Europe’s Having a Distress Sale on Visas

By MARK SCOTT

LONDON — Mayfair, a well-heeled neighborhood in central London, has attracted the world’s elite for decades.

Only a short walk to Hyde Park, its luxury townhouses include spacious basements with swimming pools and can easily cost over $10 million. Ferraris and other high-end sports cars often line the streets. Wealthy foreigners are drawn to the area because Britain’s immigration rules have made it relatively easy to settle in the city, as long as they invest at least 2 million pounds, or $3 million, in the economy.

But lately there are alternatives if that’s too rich for a well-off immigrant’s blood. Rival residency programs have sprouted across the European Union to give wealthy investors access to the 28-country bloc for as little as 250,000 euros, or $280,000, for instance, in Latvia.

Some of Europe’s hardest-hit economies, including Greece and Cyprus, offer the programs — often called golden visas. They are aimed specifically at wealthy people from China, Russia and elsewhere willing to pay top dollar for the right to live, and sometimes work, in Europe.

In return for real estate purchases or other investments in a country’s economy, the world’s wealthy are offered fast-tracked residency or even citizenship. The investment-for-residency programs are a way to replenish depleted government coffers, especially in Southern Europe.

“When the crisis hit, European countries that didn’t already have a visa plan started to take this more seriously,” said Eric G. Major, chief executive of Henley & Partners, a consultancy that has advised several European governments on creating visa programs intended for wealthy individuals. “Governments are now structuring their immigration policy to attract the investors that they want.” The United States offers similar residency visas to as many as 10,000 wealthy people each year, provided they invest at least $1 million and create at least 10 full-time jobs.

In Europe, the programs have not been universally welcomed. Politicians have warned that governments are undermining what it means to be a citizen by rushing to embrace the world’s top 1 percent. Critics says the visas give too much priority to the wealthy over other immigrants, many of whom have lived for lengthy periods in their adopted countries or have fled persecution in their homelands.

Some European countries and Canada have been forced to overhaul their programs after they were flooded by wealthy applicants. Economists have also questioned whether the newly arrived wealthy actually provide an economic boost. Recent scandals, including one in Portugal in which visas were said to have been handed out last year to people who had not made the requisite investments, have prompted criticism that investment-for-residency programs are not in the public interest.

“It’s the sale of citizenship by installment,” said Ana Gomes, a Portuguese politician. “Golden visas are an insane program, because obviously they are conduits for importing organized crime into the European Union.”

While some dislike the residency initiatives, European governments are bending over backward to attract new investors, as wealthy people pour millions of dollars into economies outside their homelands.

The push comes as unemployment in countries like Spain remains in the double digits. Europe’s economy grew barely 1 percent last year, compared with 2.4 percent in the United States.

Some programs, including those in Cyprus and Malta, aim squarely for the superrich. By investing roughly €2.5 million, or $2.8 million, an individual can receive immediate Cypriot citizenship, which brings the right to work or live anywhere in the European Union, as well as easy access to the United States and other Western countries. In Malta, a combined €1.2 million, or $1.3 million, investment through a donation to the government, as well as in real estate and government bonds, is required, though wealthy individuals can apply for citizenship only after holding Maltese residency for one year.

In Britain, home to one of Europe’s most exclusive programs, the right to local residency for up to five years requires a $3 million investment, and individuals must live in the country for at least half the year. For rich investors, the British plan offers the chance to live in London, if they choose, and to send their children to world-class schools while investing in the British property market that has remained a bulwark against the global financial crisis.

“There’s certainly competition between programs,” said Yuri Botiuk, a foreign investment partner at Pinsent Masons in London. “But the U.K. has all the history, culture and education opportunities that countries like Cyprus just can’t offer.”

For those on a budget — at least compared with higher-priced visa programs that demand millions of dollars of investment — many southern European countries’ visa programs involve significantly less cash. In Greece, for example, wealthy people can gain long-term residency after buying local property worth roughly €250,000, or $280,000, roughly the price of an apartment in central Athens.

These programs have become particularly popular with China’s new millionaires, many eager to reduce their dependence on their own country’s economy. Portugal, which started its own visa initiative in 2012, has attracted a great deal of Chinese investment. Over the last two years, the Portuguese government has issued about 80 percent of its roughly 1,800 golden visas to Chinese investors, who have invested over $1 billion in the country’s economy, according to government statistics.

Analysts said cost-conscious investors were attracted by Portugal’s relatively low-key demands, including buying property valued at about $560,000. And Portugal requires people to spend only one week in the country during the first year of the program to maintain their residency, while they can travel to almost all of Europe without additional visas.

“In Portugal, you can gain residency relatively easily and then travel throughout Europe,” said Kamal Rahman, head of the immigration unit at Mishcon de Reya. “If you’re looking to get another passport, these programs make a lot of sense.”

只要肯出錢 歡迎當歐洲人

歐盟部分成員國近年經濟低迷，為了吸引外資、充實國庫，紛紛推出「投資移民」專案，外國人只要在當地投資或購買房地產，就能快速取得居留權甚至公民身分，有權在歐盟任一成員國居住和工作，很受中國大陸富豪喜愛。

紐約時報報導，恆理顧問公司執行長梅傑說：「受經濟危機影響，原本沒有投資移民專案的國家開始認真考慮開辦。各國政府現在都修改移民政策，吸引他們要的投資人。」

歐盟不乏反對聲音。經濟學家質疑，投資移民對經濟發展沒幫助。政治人物認為有損公民價值。輿論批評，給富豪太多優先權，影響他人權益。

不過，各國政府仍努力吸引外國投資人。只要在塞浦路斯投資兩百五十萬歐元（約台幣九千萬元），就能立刻成為塞浦路斯公民，有權在歐盟任一成員國居住和工作，要進入美國和其他西方國家也很方便。在希臘，只要購買市值廿五萬歐元（約台幣九百萬元）的房地產就能長期居留。拉脫維亞的居留權門檻也是廿五萬歐元（約台幣一千萬元）。

英國條件嚴格，要取得五年居留權，須投資約一億台幣，並在英國住滿半年，不過好處是有機會把小孩送到世界一流的英國學校念書。

許多大陸新興富豪想擺脫對大陸經濟的依賴，葡萄牙是熱門地點。2012年葡萄牙開辦投資移民專案，兩年內發出一千八百張投資簽證，八成發給大陸人。分析家認為，只要購買約一千八百萬台幣房地產，取得居留權後首年只須在葡待滿一周，就能不用額外簽證暢行歐洲，門檻低、好處多。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/10/business/europes-having-a-distress-sale-on-visas.html

2015-02-11．聯合報．A13．國際．編譯李京倫