The unsettling world climate has prompted an increased emphasis on physical safety and financial security, motivating high net worth individuals to explore investment migration programmes as a means of reducing their exposure to risk, said an industry expert.

“We are witnessing an increasing number of people seeking alternative citizenships as more and more countries move to tighten their borders and shut down the paths to immigration, added Bata Racic, Manager of Henley & Partners in the Middle East, an international residence and citizenship advisory firm.

According to Henley & Partners, global mobility has been significantly impacted by the number of unprecedented events and seismic shifts in the world. This is on the back of the firm’s annual travel freedom ranking Visa Restrictions Index, developed in partnership with the International Air Transport Association (Iata).

With millions of holidaymakers embarking on their annual summer vacation, many are set to discover how limiting their passports may be in the face of new visa restrictions and travel bans being imposed worldwide. Despite the undebatable convenience of international travel, terror attacks and recent geo-political developments — such as Brexit and the US travel ban on mainly Muslim countries— are threatening to curb the travel freedom enjoyed by many around the globe.

Racic recently stated that policy amendments in the US, EU, and Middle East are expected to have a major effect on the rankings of these countries’ passports.

“The 2017 Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index clearly highlights the huge disparity in the levels of travel freedom enjoyed by citizens of different countries. Generally, visa requirements reflect a country’s relationship with others and consider the diplomatic relations between nations, reciprocal visa arrangements, security risks, and the dangers of visa and immigration regulation violations,” he said.

Britain’s decision to opt out of the EU last year appears to have provoked a wave of nationalism. This, in turn, had led to much tighter border controls worldwide and increasing restrictions on foreign travel. On the other side of the Atlantic, US President Donald Trump continues to make headlines with his policy amendments following his recent decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and push ahead with a travel ban against six Muslim-majority countries, possibly harming relations with his international allies. – TradeArabia News Service