TY - JOUR
T1 - Who wants to buy a visa? Comparing the uptake of residence by investment programs in the European Union
AU - Surak, Kristin
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Leverhulme Trust [2016-554/8].
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - The European Union has seen a proliferation of ‘golden visa’ programs that allow investors to gain residence in a country in exchange for a financial contribution. Despite substantial attention from Brussels and the media, no empirical study to date has systematically compared the outcomes of these increasingly popular schemes. Drawing on new government and public sources supplemented by interviews, this article offers the first comparison of the spread and demographic uptake of the programs, investigating trends in the country of origin, approval numbers, investment type, and family dependents, as well as the factors that affect demand and approvals. It also takes note of a small number of serial investor migrants–cases that may warrant heightened background checks. It concludes by assessing the significance of the flows and discussing the implications for residence by investment programs.
AB - The European Union has seen a proliferation of ‘golden visa’ programs that allow investors to gain residence in a country in exchange for a financial contribution. Despite substantial attention from Brussels and the media, no empirical study to date has systematically compared the outcomes of these increasingly popular schemes. Drawing on new government and public sources supplemented by interviews, this article offers the first comparison of the spread and demographic uptake of the programs, investigating trends in the country of origin, approval numbers, investment type, and family dependents, as well as the factors that affect demand and approvals. It also takes note of a small number of serial investor migrants–cases that may warrant heightened background checks. It concludes by assessing the significance of the flows and discussing the implications for residence by investment programs.
KW - golden visas
KW - immigration
KW - Investment migration
KW - mobility
KW - residence by investment
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U2 - 10.1080/14782804.2020.1839742
DO - 10.1080/14782804.2020.1839742
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85094656754
SN - 1478-2804
VL - 30
SP - 151
EP - 169
JO - Journal of Contemporary European Studies
JF - Journal of Contemporary European Studies
IS - 1
ER -