The Global Boom in Investor Immigration: What Are the Lessons For Policymakers?
A discussion on the extraordinary boom in investor immigration. From the rapidly expanding EB-5 visa in the United States to Malta’s controversial “cash for citizenship” policy and a host of programs across Europe and the Caribbean, governments are increasingly offering residence rights or citizenship to wealthy individuals in return for a significant economic investment.
The past decade has witnessed an extraordinary boom in investor immigration. From the rapidly expanding EB-5 visa in the United States to Malta’s controversial “cash for citizenship” policy and a host of programs across Europe and the Caribbean, governments around the world are increasingly offering residence rights or citizenship to wealthy individuals in return for a significant economic investment. These trends raise a host of policy questions. Which programs are most attractive for investors? Are destination countries getting a good deal? How can governments prevent the security lapses and corruption scandals that some investor programs have suffered? Is the thriving industry of middlemen who market the programs sufficiently regulated?
Event speakers address these questions and discuss MPI's report Selling Visas and Citizenship: Policy Questions from the Global Boom in Investor Immigration.
Speakers:
Atossa Araxia Abrahamian, Writer/Editor and author of forthcoming book on “global citizenship”
Nadine Goldfoot, Partner, Fragomen
Madeleine Sumption, Director of Research, International Program, MPI
Moderators:
Elizabeth Collett, Director, MPI Europe
About the Global Program
The Global Program bridges policy advice, research, and candid dialogue to design effective migration policies, drawing on global evidence and anticipating the forces reshaping how people move.
About the U.S. Immigration Policy Program
The U.S. Immigration Policy Program provides analysis of U.S. immigration pathways, the impacts of enforcement and other policies, and the characteristics of immigrant populations.
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