Russia and CIS countries have the highest demand for citizenship-by-investment programmes in the world, closely followed by the Mena region, a report said.

The Malta Individual Investor Programme (IIP), widely considered the world’s most advanced and most exclusive citizenship-by-investment programme, continues to see high demand from the Mena region, with 30-40 per cent of total programme applicants being from the Middle East, added the “Global Residence and Citizenship Programmes 2015” report launched by Henley & Partners, a global leader in residence and citizenship planning.

This annual report uses unprecedented objective and scientific methodology to systematically analyze 19 of the most relevant residence-by-investment programmes and seven citizenship-by-investment programmes available throughout the world today.

The report details the outcomes of the Global Residence Programme Index (GRPI) and the Global Citizenship Programme Index (GCPI).

These two Indexes gauge and reflect the relative worth of residence and citizenship programmes around the world through a benchmarking process. They analyze a broad range of factors such as immigration law, tax, and quality of living, as well as transparency, risk and compliance issues, from multiple sources to produce an overall global view and ranking of the different investment migration programmes.

GRPI Key Insights – Portugal is Top

Out of the 19 residence programmes reviewed, Portugal’s Golden Residence Permit Programme has emerged as the world’s best residence-by-investment programme in 2015. It was followed by Austria and Belgium in second and third place respectively. Portugal’s programme also continues to see high demand from the Mena region, including the UAE.

The programmes were ranked according to 10 indicators: Reputation, Quality of Life, Tax, Visa Free Access, Processing Time and Quality of Processing, Compliance, Investment Requirements, Total Costs, Time to Citizenship and Citizenship Requirements.

Out of the 10 indicators measured, Portugal ranked highest on the Total Costs indicator due to the fact that the total investment requirement is significantly lower than other residence programmes.

It shared first place with Malta, Monaco and the UAE for the lighter tax burdens placed on residents on both personal and corporate levels. Portugal was joined by fellow Schengen area countries Malta, Monaco, Switzerland, Latvia, Austria, Spain, Belgium and Greece in first place for the Visa Free Access it provides to 25 countries.

The US came in second place. In terms of Processing Time and Quality of Processing, Portugal shared the top spot with Malta, Switzerland and Austria, for their straightforward and efficient processing procedures.

Under Reputation, a factor which places reliance on the perceptions of investors and advisors regarding the image of countries in which they invest, Switzerland narrowly beat Canada to first place while Austria came in third. However, Austria emerged as the leader in Quality of Life, ahead of Canada in second place followed by Switzerland. Austria continues to dominate in the Investment Requirements category, followed by Belgium and Malta respectively.

Interestingly, Citizenship Requirements, the indicator that analyzes the requirements needed to qualify for naturalization after the required minimum time is fulfilled, was led by three non-European Union countries, namely Australia, Canada and the US.

Borgeaud Pierazzi, a senior economist at the IMD World Competitiveness Center, in Lausanne, Switzerland, said: “The IMD World Competitiveness Ranking and the Global Residence Programme Index largely coincide; although there are few exceptions. In the competitiveness rankings, Singapore, Hong Kong and UAE are placed in the top half of the group (3rd, 4th and 8th respectively) while they rank in the bottom half of the Global Residence Programme Index (14th, 16th and 15th respectively).”

“Similarly, Portugal ranks 43rd in the competitiveness ranking (bottom half) while it ranks first in the Global Residence Programme Index,” she added.

Using a similar methodology to the one deployed for the GRPI, the GCPI ranked the Malta Individual Investor Programme (IIP) in first place with a score of 76. It ranked higher than Cyprus (63), Austria (61), Antigua and Barbuda (60), St. Kitts and Nevis (59), Grenada (48) and Dominica (45).

The seven citizenship-by-investment programmes were also ranked according to 10 similar but slightly different indicators from the GRPI: Reputation, Quality of Life, Visa Free Access, Processing Time, Compliance, Investment Requirements, Residence Requirements, Relocation Flexibility, Physical Visit Required and Transparency.

Although Malta ranked consistently in the top three across all indicators, it emerged as the clear leader for Compliance, the procedures and components with regard to due diligence requirements for profiling the backgrounds of applicants. Antigua and Barbuda came in second and Austria third.

Eric G Major, CEO of Henley & Partners said: “The concept of residence and citizenship planning was pioneered by Henley & Partners in 1990s when it was considered to have little relevance. Over the years, it has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry. In that time we have aligned ourselves with visionaries and fellow pioneers, experts in this growing field with whom we have had the privilege of working to create this report, and in devising a comprehensive standard for assessment when no publicly available reliable source currently exists.”

Major moved on to explain that these Indexes are “highly relevant to all those interested in alternative residence or citizenship options, but also for industry professionals, private client advisors and others with an interest in the subject, as well as governments of countries who operate such programmes.” – TradeArabia News Service