WHY WOULD YOU WANT A SECOND CITIZENSHIP AND A SECOND PASSPORT?
If you are going to buy a life insurance policy, you better do so before you have a health problem; otherwise once the health problem has occurred, no insurance company will insure you.
The same goes for getting a second passport and citizenship. It’s called PASSPORT INSURANCE.
You have to do your application process and get the approval for a second passport before you see problems on the horizon.
That way if the crap hits the fan later you will have a safe haven to be.
If you are a terrorist or big king pin drug dealer, you’re more than likely not going to be protected but if you still want to apply please do not call on our company to do business.
If you apply for a second passport when you know you have an existing problem, even if there is no proof of the problem currently, you would need to mention it on the citizenship application forms when applying.
Sometimes depending on when the problem occurred, what the problem was and if you paid for your civil or criminal problem already, you could still get through with no problems.
Causing a civil or criminal issue in Russia or China if you are a current citizen of those countries, would not necessarily be a civil or criminal issue in the country you are applying to get your passport in.
If you lie about a pre-existing problem on the citizenship application form and it is discovered before you are approved, it is an automatic rejection and you would have lost some money in the application process.
If you lie about an existing problem and then later it is discovered and proof shows you knew about the problem before the application process started and then later you get the second passport, your citizenship could be revoked and even more funds from the application process would be forfeited.
Bring out all your current and past problems beforehand ,even before the applications are filled out so we can check them out with the citizenship department of the country you are trying to get a passport in so we can discreetly, with no name given out, see if you will more than likely get rejected before government fees are paid out by having a preliminary due diligence done, and this will save you a lot of time and money.
Typically, citizens of a country don’t usually extradite their citizens to another country where there was a civil or criminal issue that occurred.
Every case is different but I have never seen a case where someone was extradited back to another country because of a tax issue as long as the earned money was made legally.
I am not saying this to protect someone that has a civil or criminal problem because if you have a civil or criminal problem and you try to get a second passport you will more than likely get rejected anyway.
Any country in the world is capable of being the next rogue nation and having a second passport could protect you from the next crazy dictator that comes into power that views you and many others as his enemy.
Good examples of this are Cuba in the early 1950’s when it was the gem of the Caribbean and then Fidel Castro ruined the country and turned it into a socialized basket case. Thousands died trying to get out of the country and most had no second country to go to because they did not have money or a second passport.
Look what happened to one of the wealthiest countries in Africa with the country Zimbabwe when Robert Mugabe became the dictator and confiscated white farmer’s land and many were killed and a lot of them did not have a second passport. He caused inflation rates that were almost unheard of before.
He stole millions from the government’s coffers while the unemployment rate hovered around 80%. People opposing his rule were found dead.
Venezuela was the richest country in South America with the largest oil reserves in the world but when Hugo Chavez promised freebees and handouts to all the poor, they sucked it up and brought him into power.
He ran through all the countries’ oil reserves so fast that it started drying up. It was so bad there was no money to repair the oil rigs to get the oil out of the ground and the top people who knew how to get things done in the oil business were either laid off or left the country.
After Chavez died his stooge successor Maduro started printing money like crazy running hyperinflation through the roof. This was done to keep the people happy that had voted them into power.
They thought their stupid socialistic policies of copying Cuba would bring them votes and it worked for awhile until all the money dried up. They basically ran one big Ponzi Scheme.
Toilet paper became more expensive than the Venezuelan Bolivar.
If you think the great depression was bad starting in 1929 where the DOW in the USA dropped a total of 85% before it bottomed out which took about three years to do; then look at the Venezuelan Stock market in the year of 2018 where it dropped 94% but not in three years but in one year.
People were eating dogs and cats and feeding out of dumpsters.
Millions of people in Venezuela tried to find other countries that would take them as refugees because most did not have a second passport. Enemies of Chavez and Maduro had their passports taken from them or canceled.
Venezuela now has one of the highest murder, kidnapping, mass raping, and theft rates of any country in the world.
Which country will be the next North Korea? I don’t know but this is why it is good to have a second passport.
In one of the worst racial Genocides in world history occurred between April and June 1994 when an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the space of 100 days. Most of the dead were Tutsis and most of those who perpetrated the violence were Hutus. Even for a country with such a turbulent history as Rwanda, the scale and speed of the slaughter left its people reeling. Most of these people did not have a second passport country to go to.
You never want any one government controlling you. If you want to protect your freedom, you should have several residencies and several passports.
The world is full of rogue leaders and dictators. Idi Amin, the dictator of Uganda use to torture and kill his own people and then eat their organ parts because he practiced Voodoo.
Papa Doc and his son Baby Doc in Haiti mass murdered 1000’s of his own people for no legitimate reason other than paranoia.
Stalin did the same in Russia by killing about 20 million people.
Pinochet in Chile killed about 30,000 of his own people.
I could go on and on with rogue leaders that their people loved when they came into power but then to find out the guy was the devil in disguise.
Do you think you are safe?
Your country could be the next rogue country.
A second passport could save you and your family’s life.
All Americans should definitely have a second passport even if you do not have plans to relinquish your U.S. Citizenship.
Some banks offshore will not even let you open a bank account if you are using a U.S. Passport to open the account.
This is when a second passport comes into play.
Many Jews were executed in Nazi Germany during world war two because they were traveling on a German passport which identified them as a Jew whereas a second passport might have saved their life.
The IRS has said for now authorities are denying renewal of passports for owing back taxes. The law does allow the State Department to cancel current passports of tax debtors.
A guy died several years ago by the name of Marc Rich and he had multiple passports living in Switzerland.
He had driven up more tax debt to the IRS in the USA than anyone in history up until that time.
Marc Rich was an international commodities trader, hedge fund manager, financier and businessman. He founded the commodities company Glencore, and was later indicted in the United States on federal charges of tax evasion and making oil deals with Iran during the Iran hostage crisis. Marc Rich had multiple passports from many countries.
He was pardoned by President Clinton but not before the U.S tried relentlessly to extradite him from Switzerland but had no luck doing so.
A second passport can give you an unbelievable amount of freedom. Remember the government that issued your passport owns your passport and not you. They can seize your passport anytime they want.
The USA and the country of Eritrea are the only countries in the world that taxes its citizens on their worldwide income based on their citizenship. When countries have this kind of control on you and your income there is no escape except to relinquish the citizenship.
Don’t wait until a catastrophic event occurs in your country before you do anything about it.
When Syria and Libya were going into shambles through a civil war 1000’s of their citizens were risking their lives trying to get out of these countries on rafts or walking for miles in freezing temperatures but a lot of the countries they were going to were turning them away and the countries that let them in viewed them as a nuisance and since they did not have citizenship most could not find a job and a lot of them ended up going back to where they came from.
A lot of the people from countries in the Middle East do not like people who are citizens of the USA, UK, or EU so if kidnapped by one of these deranged people could end your life with one of these passports.
Which five countries in the world do you think had the best stock markets for 2018?
Do you think the USA, the UK or maybe some EU country might be in that list?
Actually no. None of those countries were in that list. Here is the list with their rates of return:
- Ukraine: 80.39%
- Macedonia: 30.41%
- Qatar: 20.87%
- UAE: 11.75%
- Saudi Arabia: 8.77%
As you can see by the above rates of return foreign markets should definitely be considered when investing but so many people isolate themselves from doing this because they think LOCALLY when investing locking themselves out of great opportunities. People from the USA are more inclined to invest locally than any major country in the world.
If you are a U.S. Citizen, I would strongly advise you to get a second passport even if you have no interest in ever relinquishing your U.S. Citizenship. It will also give your children and grandchildren a lot more options and opportunities for them also.
The U.S. Citizenship can also limit your opportunities for investing or travel. An example of this is there was a period in time where U. S. Citizens could not travel to or invest in Cuba, Iran, North Korea and other countries.
One of the best investors that ever lived was George Soros’ trading partner Jimmy Rogers who ran the Quantum Fund.
In 1973, Soros and Rogers founded the offshore fund called the Quantum Fund. From 1970 to 1980, the portfolio gained 4200% while the S&P advanced about 47%. Ninety percent of the fund managers in the world long term cannot beat the SP500 Index. This can give you a general idea of the potential of the great investments that are out there offshore that cannot be advertised to U.S. Citizens.
The famed investor Jimmy Rogers has said today one of the best investments today would be to invest in North Korea but he cannot do so because of the Sanctions still in place on North Korea and he is still a U.S. Citizen.
WHEN LOOKING FOR PASSPORTS AVOID THE PASSPORT SCAMS BECAUSE THERE ARE A LOT OF THEM OUT THERE.
An example of this is you will see ads sometimes on the internet where a country like Belize or Guatemala will be selling instant passports for a few thousand U.S. Dollars.
These are fraudulent passports and don’t fall for them. Even if they are issued after you pay for them and they look legitimate, they are not even if they come right out of the passport office, because they were issued illegally.
The problem with these passports is when they are renewed which is usually in 5 to 10 years from when they were issued there is cross referencing done to track these down at the renewal date or before if they arrest the buffoon that sold them to you. If you bought one of these passports and it can be proven you knew they were illegally sold to you when you bought it, they can put you in prison too.
Can you imagine the hassle, embarrassment, and legal cost and maybe time in prison if you are traveling on one of these fake passports and you and your whole family are arrested getting on a flight or crossing a border?
Belize’s law states you can get a passport but its citizenship program is not an Economic Citizenship Program. Belize use to have this type program but it no longer exists.
There is a residency period you have to go by in Belize to get the passport and it is not quick. It will take you 6-15 years at least to get the passport going through the correct legal channels to do so and even in 6-15 years there is no guarantee in that time period you will get the passport.
By the year 2001 there were quite a few citizenship fast track programs out there like Belize, St. Vincent, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis but when the World Trade Center bombing occurred Sept. 11th 2001 in New York City all of the programs that had a fast track program canceled their programs by the year 2002 except for St. Kitts and Nevis and no new fast track programs started back until about 2010.
One way to always tell if a passport promoter is going by the law is to visit the country where you are getting the passport from and go directly to the Attorney General’s office of that country [just Google search the location] and get a copy of their CITIZENSHIP ACT.
It’s not complicated to read and the law will be spelled out in the Act or call the Attorney General’s office in that country and get it emailed to you. If you don’t want to read it give it to your lawyer.
It’s smarter than breaking the law.
- How many quality countries can you travel to visa free or visa free on arrival?
- Will a citizen and/or his children have to serve in the military as a requirement to get that passport?
- Is the passport with a country you can do business inside or outside the country and not have to pay any income tax if you work there? The reason I say this is most counties that don’t have an income tax make it very difficult to work there unless you are a citizen of that country. Most countries that don’t have an income tax make it almost impossible to either get citizenship there or if you can get citizenship it will take many years to do so except for St. Kitts and Nevis or Antigua and Barbuda.
- Is the freedom in that country excellent?
- Does that country offer free dental and hospital care to its citizens?
- Does that country tax its citizens on their worldwide income even if they do not live in that country? Don’t ever pick a passport from a country that taxes based on citizenship such as the USA. More and more offshore banks just do not want to deal with U.S. Citizens because of the regulatory headaches dealing with FATCA.
- Are you required to pass a language test of a language you do not understand to get the passport? To learn a new language takes time and time is money.
- Are you pretty much guaranteed to get the passport if you invest the required funds and don’t have any civil or criminal record in the present or the past?
- Does the passport include citizenship? Believe it or not Panama has a specific passport program they offer but does not include citizenship and by not having citizenship Panama prohibits you from working in several industries in Panama because of this.
- Is the passport with a country that is a Pure Tax Haven country or a country that has a Territorial Tax System? The reason I say this is quite a few countries in the world that taxes its residents on their worldwide income have toyed with and talked about going with the same system the USA has by taxing not only its residents but also its citizens on their worldwide income even if they live outside that high tax country because of so much lost tax money from their citizens living abroad.
- Can you get the passport with no residency requirements? A lot of high tax countries might have a good passport but they will require you to physically reside in that country for several years to get the passport triggering you into their high tax system.
- Don’t go with a passport that does not allow dual citizenship. Singapore has one of the best travel documents in the world but I would never get their passport because they do not allow dual citizenship.
THERE ARE BASICALLY FOUR DIFFERENT WAYS TO GET A SECOND PASSPORT
- The first way to get a second passport is by marrying a national of the country you are trying to get citizenship in. If your sole purpose is to get the passport and not to marry, your citizenship could be revoked in most countries if proven that was the only reason you got married. There is no guaranteed time period for the Naturalization Process to occur using this method.
Most countries also require you to be married for a certain period of time before you can apply for naturalization and in some cases, you might be required to have children by that marriage to complete this process. In a lot of cases this method is not quicker than the regular naturalization process depending on the country.
As an example the UAE has probably the best passport in the Middle East as far as the number of visa free countries that you can travel to but it is almost impossible to get unless you were born into an Emirati family or if you are a female and you marry a male Emirati. If you are a non-Emirati male that marries an Emirati female you will never get a UAE passport under current laws.
The UAE inflicts heavy discrimination towards females. I know because I lived there for almost four years. The UAE also has stepped up additional requirements to get naturalized on females that are not UAE nationals that marry UAE male nationals in that you have to have children now by that marriage and not just be married.
The UAE also does not allow dual citizenship and if you are single do not move there unless you are willing to be a celibate. Just being with your girlfriend in your apartment with no other people in the apartment except the two of you and NO SEX taking place could place you in an Emirati prison.
- The second method and the fastest way by far is the “citizenship by investment method”. This is done by investing in real estate in areas that the government of that country qualifies as a Citizenship Development whereby if you buy a property in one of these designated developments and you pay other designated fees you will get citizenship and a passport to this country. Some countries such as Turkey you can buy property anywhere in Turkey and that would qualify as your investment in real Estate but the problem with Turkey is it taxes as high as 35% on worldwide income which makes it not such a good option. ALWAYS GET YOUR SECOND PASSPORT IN A COUNTRY THAT HAS EITHER A TERRITORIAL TAX SYSTEM OR IN A COUNTRY THAT IS A PURE TAX HAVEN.
Also making a specified donation towards the country you are choosing will give you citizenship and passport in that country.
This is not only the fastest way but it is almost guaranteed if you have the funds to invest to get the passport as long as you have no past civil or criminal problems. There are exceptions on this but it depends on what you did, how long ago the problem occurred and did you spend any time in prison.
We can tell you ahead of time based on your past problems if you would be accepted.
You can get citizenship/passport approval very quickly in the below countries using this method.
A lot of the below countries that use this method do not require you to even visit the country but I would advise you to do so especially if you are picking the Real Estate Option for getting citizenship. None of the below require a language test either. Countries that offer this option whereby it is done pretty quickly are: St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St. Lucia, Dominica, Vanuatu, Turkey [about 2-4 months] and Cyprus [about six months].
One note when investing is to try and avoid Fractional Shares if going with the Property Option even if the developer guarantees to buy back your shares after the time period you are to hold them to keep your citizenship.
It is very difficult to re-sale your fractional shares when the time comes to do so. Why do this when you can buy a property and own the whole property yourself for about the same price as buying fractional shares of a property.
Let’s examine the above programs:
ST. KITTS AND NEVIS: This is the oldest citizenship program in the world and even after all programs ceased to exist after the bombing of the World Trade Center in 2001, this program stayed in force and other programs did not come back into operation until about 2010.
Some countries like Belize and St. Vincent that pulled out never came back with a fast track investment program again.
St. Kitts and Nevis currently has one of the cheapest real estate options at only 200,000 USD and there are other fees on top of this. If you go with the Real Estate Option buy the whole property and not a fractional part called Fractional Shares of a property because Fractional Units are very difficult to re-sale.
It is also a Pure Tax Haven which just adds icing to the cake.
The donation option is not the cheapest if you compare with the other Caribbean Countries such as Antigua and Barbuda for a family of four or St. Lucia for one person.
The donation goes towards the [SIDF] Sugar Industry Diversified Fund and is used to help the people that were laid off when the Federation got out of the sugar business because it became an unprofitable industry.
St. Kitts and Nevis has the best visa free and visa free on arrival countries to travel to compared to the other Caribbean Countries including Vanuatu. It does not beat the visa free number of countries you can travel to with a Cyprus passport but the Cyprus Passport will cost you over two million Euros.
When you compare a Cyprus Passport to a St. Kitts and Nevis Passport you need to look at the amount of visa free and visa free on arrival countries and territories you can travel to, and with Cyprus giving you more countries that you can go to visa free; are those extra visa free countries with Cyprus worth paying that much more over what a St. Kitts and Nevis passport would cost and do you want to move to a European Union Country because Cyprus is part of the EU and getting this passport would allow you to do that?
DOMINICA: This country is in the Caribbean and has one of the cheapest Donation Options. It has the lowest Real Estate Option limits of the countries listed above with a real estate limit minimum of 200,000 USD like St. Kitts and Nevis with some other fees but again less visa free travel than St. Kitts and Nevis but again the total fees for the Real Estate Option would be less with Dominica.
The total fees for this country for the Donation Option for one person would be about 130,000 USD.
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA: This country at the time this update was done on this website had the cheapest Donation Option for a family of four. It would run about 155,000-160,000 USD for the family of four and this goes to the National Development Fund.
The Real Estate Option minimum limit would be 400,000 USD plus some other fees.
If you are going with the Real Estate Option, St. Kitts and Nevis would be a better option than Antigua and Barbuda because of cost and visa free travel. Dominica should be looked at also for this option but the visa free travel would be less with Dominica than St. Kitts and Nevis.
There is a 3rd option for getting Economic Citizenship in Antigua and Barbuda and that is to invest in a local business with a minimum of 1.5 million USD.
GRENADA: This country in the Caribbean has now lowered its real estate limit to 220,000 USD and it has a Donation Option in which the cost depends on how many people in your family want citizenship.
Both options are NOT competitive when you compare with the other Real Estate Options and Donation Options in the Caribbean when you look at the price and visa free countries that you get for what you are paying for. There are some advantages with this country that you will not get with the other countries in the Caribbean and they are:
- One of the few countries in the world that have visa free travel to China.
- Grenada provides the only fast track program other than Turkey that has somewhat low prices to get citizenship that has an E2 Treaty with the USA. The E2 Treaty has special advantages if you want to get into the lucrative U.S. market in as quick as three months to start your own business with as little as 50,000 USD for the E2 Treaty investment along with the Grenada Investment and you can possibly avoid taxation outside the USA if you continue to avoid the U.S. Green Card, Citizenship tax trap and Substantial Presence Test using this treaty.
- ST. LUCIA: St. Lucia has one of the best deals on the Donation Option if only one person is getting citizenship but not a family of four. Antigua and Barbuda are a better option for a family on the Donation Option. The Real Estate Option is better in Dominica and St. Kitts for the money but that could change by the time you read this because these programs are under- cutting each other like crazy.
VANUATU: Is not a competitive program at the time of this writing. The reason I say this is there are cheaper programs in the Caribbean with more visa free travel and I always tell people to get citizenship in a country that you think you might want to live and Vanuatu is very far from most countries except New Zealand and Australia.
TURKEY: Turkey has a fast track citizenship program where you can qualify to get citizenship by investing as little as 250,000 USD into real estate of any kind anywhere in Turkey.
The advantage of this passport is Turkey has a E2 Treaty with the USA which means citizens of Turkey can set up a business in the USA in as quick as three months using a non-immigrant visa status which does not lead up to U.S Citizenship but applicant and his family can live and have a business in the USA with as little as a 50,000 USD investment to exercise that E2 status.
They can stay in the USA as long as the business stays in the USA. The disadvantage to Turkey is it has taxes as high as 35% and does tax worldwide income on its residents and its visa free travel is not that great and only a real small percentage of the people speak fluent English. It has already applied for EU membership and if accepted I see the taxes only getting worse.
CYPRUS: This small country which is very close to the middle east has a program where you can get citizenship in as quick as six months.
The visa free travel of this country is better than any of the prior Caribbean Countries mentioned but the key question is it worth it?
Unless you want to migrate to an EU country to work or to set up a business and you can do this without having to fork out two million euros, I would by far stick with the Caribbean Option. Most of our fast track programs are done in the Caribbean because the deal is better there for the money.
There is a three-month residency requirement on paper but not a physical residency requirement before citizenship is granted. The minimum investment is 2,500,000 Euros if you buy a property or properties that are not new or 2,000,000 Euros if the property or properties are new.
Of this amount of money that you would be investing,500,000 Euros has to be used for your primary residence.
There is an additional 150,000 Euros going towards two social programs and some other government fees depending on the size of your family wanting citizenship.
Cyprus is part of the EU so getting citizenship here you or your family members could work in any country in the EU.
MALTA: The visa free travel on this passport is even better than Cyprus but you would have to be willing to donate around 650,000 Euros to Malta and invest another 350,000 Euros in a property that you can live in yourself right away but you cannot rent it out for at least five years [stupid rule] and invest another 150,000 Euros in bonds paying a low interest rate.
The visa free travel using this passport is one of the best in the world.
Malta is one of the few countries that still gets visa free travel to the USA.
It is cheaper than the Cyprus Passport and will take about a year to get it.
3. The 3rd way to get citizenship is by Naturalization: This is when you spend a certain amount of time after getting Permanent Residency in a country whereby after this time has passed you have the right to apply for citizenship in that country.
The country in most cases does not have the obligation to oblige to give you that passport and citizenship after that time period.
The problem with attempting to get a passport this way is it is unpredictable and the laws can change during the time period that you are waiting or you could entail yourself in a problem in that country while you are waiting that will cause your citizenship to be rejected later or they can just decide not to issue the passport and do so for no reason at all. This happens a lot.
Panama gives you the right to apply for citizenship after only five years of residency and Paraguay after only three years of residency but the problem with this I have never known anyone to get the passport/citizenship in these countries after those time periods.
Belize, in Central America, which is an English speaking country you can set up residency and wait five years and not leaving at all the whole first year and then after five years you can apply for citizenship but then again I don’t know anyone that has gotten the passport after 5-6 years even asking lawyers if they have experienced it with any of their clients. Count on 10-15 years; maybe longer.
Don’t depend on what a Belize lawyer tells you. Some will tell you anything to get your business and then when you get the passport 15 years later and you go back to this guy that lied to you he will just tell you that things changed over the years.
The three above countries you don’t have to physically be in the country during this time period except for Belize being the first year.
I have a friend that has resided in Panama for 17 years and he has never been able to get the passport there.
The problems with trying to get a passport in Panama is you have to pass a Spanish Proficiency Test and you have to relinquish your current citizenship in order for Panama to issue your new Panamanian Passport.
Paraguay allows dual citizenship but you will have to pass a Spanish Proficiency Test as a requirement to get citizenship there.
When you get a Panamanian Passport, you have to sign a form stating you are automatically relinquishing the passport that you currently have and Panama will list that country in that contract and that contract is sent to your prior country stating you are giving up your citizenship.
I had a friend that was a U.S. Citizen that had lived in Panama for years and he wanted to get citizenship in Panama and he signed a contract with Panama stating that he was giving up his U.S. Citizenship when actually he had no intension of giving it up.
What he did not know was this contract he signed was sent to the U.S. Government acknowledging he was relinquishing his U.S. Citizenship to get Panamanian Citizenship.
When the U.S. government got this contract, his U.S. Citizenship was canceled and when he got notice in the mail this had happened, he hit the roof.
He tried relentlessly to get back his U.S. Citizenship and passport and paying out 1000’s in legal fees and with luck several years later he succeeded in getting it back.
He had to explain to the U.S. government that he had no intension of giving up his U.S. Citizenship in the first place. He stated he only did it to get citizenship in Panama because he was barred out from business opportunities in Panama by not having the Panamanian Passport.
The U.S. does allow dual citizenship and he was lucky to reverse that situation but the aggravation in getting it back and the cost was incredible.
The lesson from this is don’t ever sign an intension to do something like this if you have no intensions on carrying it out.
Some countries are pretty accurate in their time predictions on time periods that you have to reside in that country before you can apply for citizenship such as the United Kingdom and Canada but the time periods of residing in those countries you truly have to physically reside there or you will have to start over again or make up the physical residency you missed and these two countries will also tax the hell out of you while you are residing there on your worldwide income.
Both the Uk and Canada you can get citizenship in about 5-6 years.
The UK does have a special non-dom tax status that can shelter your income outside the UK if not remitted but you would have to plan ahead of time to take care of this situation with a good UK Tax Adviser that we can recommend to you. This tax shelter is not permanent but when it ends you could just simply leave the UK to avoid the taxes outside the UK.
Warning: The above could be removed by the time you do anything because the Liberals in the UK hate the NON-DOM PROGRAM.
If you do not mind cold weather most of the year, Switzerland allows you to determine your taxes depending in the Canton [state] you wish to live in.
Lucerne is the Canton in Switzerland with the lowest corporate tax rate at only 12.32%
Regular naturalization for foreigners with no direct blood ties to Switzerland through either birth or marriage must live in the country for at least ten years before they can apply for citizenship. Years spent in the country between ages 10 and 20 count double that credit.
Portugal at the time I am writing this ties with the UK as far as visa free countries to travel to beating out both the USA and Canada.
Portugal has an attractive residency program that leads up to citizenship. You have to invest in a property as low as 280,000 Euros and pay certain legal and government fees.
You have to visit Portugal at least seven days each year for five years to satisfy the minimum temporary residency requirement and then after the 5th year of this permanent residency can be applied for and then after one year of Permanent Residency citizenship can be applied for which will take about another year for a total of seven years.
Portugal does allow dual citizenship but a Portuguese language proficiently test would have to take place and get passed to get citizenship there. Most countries in Europe, Canada and USA require residency to get the citizenship where you cannot escape the worldwide taxes that country squeezes out of you while you reside there because the residency period of usually180-183 days a year required to fulfill the residency requirements throws you into a tax trap you cannot escape.
Portugal’s program allows you to escape their high taxes because of the minimum days a year [7] required to be in that country and still qualify for citizenship. One note of caution needs to be understood. The minimum residency period of seven days each year to get citizenship in Portugal has not been tested to get the citizenship there.
The reason for this is this program started in 2012 and seven years later would be 2019 so we are waiting to see if the government gives citizenship based on a person only spending time in Portugal using these minimum residency requirements of only seven days each year.
Time will tell if the Portuguese Government will give out the passports based on these minimum standards.
OTHER COUNTRIES WHERE YOU CAN GET CITIZENSHIP WITH PRETTY SHORT RESIDENCY PERIODS:
URUGUAY: You only have to reside in this country for three years if married and five years if single to apply for citizenship. There is a language proficiency test in Spanish that you would have to pass and the predictability of getting the citizenship after the above periods of residency is better than Panama, Paraguay and Belize.
Uruguay has mostly a Territorial Tax System on almost all income sources but after five years of residing there you are obligated to pay a flat tax on all interest and dividend income worldwide at 12% which is exempt if you pay at least this tax somewhere else.
BRAZIL: You can get Brazilian citizenship in as quick as four years by investing at least 75,000 USD and even quicker marrying a Brazilian National with no investment. If you are in trouble with the law this is a great place to go because they do not extradite their citizens. You will be heavily taxed on your worldwide income while waiting to get your passport because you have to physically reside in Brazil and learn Portuguese to get the citizenship.
PANAMA: Panama you can get residency by investing 300,000 USD in a Bank CD or investing 300,000 in real estate or proof you are getting 1000 USD a month in a pension. After five years you can apply for citizenship. Panama has one of the best pure Territorial Tax Systems in the world. Panama does not allow dual citizenship and you do have to pass a Spanish Test to get the citizenship. Realistically Panama will take 10-15 years minimum to get the passport.
PARAQUAY: This country you only have to reside for three years and you then can apply to get citizenship after this time period by just investing 4500 USD into a bank. It has a great Territorial Tax System. This country does allow dual citizenship but you would have to pass a Spanish test to get the passport and citizenship and realistically you will have to wait 7-15 years to get the passport.
CANADA: Canada has a very predictable time table like the Economic Citizenship Programs in the Caribbean for getting its passport and citizenship but the promptness they give to you to get your passport they also enforce on you because they have strict residency requirements that if you do not stick to, you will not get the passport.
Two of the most popular programs in Canada are the Manitoba Entrepreneur Program and the Quebec Investor Visa Program.
In order to be considered for the Manitoba MPNP Entrepreneur Pathway, all potential applicants must demonstrate a minimum net worth of at least CAD $500,000.
An entrepreneur must present a minimum CAD $250,000 investment in the Manitoba Capital Region or $150,000 in rural Manitoba to be considered eligible to apply.
Citizenship will come in about five years.
This is the lowest required investment into an entrepreneur program currently being offered in Canada.
Canada also has a Quebec Investor Visa program with the following guidelines:
- Must invest 1.2 million Canadian Dollars into a Canadian Government Bond that gets zero interest for a five-year period or a Canadian Bank can finance the lump sum for you.
- Must have a net worth of 2 million Canadian Dollars.
- Processing time before even getting the visa is 10-14 months and there is a limit of 1900 applicants per year unless you speak French.
- Must have management experience in the public or private sector in the last 2 out of 5 years.
- Must be physically present in Canada 146 days a year and in Canada 730 days in a five-year period.
Citizenship can be accomplished in about five years.
Canada will also tax you heavily on your worldwide income until you get the passport at the rate of about 50% which includes the Federal Tax and the Provincial Tax.
On top of this high tax rate in Canada, there are several types of sales taxes levied. These are: Provincial Sales Taxes (PST), levied by the provinces.
Goods and Services Tax (GST) / Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), a value-added tax levied by the federal government which amounts to as high as 15% depending on the Province.
As you can see Canada does not like to you to keep much of your money. If you are trying to get out of the USA because of high taxes don’t go to Canada because it’s a lot worse. If you do not mind getting heavily taxed for five years and getting the passport and then leaving, this might be an option for you.
SINGAPORE: Singapore and Japan have tied for 2019 as having the best passports in the world as far as visa free and visa free on arrival countries [189] that you can travel to but neither of the countries allow dual citizenship.
Only 10 years ago getting citizenship in Singapore was very easy but locals got upset with this decision and the laws changed.
You could have applied for citizenship after permanently residing in Singapore for only two years back then.
I think it is a bad policy to get citizenship in any country that does not allow dual citizenship.
One of the best investors that ever lived is a guy by the name of Jimmy Rogers and he has lived in Singapore for many years but has chosen not to get citizenship in Singapore because of this reason.
Singapore does have a great Territorial Tax System and a maximum personal tax rate for 2019 at 22% for income generated in Singapore and zero for most money generated outside Singapore.
This is a good place to get residency, very clean and almost everyone speaks English.
It is the most expensive place in the world to own a car but you really do not need one there with the great metro system there.
IRELAND: You can qualify for Irish Citizenship by having a net worth of at least 2 million Euros and investing at least 1 million Euros in a business that is either a new business or existing business that is in Ireland and creates jobs in Ireland.
Another way is to invest 2 million Euros in one or several Real Estate Investment Trusts that are publicly traded in Ireland.
Another option is to invest at least one million Euros into an investment fund that is not publicly traded.
The Ireland Immigrant Investor Program is officially a residency program, not a citizenship by investment program. Nevertheless, participants are entitled to apply for Irish citizenship on the same terms as anyone else, and a resident permit can assist immigrant investors in meeting the residency requirements for Irish citizenship.
To be eligible to apply for Irish citizenship by investment, immigrant investors must have been resident in Ireland for at least 12 months immediately prior to their application date, and must have been resident in Ireland for four of the immediately preceding five years prior to their application date. For citizenship eligibility purposes, “residency” requires an actual physical presence in the country, although a person can still be considered a resident of Ireland if they leave from time to time for business trips or vacations. Candidates must spend most of their time in a given year physically present in Ireland in order to be considered a resident of Ireland for that year.
One note: Ireland has one of the highest suicide rates in the world and one reason is it has the worst weather of any place I have ever visited on planet earth. I like Caribbean weather year – round but maybe your requirements are different.
4. The fourth way of getting citizenship is by qualifying for the Ancestry Option. I will go over the countries that qualify for this option. I must warn you that the statutory requirements to get citizenship this way is not quick regardless of what you have heard otherwise and since you are not investing money into these countries as a requirement to get the citizenship and passport, going with this option can take a lot longer than what is published by the immigration department but if you need help getting this done, our company can assist you with the process. LET’S GO OVER THE OPTIONS AVAILABLE.
IRELAND: Even if you were not born in Ireland, you are eligible for Irish citizenship if one of your grandparents was born on the island or was an Irish citizen at the time of your birth, according to the Irish Foreign Ministry. In order to get a passport, you have to apply for Foreign Birth Registration, which can take up to a year to process.
UNITED KINGDOM: Applying for British citizenship through a grandparent is a three-step process that takes several years. If you can prove one of your grandparents was born in the U.K., you first have to apply for a U.K. Ancestry visa, which allows you to stay in the country for five years. After those five years, you can then apply for permanent settlement, or indefinite leave to remain. Once you have had that status for a year, you can apply for citizenship.
ITALY: In Italy, descendants of Italian citizens are often eligible to become citizens themselves — and there is no limit on how many generations ago your ancestors left the country as long as they maintained their own Italian citizenship until they had kids of their own, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy. You can prove this lineage through things like birth and marriage certificates and you need to be proficient in Italian.
SPAIN: You can apply for Spanish citizenship if one of your grandparents was originally Spanish themselves, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain. But in order to do so, you have to first live in Spain legally for one year and be proficient in Spanish.
HUNGARY: Hungary considers most people with Hungarian grandparents to be Hungarian citizens, so all you have to do is apply to verify your citizenship.
GERMANY: If your ancestors lost their German citizenship because of religious, political, or racial grounds from 1933 to 1945 — which applied to a lot of Jewish people and other persecuted groups who fled Nazi Germany — you may be eligible to have that citizenship restored.
LITHUANIA: You may be eligible to obtain Lithuanian citizenship if one of your grandparents or great-grandparents (who had citizenship before 1940) left Lithuania before 1990 or was a deportee or political prisoner. In order to prove this lineage, you have to submit things like birth certificates or documents concerning studies or work prior to 1940.