In the autumn, the European Commission is expected to produce a report on the granting of “golden visas”. These residency permits are granted by many member states to wealthy nationals from third countries.
In mid-August, the ideas expressed by the European Commissioner for Justice, Věra Jourová, on the risks inherent in these practices, as reported by The Financial Times, caused alarm to the Investment Migration Council (IMC) organisation, which was keen to defend its corner.
Expressing doubts about the source of the wealth of some of those seeking this visa, Commissioner Jourová stated “It is a big concern when a Russian citizen who has worked his whole life in middle or senior management — where salaries aren’t very high — suddenly has the money to buy citizenship in Malta”.
The IMC represents companies active in this market and attempted to provide reassurances about security levels. It explained that there were “the tightest levels of security and background checks” for these programmes, which enabled nationals from third countries to rapidly obtain a residency permit then, possibly, the nationality of a member state, in exchange for a substantial investment in the host country.
The IMC said that these programmes only account for around 700-1000 requests a year which, according to Eurostat figures, is a low percentage compared to the 994,800 people who obtained the nationality of an EU member state in 2016.
The IMC’s executive director, Bruno L’ecuyer, was also keen to highlight the advantages. In a press release he explained “This permits governments, particularly of smaller countries, to reduce deficits and reliance on external funding partners and invest in vital infrastructure to future proof their economies”.
In its 2017 report on European citizenship, the Commission had already announced the publication of a report in 2018 on the national systems for granting European citizenship to investors.
Ms Jourová declared that “We have no power to ban such a practice but we have an obligation to put high requirements on the member states to be careful. They are granting citizenship for the whole of Europe”.
The people from third countries benefiting from these systems are then free to act and travel freely within the EU.
The report is expected to describe the Commission's action in this domain, as well as national practices and to provide guidelines to the member states on this matter. Malta, Cyprus, Austria, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Portugal are particularly expected to be subject to rigorous scrutiny.
At the end of May, MEPs called a better framework for the practices for selling golden visas (see EUROPE 12031). (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)