Golden Visa Residency and Citizenship
Invest in your future
Golden Visa Residency and Citizenship
Invest in your future
In an increasingly global yet uncertain world, investing for second residency and citizenship has seen a surge in demand. Today’s Golden Visa has become an essential requirement for many high net worth families.
Capstone Golden Visas facilitates the acquisition of residency, immigration and citizenship through investment. We make what looks like an expensive and difficult option, affordable and complex free. With clients from more than 60 countries worldwide and over 15 program options, we understand your reasons and we have the best solution for your needs.
Investor Visas or Golden Visas as they are now known fall into three essential categories that reflect the main needs and motivations of our clients. Within each category there are a number of country programs available through investment either by donation or investment in real estate.
Residency
The acquisition of residency by investment, often in an EU country through the purchase of real estate, but without the requirement to emigrate permanently. A popular and flexible option that can eventually lead to citizenship. Meanwhile it can greatly assist with travel, particularly in Europe, and can provide a second residency for family that can be used whenever required.
Programmes: Portugal * Spain * Greece * Cyprus * Malta
Citizenship
Citizenship by investment or a second passport enabling visa free travel to many countries. These affordable programmes have strict due diligence criteria but require minimal effort for applications.
Programmes: St Kitts * Antigua * Dominica * St Lucia * Grenada * Vanuatu
Migration
Immigration investment involves the acquisition of residency often for the applicant and family to migrate and move home permanently to start a new life.
Programmes: United Kingdom * USA * Australia * New Zealand
Migration by Investment
Migrating permanently is a far greater decision for the applicant and their family. The acquisition of permanent residency through investment often means the start of a new life in a new country. Business, education and tax residency are just some of the considerations. Of the three programme types this usually involves a greater application challenge and ultimate decision for the applicant.
Immigration Investment Programmes
UK Tier 1
The UK Tier 1 investment visa requires an investment of £2 million. It allows temporary residency in the UK for the investor and their immediate family and ultimately leads to indefinite leave to remain.
USA EB5
The US EB5 investor visa program requires investment of USD$500,000 and attracts 10,000 applications per annum. It is the biggest investment immigration program in the world and leads to a Green Card for applicants and their families.
Australia
The Australian Significant Investor Visa offers a path to permanent residency in Australia. It requires an investment of A$5m in selected structures and is unique for immigration investment in that it has a minimal stay requirement.
New Zealand
The New Zealand investor visa is a permanent residency programme with investment starting from NZ$2.5million. It is available through investment in residential property, commercial property, and certain high growth investments including government bonds.
Citizenship Investment
There are a number of programs that offer citizenship by investment through either government donation or investment in real estate.
Through citizenship the applicant gains an immediate passport and has full residency rights in the country should they wish to exercise those.
Europe
The European Union is a collection of 28 European countries. A small selection of these offer citizenship by investment programs. Critically, citizenship of any one country means EU citizenship thereby granting the freedom to live, work, travel and study in any country within the EU.
Cyprus offers the quickest most effective route to citizenship in Europe and a second EU passport within two months. Investment of €2.0 million is required in real estate.
Malta offers citizenship through a combination of government contribution, investment and real estate. The program requires commitment and ties to the country. Investment is around €1.2 million.
Caribbean
Several Caribbean countries offer citizenship by investment programs. Such schemes are often used for the benefits of travel that the resulting second passports offer and less so for the residency benefits. The Caribbean programs offer citizenship at a far lower investment level than those in Europe.
St Kitts is the oldest such program of its type, in operation since 1984. It requires an investment of between USD$150,000 – $400,000.
Antigua and Barbuda requires an investment starting from USD$125,000. There is a requirement of 35 days residency in the first 5 years.
Dominica has a citizenship by investment option at just USD$100,000 for a single applicant.
St Lucia is the newest Caribbean program launched 1 January 2016 and like Dominica requires investment of just USD$100,00 for a single applicant.
Grenada requires investment starting from USD$200,000. It offers the possibility of an E2 visa to the USA and visa free travel to China.
*Please note investment amounts exclude government fees, processing and due diligence. Please contact us for full details.
Irish Residency Programme
Capstone is delighted to be able to offer an attractive route to Irish residency through the Immigrant Investor Programme.
An investment of €1 million in an investment scheme approved by the Irish government gains investors and their families residency in Ireland.
This is an ideal residency programme for High Net Worth families seeking a base in Europe. Ireland offers top class educational facilities, exceptional business opportunities and attractive taxation rates. It is also well connected with many international flights direct into Dublin which itself is just a short flight with hourly connections from London Heathrow.
Ireland is a booming economy within Europe and is set to benefit further as the UK withdraws from the EU under Brexit. With English as the official language and with low corporation tax of just 12.5% (one of the lowest in Europe), Ireland has become the European home of some of the world’s largest companies, including Google, Apple and Microsoft.
The residency programme offers favourable conditions including a minimum stay of just one day per year, a renewable five year residency visa and a potential route to citizenship and a passport for those choosing to live in the country. Ireland’s education system is second to none. Two of the four top universities in Europe for educating entrepreneurs are based in Ireland. Although international fees are payable for students attending university it is possible to deduct these fees from the investment amount.
This low risk investment fund option is authorised and regulated by the Central bank of Ireland.
Cyprus Caps Citizenship Investment
The government in Cyprus has announced some key amendments to their Citizenship by Investment Programme. The programme will now be capped to a limit of 700 naturalisation applications per year, taking effect from this year, 2018. This cap refers to the main applicants only and not to subsequent family members.
Additionally, a new code of conduct has been implemented with clear provisions to avoid any abusive practises taking place in the industry. Enhanced due diligence checks will also be conducted by specialised professionals. All these positive changes will ensure that the programmes remains strong and highly reputable, encouraging professional conduct to be followed at all times, by those specialising in the programme.
The programme has proven to be extremely popular since released in 2012, predominantly as it offers one of the quickest routes to gain EU Citizenship. Investors can obtain a passport in just six months following a real estate investment at €2,000,000. The new cap on annual applications will of course ensure that more time and care is taken by the immigration authorities when processing each application. However this will also mean that applications for citizenship by investment in Cyprus will be limited each year.
Considering we are now half way through 2018, we recommend anyone who has been contemplating this programme to proceed promptly to ensure they submit their application before this year’s quota has been reached.
For more details on how to move forward, please contact our team.
Residency Investment
Several European countries now offer permanent residency through investment, often in real estate. Programmes in countries such as Portugal, Spain and Cyprus grant the right to live in the country with either minimum or zero stay requirements.
They are distinct from immigration investment programmes whereby applicants are required to take up permanent residence and move to the country. They are distinct from citizenship investment programmes where a second passport can be gained immediately.
With the residency investment programmes applicants and their families still have the right to live in the country and following a period of residence it may be possible to apply for citizenship. Some countries are within the European Schengen zone granting visa free travel rights.
Residency by Investment Programs
Portugal offers residency through investment of €500,000 in real estate. Citizenship can be applied for after six years, critically without the need to live in the country during that period.
Spain offers a residency program through investment of €500,000 into real estate. However citizenship can only be applied for after living in the country for 10 years.
Greece introduced a residency program requiring investment of €250,000 in real estate. Citizenship can be applied for after 7 years of residency in the country.
Cyprus in addition to its citizenship by investment program also offers a residency by investment option. This requires investment of €300,000 in real estate.