President Trump’s proposal to create a “gold card” visa that allows immigrants to pay $5 million for U.S. citizenship raised plenty of eyebrows and got the attention of high-net-worth investors around the world. Though it hasn’t had much of an impact yet due to uncertainty around its actual implementation, the proposal highlights how family office members are increasingly attracted to getting multiple passports, wealth advisers say.
Many countries offer such golden passports, and more wealthy investors are getting multiple citizenships. Yet such programs face legal challenges and can result in limited benefits to the countries.
Trump’s proposal was welcomed by Dr. Juerg Steffen, CEO of Henley & Partners, an investment migration consultancy that he says has helped clients from 94 countries in the past year.
“The proposed gold-card visa presents an exciting new opportunity for high-net-worth investors seeking U.S. residence and citizenship,” Steffen said, though he cautioned that the administration should make sure to safeguard existing programs like the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, which gives green cards to foreigners who invest in new businesses that create jobs for U.S. workers.
One increasingly popular option is to create a passport portfolio of multiple citizenships, said Jake Claver, managing director of Digital Ascension Group, a New York-based multifamily office. The approach offers the ultimate option — “the freedom to choose where you live, work, bank, invest and protect your family, no matter what happens in any one country.”
Claver recently helped a technology entrepreneur based in Silicon Valley get Portuguese citizenship through an investment of at least €500,000 — which gave him a European business foothold, tax advantages and education opportunities for his children.
The citizenship-by-investment market exceeds $20 billion a year, while residence-by-investment programs total more than $30 billion, Claver said.
Legal challenges
Yet some programs face legal challenges from the European Commission, which is taking aim at Malta’s generous program that offers expedited citizenship for $660,000 to wealthy investors including Russian oligarchs, Chinese nationals and celebrities. The EC argues that the program undermines the principle of European Union citizenship since it offers the benefit to those with no “genuine link” to the country.
The case, currently before the European Court of Justice, could result in the banning of several such programs.
In addition, countries that offer such programs have seen limited gains. A 2022 study by the Grattan Institute found that grantees tended to be older and didn’t contribute much in taxes, sometimes costing more to the country in the form of public services.