he's increasingly being asked by corporate bankers and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to create a five-year plan based on the blueprint.

“You can't be stateless, so the first thing you have to do,” he explained, “is live outside of the United States and not be a US citizen; live in Thailand, let's say, but with Antiguan citizenship? Check both boxes.

However, for some people, applying for an additional passport makes less sense. Take a wealthy client who hired Henderson at one point.

“He said, 'I want a passport and as much housing as possible. I want everything they can give me.' He has billions, so it's worth a lot to him.

Henderson received a total of eight: four passports for Malta and Ireland, and four residences around the world: Colombia, Thailand, South Korea, and Armenia, "just for fun." His attempts are also based on serious motives.

"He kept saying, 'This is the Black Swan show, who knows what happens next?'"

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