Many people choose to weather a period of economic and political turbulence in a safe and well-developed foreign country. However, if you are officially an alien in a foreign country, you are going to feel alien too. Unlike citizens of the country, you don’t have access to any free medical services, you have to obtain a permit to apply for a job, you have to obtain a separate permit to enroll your child in school, and even renting residential accommodations can turn into a serious quest.
Now imagine that you are living in a foreign country and enjoying almost the same rights as its citizens do. Or imagine that you have a document that allows you to enter a foreign country at any time and stay there for as long as you wish. Obtaining such a document is quite possible and it is often called a ‘golden visa’. Below we discuss why the golden visa programs have become so popular over recent years. Before we do so, we would like to dwell on the ways of legalizing your stay in a foreign country.
Legal residence in, and citizenship of, a foreign country
If you would like to legalize your prolonged stay in a foreign country, you can apply for a residence permit or citizenship of the country. Residence permits can be temporary and permanent.
Obtaining a temporary residence permit in a foreign country is not too hard. You can get one if you enter a foreign university, visit a relative who lives in the foreign country, sign a job contract with a local employer (a work permit is a separate document that needs to obtained in this case), join a research institution, open a company in the foreign country, marry one of its citizens, provide special services to the Government of the country, and so on.
With the permit in hand, you have access to healthcare services; you can buy a car and apply for a driving license. If citizens of the foreign country have visa-free access to some destinations, you will have visa-free access to these destinations too (some exceptions apply, however).
Characteristics of a temporary residence permit
| Valid for a short period (usually between a few months and a year) | Obliges to buy a medical insurance policy and register at a residential address | You have to live in the foreign country for at least 183 days per year to be able to extend the permit |
| Normally, you have to obtain additional permits of you want to find a job or start a business in the country | Each family member has to obtain an individual residence permit | In some countries, you have to pass language and history tests |
A permanent residence permit is a more powerful document. With it, you can spend as much time in the country as you wish, you can work and engage in business without any additional permits. In many countries, you can apply for a permanent residence permit after living there on a temporary permit for 5 years (for 3 in Paraguay and for 12 in Switzerland). No additional tests need to be taken.
Characteristics of a permanent residence permit
| Ha a long validity term (or valid for lifetime) | Obliges to buy a medical insurance policy and register at a residential address | You decide how many days per year you want to spend in the country |
| Serves as a work and business permit | Each family member has to obtain an individual residence permit | Residence permit holders cannot vote or hold public office |
After living in a foreign country on a residence permit for a few years, you can become its naturalized citizen. Citizenship acquisition timeframes differ from 3 to 30 years depending on the country. At the same time, around a dozen countries of the world grant citizenship for money. In this case, you can become a full-fledged citizen of a foreign country within a few months.
You can also acquire a permanent residence permit in an accelerated manner. National programs that allow doing that are referred to as ‘residence-by-investment’ or ‘golden visa’ programs.
Golden visa: a fast method of legalizing your stay in a foreign country
A golden visa to a foreign country serves as a legal residence permit there. You can obtain a golden visa within a couple of months if you are prepared to make an investment in the economy of a foreign state. Please ask International Wealth experts for advice if you are interested in this opportunity.
Golden visa holders do not have to reside permanently in the foreign country. To obtain a visa, you can make investments of several types:
- Buy a piece of real estate;
- Put money in investment and venture funds;
- Buy shares of local companies;
- Buy Government bonds, and so on.
European golden visa programs are highly popular. They started to appear against the background of the financial crisis of 2007-2009.
People from other parts of the world have a chance to settle down in Europe while the host countries attract additional foreign direct investments. According to unofficial data, countries administering residence-by-investment programs have been able to attract more than 13 billion dollars over the years.
The most popular golden visa programs in Europe are administered by Spain, Portugal, and Greece. Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, and Malta also have residence-by-investment programs. Malta also administers a citizenship-by-investment program but acquiring legal residence there is much cheaper and faster in comparison to acquiring citizenship of the country. Do you really want to elect the Maltese Parliament?
Besides, more than 95% of all applications for golden visas are approved. National governments feel safe because they are not granting full-fledged citizenship to foreigners while getting some money from them anyway. The advantages for the foreign applicants for golden visas include the following ones:
- They don’t have to spend the best part of the year in the foreign country: a week per year is usually enough;
- They don’t have to take any tests;
- All family members qualify for golden visas together with the main applicant;
- A legal residence permit in an EU country allows traveling freely across the continent.
A golden visa is an attractive product in the investment immigration market. Citizenship of a Caribbean country by investment would cost you less than a European golden visa but this is citizenship of a Caribbean country.
Invest half a million euros in Spain or Portugal (Greece will take even less) and you will qualify for a golden visa. You cannot invest in real property in Portugal any longer to qualify for a golden visa but you can still do so in Spain and Greece, among other countries. After holding the visa for 5 years, you are eligible to apply for citizenship. When you obtain a passport of the country, you are free to sell your property back. In this way, you can get foreign citizenship almost free of charge.
