It appears to be a prelude to raising taxes. They are betting that they will not lose rich taxpayers to the Caribbean if they have limited travel back to the EU
If you haven’t done a video on the subject yet, I’d like to hear about the quickest/easiest residence permits in the world to achieve, also what type of visas are available in the US for entrepreneurs or investors. Thank you.
I'll just wait a few years and get naturalized for free in Switzerland, just like I got permanent residency here. Most people simply can't comprehend how it is to be regularly discriminated against based solely on one's citizenship.
The Overton Window is open for a few politicians to stigmatize CBI .... I am very sad to see different programs that help mobility disappear. But .... Vanuatu's CBI due diligence was/is pathetic and Cyprus' CBI was also full of corruption. The chickens are coming home to roost and good programs are now suffering as a result. Goes to show that opting for a well-run program is better, and going for a non-traditional CBI program is even better.
Here's a clue. Back in the day, the iron curtain wouldn't let people escape. There's your principle to examine. Now, what kind of total take-over would want much of the world to lose the ability to vote with their feet? Along with that but even more so, they don't like it when you can control and move your own money too much as well.
“Does it matter what basis by which they come in?” To the EU it does. An ideologically socialist organisation that believes you should not be allowed to buy your way into their club.
I think it’s a catch-22 situation. The southern EU states (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece etc) need the EU to survive so despite this being one of the relatively rare revenue earners for them, they will have no choice but to toe the line. The EU is failing these states massively. The northern EU countries are economically strong but due to their ‘values’, they seek to prevent the south taking any small advantage they might have. Quite how Portugal for example will ever economically compete with Germany I don’t know! With respect to corruption and dirty money, that’s relatively easy to resolve, they just won’t want to.
One thing is. They can't have all those socialized services that people have been paying big taxes for. Just suddenly be collected by new people whom have not been paying the taxes to support the systems all along. That would be like buying health insurance the day before you go into the hospital for a huge expensive operation.
Correct me if I’m wrong but Golden Visa applicants are typically required to have private health insurance. Furthermore, golden visa applicants are highly unlikely to require government provided assistance.
During times of strife, instead of banding together to weather the storm, people will point fingers at anyone who looks different from them and the government will implement xenophobic policies to restore faith. This results in violence and racism.
I seriously doubt that the EU is legally able to do anything about the member states' citizenship or immigration laws. Access to the Schengen zone for travel purposes, limited to 180 days a year, is another matter, but that is not what we are discussing here. That being said, I think CBI is under pressure, and not only by the EU. Remember that the concept of CBI is totally, totally foreign to the absolutely overwhelming majority of the population, and to politicians as well. Many people even find double citizenship acquired by regular naturalisation suspcious, because "you never know where those people's loyalties lie". Anyway, for CBIs to survive beyond the medium term, I believe that the "Caribbean Saints" and other countries offering CBI need to do some clever lobbying in order to survive, stressing meticulous background checks of applicants and the importance of CBI programmes to the local economy.
Nice video! One of your best ones yet! I def agree on the birthplace thing. Both of my parents are Canadians and I'm Canadian but I was born in a 'not friendly' country to the west. I love the west but I can't stand the discrimination from the legal system/banking in the western world. That's why I prefer hanging out/starting businesses in Russia/China, etc. Because they don't hate me because my parents decided to have sex in a country and then wait 9 months. Just an fyi, canada does have an option to not include your birthplace on your passport but that might cause issues in other countries. It's funny that I can change my gender on my Canadian passport by just filling out a form but can't change my birthplace to Ottawa.
It's a known fact the lower tax rates bring in more tax revenue for governments yet as the former President of the United States said, "It's a matter of social justice". It's nothing short of political posturing and vote buying.
@@OffshoreCitizen I'm going to say 1% to no as people pick their team and no argument seems to make any difference. Others would say, 'Your vote doesn't matter." Politicians do have to make it appear they're doing something and need some type of talking points, it's all just hyperbole.
@@OffshoreCitizen , yes, Michael. I have permanent residency in Panama and love Boquete. I eventually want to spend four months a year there. When my family obligations get straightened out here I will be booking a consultation call with you so that we can figure out which European option(s) would suit me best. I would eventually like to divide my time among three countries with just a quick visit to Miami for Christmas. Thanks, and I will be in touch.
Great video Michael. instead of kicking out all russians they should just sanction those with direct ties to putin or their military industrial complex. One thing I wonder if you could shed some light on with respect to the portugese golden visa, what happens if the main applicant is not russian, but the applicants spouse is russian? Do they also get hit with sanctions? What if the spouse is a dual citizen like, Russian Canadian? Like, there needs to be more clarity from the government about these things, it's making me hold off jumping in.
It's not racism. It's placism. That's not actually a word but I figured I'd make it one. Placism: Discriminating against someone due to their place of birth.
@@OffshoreCitizen Somewhat... My wife and I have been wanting to get a second citizenship. My wife was born in Austria (Her parents lived in Serbia but the hospitals there were terrible at the time so they had her in Austria.), grew up in Serbia, then moved to Croatia due to the war, spent lots of time in Slovenia, and eventually ended up in the US as a teenager. Her parents, being Americans, chose for her to have American citizenship instead of Austrian. Despite moving to Serbia within days of being born, she didn't get Serbian citizenship either having been born in Austria. It would have been nice for her to get any of those citizenships as a kid but now we are basically priced out of any of the countries that would be possibilities. Despite the former Yugoslavian countries being my wife's culture, heritage, and language, we're looked at as any random person applying for citizenship which appears to be much more expensive or even maybe impossible in some cases. Granted, our situation is a bit different than what you were talking about but it's still a little bit of a bummer for us.
Great video Michael, do you think there could be a future law that will work retroactively stripping away residencies and citizenships of people who are in the process of getting CBI (like in Portugal where it takes 5 years) or for people who got it already? I had a conversation with a lawyer in Lisboa once and he said it is unlikely to work that way and that they might just improve their counter money laundering measures.
As a French, I'm not concerned, I have one of the "strongest" passport in the world. BUT that being said, what the EU wants to implant is complete BS. Not only it will drive away talented people who will see elsewhere if herb is greener, but also it will send a false message of "security" to the European population which, on this particular subject, are very gulible. Also, within the EU, it targets countries which already struggle to get back on tracks, economicaly speaking. I'm thinking about one particular example : Greece. Too many debts, too many past corruption (and still some nowadays, I'm still "amazed" how easy is to have a driving license especially when you give an envelope "edwsa ena fakelo" full of cash), but one way the the government was able to attrack business was the residency investment program which only starts at... 250,000 €. A lot of Chinese enjoyed it, real estate skyrockets in Athens and now, with the Covid and the Ukraine war, I won't bet a lot on its "bright" economic future. Good and informative video, even if I'll never be your client (winning "only" 5 figures/year). :)
We need positive CBI propaganda. The general population doesn't know about CBI, so if all they hear about it is negative, they'll simply believe it without questioning. Unfortunately, it's an uphill battle, considering that the world has since long ago bought into the insane and absurd belief that every single person must be owned by a sovereign state, and has an obligation of allegiance and servitude to it. What happened to ideals of freedom? Independence? Autonomy? All individuals should be sovereign. And nothing else should. Sure, governments are a necessity for civilization, but their legitimacy should come from the voluntary association of sovereign individuals. Goverments should exist to serve their citizens, and should be legitimized by the sovereignty of the individuals. What we have now is the other way around: citizens are assets of states, which are the source of all legitimacy. Persons only have rights by means of a state.
Thanks Michael..really great video. One question: Are they also trying to stop someone from the EU from getting CBI somewhere outside the EU, or does it impact those trying to settle in the EU?
@@OffshoreCitizen That's just great! Nothing more than a thinly disguised attempt at controlling the flow of money within the EU.. can't have all those multimillionaires parking those ill-gotten gains out of reach, now, can we? 🙄 All that said, I think those of us interested will still find legal ways to reach our goals. 👍
@@OffshoreCitizen Based on your experience, please discuss what is happening between Vanuatu and the European commission , and your expectations for the future of the Vanuatu citizenship?
Being objective, I would disagree that CBI is equal to citizenship by residency over time - clearly, you have to make an investment of time and tax money to go the longer route which will require more transparency and data collection on an individual and more of a track record. For example, I know in one country I have lived in where criminal gang members distributing drugs have married locals to gain residency - I suspect that more than a few have not gained citizenship because of generating a criminal record in the residency period.
But most aren't going to gain a criminal record in that time. I mean realistically a lot of programs can revoke the citizenship within 10 years of they discover you are a criminal
@@OffshoreCitizen While I have my reservations on the ability of countries to properly filter out corrupt individuals, I wholeheartedly agree that blanket banning all people of a certain nationality or place of birth amounts to bigotry and discrimination.
I think more countries should offer CBI. 🥂 I don’t see the downside honestly..... a country attracting vetted high net worth individuals is a good thing.... many of these people are entrepreneurs and can provide more wealth to the country besides the initial donation. In a time when western countries are punishing high net worth individuals such as business entrepreneurs..... CBIs can attract some great minds to promote business growth.... 🥂✈️🇦🇬🇸🇻
@@OffshoreCitizen well, as a Russian living in the EU it feels like being a German and a Jew at the same time. As a trained geographer I said long time ago that we were prisoners of our geography (read birthplace). Unfortunately, this hasn't changed much since. It just looks more hypocritical in Western countries because they constantly preach tolerance and inclusion. I've met great people from all over the world, also from Iran, Pakistan, Ghana, Venezuela. My thought is that everyone deserves to choose country where he/she can add value (i.e. CBI).
I agree with the discrimination against Russians and feel bad for all the honest and respectful Russians out there. However one can argue also here that the west here is at war with russia economical,culture,information ,and so on.. and perhaps these discriminatory actions can be acceptable in a War? The sanctions are in someway similar.
Great video Michael! Yup, that's exactly how it is, but you know what, they (PMs, politicians.. etc) clearly understand what you are talking about BUT 👆 the whole thing is that, their political career in almost 99,9% "built" on populism and nobody gives a shit how many people suffer from this or that decision or even how much "their" countries may lose... it's all about votes man.... it's "nothing personal just business" (c)
"literally the same as racism" I couldn't agree more.
Well said, I would say it’s literally racist to discriminate people based on their place of birth
Not all racism is bad. You have to keep the culture of your nation protected
It is.
@@TonyFontaine1988 if your culture is so “weak” that gets damaged by immigration, you have a bigger problem
Culture is about behaviour, racism is about something an individual cannot change. You can adopt another culture but not change where you were born
you are right. What the EU is doing is RACIST.
It appears to be a prelude to raising taxes. They are betting that they will not lose rich taxpayers to the Caribbean if they have limited travel back to the EU
Could be but I don't think so, Europeans aren't the big CBI clients
Common sense intelligence is soooo refreshing!
Thank you, Michael! Glad you liked the video.
Anything you'd like to see next?
If you haven’t done a video on the subject yet, I’d like to hear about the quickest/easiest residence permits in the world to achieve, also what type of visas are available in the US for entrepreneurs or investors. Thank you.
I'll just wait a few years and get naturalized for free in Switzerland, just like I got permanent residency here. Most people simply can't comprehend how it is to be regularly discriminated against based solely on one's citizenship.
I'm on the same plan!
Yeah not fair based just on where you are born
That is a long path … and I hope your neighbors like you….
The Overton Window is open for a few politicians to stigmatize CBI .... I am very sad to see different programs that help mobility disappear. But .... Vanuatu's CBI due diligence was/is pathetic and Cyprus' CBI was also full of corruption. The chickens are coming home to roost and good programs are now suffering as a result. Goes to show that opting for a well-run program is better, and going for a non-traditional CBI program is even better.
When the reasons one is given make no sense it is reasonable to look for undeclared reasons.
Good video.
Here's a clue. Back in the day, the iron curtain wouldn't let people escape. There's your principle to examine. Now, what kind of total take-over would want much of the world to lose the ability to vote with their feet? Along with that but even more so, they don't like it when you can control and move your own money too much as well.
“Does it matter what basis by which they come in?” To the EU it does. An ideologically socialist organisation that believes you should not be allowed to buy your way into their club.
And what do you think of that policy?
I think it’s a catch-22 situation. The southern EU states (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece etc) need the EU to survive so despite this being one of the relatively rare revenue earners for them, they will have no choice but to toe the line. The EU is failing these states massively. The northern EU countries are economically strong but due to their ‘values’, they seek to prevent the south taking any small advantage they might have. Quite how Portugal for example will ever economically compete with Germany I don’t know! With respect to corruption and dirty money, that’s relatively easy to resolve, they just won’t want to.
One thing is. They can't have all those socialized services that people have been paying big taxes for. Just suddenly be collected by new people whom have not been paying the taxes to support the systems all along.
That would be like buying health insurance the day before you go into the hospital for a huge expensive operation.
Correct me if I’m wrong but Golden Visa applicants are typically required to have private health insurance. Furthermore, golden visa applicants are highly unlikely to require government provided assistance.
@@peaceonearth8693 Lol, you the pleb strikes again with dumb logic, what a surprise.
During times of strife, instead of banding together to weather the storm, people will point fingers at anyone who looks different from them and the government will implement xenophobic policies to restore faith. This results in violence and racism.
I seriously doubt that the EU is legally able to do anything about the member states' citizenship or immigration laws. Access to the Schengen zone for travel purposes, limited to 180 days a year, is another matter, but that is not what we are discussing here. That being said, I think CBI is under pressure, and not only by the EU. Remember that the concept of CBI is totally, totally foreign to the absolutely overwhelming majority of the population, and to politicians as well. Many people even find double citizenship acquired by regular naturalisation suspcious, because "you never know where those people's loyalties lie". Anyway, for CBIs to survive beyond the medium term, I believe that the "Caribbean Saints" and other countries offering CBI need to do some clever lobbying in order to survive, stressing meticulous background checks of applicants and the importance of CBI programmes to the local economy.
Look at the U.S.. With the hyper immigration walking across the border. Do you really think the U.S. gives a damn where people's loyalties might lie?
Nice video! One of your best ones yet!
I def agree on the birthplace thing. Both of my parents are Canadians and I'm Canadian but I was born in a 'not friendly' country to the west.
I love the west but I can't stand the discrimination from the legal system/banking in the western world. That's why I prefer hanging out/starting businesses in Russia/China, etc. Because they don't hate me because my parents decided to have sex in a country and then wait 9 months.
Just an fyi, canada does have an option to not include your birthplace on your passport but that might cause issues in other countries.
It's funny that I can change my gender on my Canadian passport by just filling out a form but can't change my birthplace to Ottawa.
Thank you and thank you for sharing your story! Sorry to hear about the way you've been treated.
How'd doing business with Russia and China now?
Sorry to hear. I’m guessing Iran or Syria?
@@OffshoreCitizen how's business with Russia? I rather not talk about it 😂
It's a known fact the lower tax rates bring in more tax revenue for governments yet as the former President of the United States said, "It's a matter of social justice". It's nothing short of political posturing and vote buying.
Do you think this is going to buy them votes?
@@OffshoreCitizen I'm going to say 1% to no as people pick their team and no argument seems to make any difference. Others would say, 'Your vote doesn't matter." Politicians do have to make it appear they're doing something and need some type of talking points, it's all just hyperbole.
Amen, Michael. This is simply more political correctness run amok. I echo your sentiments wholeheartedly. This is maddening.
Thank you, Bill!
Any progress with your plans?
@@OffshoreCitizen , yes, Michael. I have permanent residency in Panama and love Boquete. I eventually want to spend four months a year there. When my family obligations get straightened out here I will be booking a consultation call with you so that we can figure out which European option(s) would suit me best. I would eventually like to divide my time among three countries with just a quick visit to Miami for Christmas. Thanks, and I will be in touch.
Great video Michael. instead of kicking out all russians they should just sanction those with direct ties to putin or their military industrial complex. One thing I wonder if you could shed some light on with respect to the portugese golden visa, what happens if the main applicant is not russian, but the applicants spouse is russian? Do they also get hit with sanctions? What if the spouse is a dual citizen like, Russian Canadian? Like, there needs to be more clarity from the government about these things, it's making me hold off jumping in.
Send us a message about this and we can discuss as it applies to you
That was great, Michael. So true.🔥
Thank you!
How do you look at it all?
It's not racism. It's placism. That's not actually a word but I figured I'd make it one. Placism: Discriminating against someone due to their place of birth.
Haha makes sense.
Have you ever experienced it?
@@OffshoreCitizen Somewhat... My wife and I have been wanting to get a second citizenship. My wife was born in Austria (Her parents lived in Serbia but the hospitals there were terrible at the time so they had her in Austria.), grew up in Serbia, then moved to Croatia due to the war, spent lots of time in Slovenia, and eventually ended up in the US as a teenager. Her parents, being Americans, chose for her to have American citizenship instead of Austrian. Despite moving to Serbia within days of being born, she didn't get Serbian citizenship either having been born in Austria. It would have been nice for her to get any of those citizenships as a kid but now we are basically priced out of any of the countries that would be possibilities. Despite the former Yugoslavian countries being my wife's culture, heritage, and language, we're looked at as any random person applying for citizenship which appears to be much more expensive or even maybe impossible in some cases. Granted, our situation is a bit different than what you were talking about but it's still a little bit of a bummer for us.
Great video Michael, do you think there could be a future law that will work retroactively stripping away residencies and citizenships of people who are in the process of getting CBI (like in Portugal where it takes 5 years) or for people who got it already? I had a conversation with a lawyer in Lisboa once and he said it is unlikely to work that way and that they might just improve their counter money laundering measures.
Probably not, most courts worldwide deem retroactive actions against the law. Some countries try it but when challenged in court they lose
@@OffshoreCitizen What if you're working towards being able to apply for citizenship but then the law changes and it gets canceled? That would suck.
As a French, I'm not concerned, I have one of the "strongest" passport in the world. BUT that being said, what the EU wants to implant is complete BS. Not only it will drive away talented people who will see elsewhere if herb is greener, but also it will send a false message of "security" to the European population which, on this particular subject, are very gulible.
Also, within the EU, it targets countries which already struggle to get back on tracks, economicaly speaking. I'm thinking about one particular example : Greece. Too many debts, too many past corruption (and still some nowadays, I'm still "amazed" how easy is to have a driving license especially when you give an envelope "edwsa ena fakelo" full of cash), but one way the the government was able to attrack business was the residency investment program which only starts at... 250,000 €. A lot of Chinese enjoyed it, real estate skyrockets in Athens and now, with the Covid and the Ukraine war, I won't bet a lot on its "bright" economic future.
Good and informative video, even if I'll never be your client (winning "only" 5 figures/year). :)
Thank you Sophie for sharing your insight and supporting our content, appreciate it!
How do you see the EU in the future?
Hope the negative CBI propaganda does not take hold! Great content as usual? 👍🙏🧡
Thank you!
What do you predict?
We need positive CBI propaganda. The general population doesn't know about CBI, so if all they hear about it is negative, they'll simply believe it without questioning.
Unfortunately, it's an uphill battle, considering that the world has since long ago bought into the insane and absurd belief that every single person must be owned by a sovereign state, and has an obligation of allegiance and servitude to it. What happened to ideals of freedom? Independence? Autonomy?
All individuals should be sovereign. And nothing else should. Sure, governments are a necessity for civilization, but their legitimacy should come from the voluntary association of sovereign individuals. Goverments should exist to serve their citizens, and should be legitimized by the sovereignty of the individuals.
What we have now is the other way around: citizens are assets of states, which are the source of all legitimacy. Persons only have rights by means of a state.
Thanks Michael..really great video.
One question: Are they also trying to stop someone from the EU from getting CBI somewhere outside the EU, or does it impact those trying to settle in the EU?
They are trying to put pressure on those countries not to have programs or reducing the passport value
@@OffshoreCitizen That's just great! Nothing more than a thinly disguised attempt at controlling the flow of money within the EU.. can't have all those multimillionaires parking those ill-gotten gains out of reach, now, can we? 🙄
All that said, I think those of us interested will still find legal ways to reach our goals. 👍
Great vedio, can you please talk about what is happening between EU and vanuatu?
Stay tuned 👍🏻
What do you think about it?
@@OffshoreCitizen Based on your experience, please discuss what is happening between Vanuatu and the European commission , and your expectations for the future of the Vanuatu citizenship?
Being objective, I would disagree that CBI is equal to citizenship by residency over time - clearly, you have to make an investment of time and tax money to go the longer route which will require more transparency and data collection on an individual and more of a track record. For example, I know in one country I have lived in where criminal gang members distributing drugs have married locals to gain residency - I suspect that more than a few have not gained citizenship because of generating a criminal record in the residency period.
But most aren't going to gain a criminal record in that time. I mean realistically a lot of programs can revoke the citizenship within 10 years of they discover you are a criminal
True. But I suspect criminals will shop around for the most lax program. CBI would attract more sophisticated ones perhaps.
All good points, Michael.
Thank you!
What's your take on it?
@@OffshoreCitizen While I have my reservations on the ability of countries to properly filter out corrupt individuals, I wholeheartedly agree that blanket banning all people of a certain nationality or place of birth amounts to bigotry and discrimination.
To be fair, probability is a thing
All about the tax.
Watching you while flying Qatar airlines over Iceland..... heading home to Canada ..... thanks again for the great info!
Well, have a safe flight :)
Thank you for watching. What's your take on the topic?
I think more countries should offer CBI. 🥂 I don’t see the downside honestly..... a country attracting vetted high net worth individuals is a good thing.... many of these people are entrepreneurs and can provide more wealth to the country besides the initial donation.
In a time when western countries are punishing high net worth individuals such as business entrepreneurs..... CBIs can attract some great minds to promote business growth....
🥂✈️🇦🇬🇸🇻
Common sense but it's not so common these days.
Right?
What are your thoughts on the current events?
@@OffshoreCitizen well, as a Russian living in the EU it feels like being a German and a Jew at the same time. As a trained geographer I said long time ago that we were prisoners of our geography (read birthplace). Unfortunately, this hasn't changed much since. It just looks more hypocritical in Western countries because they constantly preach tolerance and inclusion. I've met great people from all over the world, also from Iran, Pakistan, Ghana, Venezuela. My thought is that everyone deserves to choose country where he/she can add value (i.e. CBI).
Very sad video. Maybe I'll not be able to get my St Kitts citizenship.
I don't think there is any way St. Kitts and Nevis will do away with CBI as it is the country's lifeblood. Michael was talking about CBI in Europe.
@@billhennessey6374 If it's just about Europe, it is not so bad. Europe is overrated.
You'll Almaty certainly get CBI, what's more questionable is whether they'll maintain their strong visa status with the EU
@@OffshoreCitizen Thanks for your answer.
@@OffshoreCitizen What do you think about the future of Maltese and Greek programs, Michael?
exacly
Do you think this will spread worldwide?
I think the countries with the power will want to fight against alternatives to their power
The Bible states that lawlessness and deception will spread through the entire earth.
I agree with the discrimination against Russians and feel bad for all the honest and respectful Russians out there.
However one can argue also here that the west here is at war with russia economical,culture,information ,and so on.. and perhaps these discriminatory actions can be acceptable in a War?
The sanctions are in someway similar.
Great video Michael! Yup, that's exactly how it is, but you know what, they (PMs, politicians.. etc) clearly understand what you are talking about BUT 👆 the whole thing is that, their political career in almost 99,9% "built" on populism and nobody gives a shit how many people suffer from this or that decision or even how much "their" countries may lose... it's all about votes man.... it's "nothing personal just business" (c)
I don't think that's accurate. I don't think most people know or care, this isn't a major voting issue. There's another agenda going on