Elites Are Buying Foreign Citizenships (You Can, Too)

Today, instead of immigration, we look at its reverse: emigration, or moving out.

Elites in America (and, as we shall see, elsewhere) are becoming alarmed by the changes they see afflicting their home country, changes in many cases they themselves have helped bring about. For that reason, many of the very wealthy are, in the words of the Business Insider website,“buying second passports as a ‘plan B’ for their families.” Citing concerns over COVID, climate change, and the ongoing political turmoil in this country, many are literally buying citizenships in other countries, countries that they consider might be better bets in case conditions worsen in the U.S.

According to Forbes, more than 60 nations, including the U.S., allow legal residents the opportunity to apply for citizenship. Only a little more than a dozen, however, have actual citizenships-for-sale, or “golden passports.” Priciest among these is Austria, where citizenship can be purchased with an investment of $9.5 million.

Business Insider quotes one source to the effect that inquiries from the U.S. increased 300% between 2019 and 2021. The CEO of another company brokering foreign citizenships, Reaz Jafri of Dasein Advisors, said American inquiries over the past three years have exceeded those in the previous 20 years combined. According to Jafri, these inquiries typically come from Americans working in high tech, real estate, or cryptocurrencies with a net worth between $50 million and $20 billion. Jafri says the applicants have one thing in common: “a deep-rooted fear about the future of American society.” [Emphasis added.]

What all this amounts to is a stateless elite covering their bets and keeping their options open in case the system in which they operate goes bad. And this elite is not confined to the U.S. A recent opinion piece in the NY Times has revealed that the current British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak–the child of Indian immigrants in England–until recently held a U.S. green card, most likely obtained through an EB-5 investment.

Of course, none of this is to suggest that the elites are wrong to be worried. They’re quite right. But what about the rest of us? While most of the programs are well beyond the financial reach of most Americans, there are some that are more affordable for the middle class. Unfortunately, you generally get what you pay for. Many of the “discounted” citizenships are in relatively poor, undeveloped and isolated places, often islands. For example, the La Vida Golden Visas website includes among its most popular options the following countries, many of them in the Caribbean, offering citizenship by investment: St. Kitts ($150K), Dominica ($100K), Turkey ($250K), Grenada ($150K), Antigua & Barbuda ($100K), St. Lucia ($100K), and Vanuatu ($130K).

Forbes quotes Nuri Katz, president of Apex Capital Partners Corporation, an international investment advisory company, who says the Caribbean is popular because it’s close and easily accessible. But others are getting into the act.

A lot of small countries have been looking at citizenship programs for quite a while now. I’ve personally been approached by three countries who want to start doing them. The South American countries are trying to create them, and some of the small, developing islands in the Pacific are looking at doing this.

If Katz is correct, this may signal a growing availability of “bug-out” options for the less-than-elite. The BBC is reporting, for instance, that thousands of Germans are relocating to an old destination, Paraguay. And why? According to one recent immigrant, “We have a problem in Germany with Muslims.”

In sum, suicidal immigration policies as well as woke-inspired domestic churn, like that experienced by Germany and the United States, make for more and more migratory turmoil. The world’s excess is coming to the West, and some Westerners are looking for a way out.

Finally, it can be argued, justifiably, that opting out of one’s homeland merely hastens and further enables the displacement that is underway. That is true, but if political means fail–and they are failing–what is the fallback?

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