IM Yearbook 2023

IM YEARBOOK
United States
The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Regional Centre
Programme has returned, and for the first time in its
history it has seen some form of longer-term authorisation. In
March 2022, the US government re-authorised the popular
programme until 2027, which allows prospective foreign
investors to invest capital into a government-approved
regional centre in order to receive permanent residency
for themselves and any qualifying family members.
The Regional Centre Programme has been increasingly
popular since its inception in 1992; however, it had historically
been authorised by Congress in short-term increments. The
programme lapsed in June 2021 and was not immediately
renewed by Congress. The entire programme was put on hold,
bar investors who had already received their initial green card.
The reauthorisation is important, especially for
prospective investors in the APAC region, including
China and India, who can take advantage of quicker
green card processing times in comparison to other
employment-based permanent residency options.
Further, new investors are also able to invest in the
programme, at a lower investment amount than the
previous minimum, and with greater protections and
benefits afforded to them. In addition, the reauthorisation
of the programme enhances benefits for foreign investors;
in certain cases, permitting investors and their family
members to receive unrestricted work authorisation and
international travel permission while waiting for their
permanent residency to be granted, having a major positive
practical benefit for investors and their families.
While the Regional Centre Programme was on hold, many
investors resorted to pursuing direct investment opportunities.
But we now see a renewed trend toward passive investment
through the quicker and cheaper Regional Centre option
building up, which will likely yield a surge in investment
migration into the US over the coming months and years.
Investors from the APAC region interested in the
US continue to take advantage of Caribbean citizenship
programmes due to their quick and relatively low-cost options,
with a focus on visa-free travel and access to the US and Canada.
The most popular programmes in the Caribbean include
Antigua, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, and St. Lucia.
Meanwhile, investors from the US remain interested in many of
the European options, with particular emphasis on Portugal’s
Golden Visa Programme. Canada is also an attractive option.
Future election will likely have a major role to play
in shaping the landscape of investment migration – the
popularity of residency and citizenship is often a result of
the political landscape of the country. However, given the
reauthorisation of the EB-5 Regional Centre Programme
as well as continued interest in other investment options,
including the E-Visa Treaty Investor and Treaty Trader
non-immigrant visa options, the interest for investment
migration in the United States has the foundation to
continue to attract foreign investors in the coming years.
EMEA
In Europe, we are seeing a global big-picture trend of
movement away from purely passive investment migration
routes, towards residence programmes which require a
tangible economic benefit to be generated by applicants.
The conflict in Russia has also seen every jurisdiction in
Europe exclude Russian and Belarussian applicants from their
investment migration routes. The Turkish CBI programme is
the outlier, continuing to accept Russian applicants, and seeing
very large numbers of applicants since the start of the year.
In the UK, the Tier 1 Investor visa closed to new
applicants in February 2022. It seems certain that we will
not see a like-for-like replacement for the investor visa.
The first half of 2022 also saw the UK’s Global Talent visa
for tech leaders receive its highest number of applicants and
successful endorsements, illustrating the continued growth
of the UK’s tech sector. The UK is likely to continue to heavily
market its global talent visa to maintain the status of its tech
sector, but there remains a critical need for a sector agnostic
investment migration route to replace the existing restrictive
innovator route, which we hope to see in the coming months.
Meanwhile, Portugal’s Golden Visa saw some important
changes in January 2022, prohibiting qualifying investments
Given the
European
Commission’s
approach, there
is an opportunity
now for EU
countries to look
at how they can
use investment
migration as part
of their foreign
direct investment
policy and for
this narrative to
be re-aligned.
30 - Investment Migration Yearbook 2O23