Citizenship Via Investment: Safest golden visa and passport options for investors residency

Research by Astons, the international experts on residency and citizenship through investment, reveals which countries are safest for those considering alternative residency or citizenship in order to provide their family with a better quality of life.

To understand which countries are safest for new citizens, Astons has analysed the Global Peace Index (GPI) score of the most popular Golden Visa and Golden Passport nations.

The GPI is a score attributed to each nation of the world based on how safe it is for visitors and new arrivals and is calculated using a wide variety of metrics including a nation’s ongoing domestic and international conflict, societal safety and security, and militarisation. The lower the score, the safer a nation is perceived to be.

With a score of 1.269, New Zealand is the safest Golden Visa nation on Earth. Residency is granted for those who will invest between NZ$5-15 million over four years, and after five years of residency, an application for full citizenship can be submitted.

Austria’s GPI score of 1.300 makes it the second-safest nation in the list and the safest offering a Golden Passport, though access to citizenship is not easy. After investing three million euros, you might be considered for citizenship, but the decision is entirely at the discretion of the Austrian government.

Portugal scores 1.301 making it the third safest nation but while residency was previously available after several months for those investing 280,000 Euros into the nation’s property market, Portugal has recently made the decision to close its residency via investment program.

Singapore (1.326) and Switzerland (1.357) are both perfectly safe nations for new residents. The former demands an investment of at least SG$10 million, while the latter is more affordable with a baseline investment of 250,000 Swiss francs.

Other Golden Visa or Golden Passport nations to make the top 10 safest for investors include Canada, Malaysia, Australia, Mauritius and Spain.

As for the world’s most dangerous golden nations, Turkey scores highly with 2.785 due largely to its location bridging Europe and the Middle East.

This is followed by the supposed ‘Land of the Free’, the United States of America. With a GPI score of 2.440, the USA is considered more dangerous for new residents than the likes of Egypt, Namibia and Cambodia, to name just a few.

Immigration Expert for Astons USA, Alena Lesina, says, “There are a lot of high net worth individuals opting to leave America at the moment. This is partly due to the high taxation laws, but also because they’re looking to secure a better quality of life and a greater degree of safety for themselves and their families.

While it may be one of the most progressive nation’s in the world, gun crime remains an extreme worry for many living within the United States, with high profile shootings, particularly within schools, acting as a deterrent.

The good news is that the option to gain citizenship or residency via investment can help many investors provide a far better quality of life for their families and there are a host of options that are considerably safer.

While some of the safest options include New Zealand and Austria, there are, of course, plenty of areas that don’t rank as highly overall in the current Peace Index but do offer a plethora of safe havens for investors.

In fact, nation’s such as Greece, Cyprus, Malta and the Caribbean are often some of the most popular amongst ageing investors, in particular, due to their slower pace of life, their attractive tax environments, the low cost of living and the safe haven they provide.”