5 ms·

EU citizenship for sale

42 points by lelf 13y ago

adamnemecek 13y ago
> "The award of citizenship through the controversial scheme is expected to yield €30m for the public coffers..." Well that seems like it might not be worth all the trouble.
- tgb 13y ago
  Malta's GDP is only 8.7 billion USD. €30m isn't too shabby.
spindritf 13y ago
I'm broadly against immigration to the EU, and 650k is a bit low, but in general, this is the best way to go about it. We're getting people who really want to get in, who demonstrably can contribute and won't be a burden on the system. Also, not too many.
- romanovcode 13y ago
  >Also, not too many. I think it's already too late for that.
- notjosh 13y ago
  Can you explain why you're against immigration to the EU? I've just arrived in Berlin, so it's relevant to me.
  - spindritf 13y ago
    Obviously, the riots, car burning, head chopping... the kind of stuff you'd see on the news. But more importantly in the long run, it simply doesn't work, much like many of the immigrants who come here. See Malmö for example[1] where "the majority of foreign born working age adults do not work." That, and every other indicator makes for a bleak picture of immigration. [1] http://super-economy.blogspot.com/2013/05/malmo-case-study-in-multiculturalism.html http://super-economy.blogspot.com/2013/05/malmo-case-study-i...
    - bouk 13y ago
      "the riots, car burning, head chopping" you're kidding right?
      - jellicle 13y ago
        He's trying to say he doesn't like brown people.
    - jontro 13y ago
      If you're going to read the "facts" stated in the linked article, be sure to read the comments which refutes the whole article.
    - icebraining 13y ago
      See Malmö for example[1] where "the majority of foreign born working age adults do not work." That's not what the data really says. Think, how does the SCB know if people are working? Do they follow them around? No, they only know what people tell them. So what that data shows is that less than the majority of foreign born adults declare that they're working. Now I'm sure you can think of a few reasons why a poor immigrant would have to not declare that s/he's working.
    - dror 13y ago
      That's not the long run, that's just 20-60 years. Look at the US where 99% of the population is immigrants. We're not doing too badly, are we?
      - ahomescu1 13y ago
        Off the top of my head, Rodney King and Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman come up as recent counter-examples. The US isn't really a peaceful utopia of human diversity, anymore than any other country.
  - Kequc 13y ago
    I've done the same, it was just over a year ago. I've seen separatists (from the EU), people who want to abolish the Euro, and more. If someone wants each country to have different currencies why stop there? Berlin area is much poorer than the rest of Germany, why not give Berlin a separate currency too? Because these people are racist. It's true! I try and tell people, I'm a skilled software developer, what Germany needs right now. And when was the last time a Canadian showed up in Europe and started causing a problem? Immigration is tiered based firstly on country of origin and wealth, not on skills. I find it a little bit offensive that EU residency is just one more thing the wealthy can now buy. But on the other hand it was inevitable and was already largely the case. For less than $650k if you have a good immigration lawyer.
    - romanovcode 13y ago
      >I find it a little bit offensive that EU residency is just one more thing the wealthy can now buy. Well, you could also be living in Pakistan or Somalia and apply for asylum which most likely will be granted to you with no money involved.
    - dredmorbius 13y ago
      Berlin area is much poorer than the rest of Germany, why not give Berlin a separate currency too? If you'll read up on currency theory, you'll find some people have proposed pretty much exactly this (Jane Jacobs comes to mind, probably in Cities and the Wealth of Nations, it's been a few decades since I've last read it). More generally: with a sovereign currency, a country controls both its monetary and fiscal policy, and can make its own allocation decisions with both. Which means it can set monetary policy to benefit its industrial / manufacturing or other economic centers, and use fiscal policy to create wealth transfers to underdeveloped regions. This is effectively what happens in the United States, for example, through SSI, welfare, medicare, SNAP, and similar programs. In the EU, you have a bifurcation of monetary policy (ECB) and fiscal policy (independent European states). This was pointed out by numerous early critics of the EMU, including rather notably Margaret Thatcher, in the late 1970s / early 1980s. Her comments then proved exceptionally prophetic.
  - rmc 13y ago
    "The Other" is scary.
- null_ptr 13y ago
  You'll get a lot of Russian mobsters that way, buying their way in and buying property to get a foot in the EU door.
  - bowlofpetunias 13y ago
    Russian mobsters have already bought their way in, and for a lot more money than 650K. If you have enough money you can buy your way into any country.
  - _delirium 13y ago
    Yeah, I would guess there is relatively little overlap between the kinds of people willing and able to pay €650k for a passport, and those who have productive skills the EU is currently in need of. The EU needs more middle-class skilled labor, basically, ranging from skilled blue-collar workers to educated professionals. It doesn't really need Dubai sheikhs or Russian mobsters looking for a passport of convenience.
  - true_religion 13y ago
    Would it really be a problem if all of Russia just joined the EU?
- ben0x539 13y ago
  If anything, having 650k available to invest like this suggests ability to exploit, not contribute.
  - true_religion 13y ago
    In theory, its up to the government to ensure that you can only make money through positive means. Thus if you have money, its assumed it was earned by contributing to the economy in someway.
- eli 13y ago
  Sure, you could come at it from the other side too: people who are poor and a drain on the system can be stripped of citizenship and deported.
IvyMike 13y ago
€30m at €650k a head = less than 50 people, no? I guess the real problem is if this kicks off a "race to the bottom" among other cash-strapped EU members.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- websirnik 13y ago
  That's what I was thinking. Considering Russian, Chinese and Indian people, who consistently faced with getting multiple visas, demand will be massive. EU passport also allows you to go to UK and US(much easier comparing RU/CH/IN passports). The idea that other EU countries will try to compete on price, to be honest intrigues me, as the outcomes might be unexpected. Probably EU will want regulate such thing.
auctiontheory 13y ago
Every country does this in some way through "investment visas." Including the US. Malta's sale is just a bit more blatant.
- adamnemecek 13y ago
  But that's still a visa. This is a full blown citizenship.
  - usaphp 13y ago
    It's not a visa it's permanent residence: http://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-through-job/green-card-through-investment http://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-through-job/green...
    - adamnemecek 13y ago
      Fair enough, but it's still not a full blown citizenship.
      - eli 13y ago
        After 5 years in the US with a green card you can become a full citizen.
        adamnemecek 13y ago
        Correct. Which is the reason why the two scenarios are different.
- romanovcode 13y ago
  Yes, AFAIK if you invest $1m+ to some U.S. company you get investment visa and free to live in U.S. There is one difference though - U.S. is a country, so is Malta. But if you get citizenship of Malta you get citizenship of E.U. which means you can leave Malta behind and go to any country that is in E.U. Also, Visa is not really citizenship.
kcorbitt 13y ago
Interesting. I always assumed that as part of the Schengen Agreement there was some kind of minimum requirement for naturalizing foreigners. Given that apparently there isn't, I'm actually quite surprised that some small country hasn't tried this before.
hop 13y ago
Why would you pay almost a million dollars for citizenship? Honest question.
- wazoox 13y ago
  Because you're some horrible criminal from about anywhere out of Europe, wanting to escape the law strikes me as the most probable reason.
  - vignesh_vs_in 13y ago
    Or a rich person wanting to escape a horrible country(Government).
  - nraynaud 13y ago
    we have jails in Europe
  - zalew 13y ago
    EU is not an asylum for criminals (actually is a terrible place for a criminal trying to secure his freedom, because it takes only one country to raise an 'european arrest warrant' afaik), for that reason mobsters are more likely settle in countries without extradition treaties to their country of activity, or some banana republic where it's easy to vanish.
- zalew 13y ago
  This comment below nails the answer https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6745568 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6745568
- silverbax88 13y ago
  There are several reasons. Here are a few: One, because wealthy people sometimes want 'dual citizenship' (which has to be kept a secret in the U.S.) because they feel like if things fall apart in one country, they can quickly escape to another. Two, some business transactions require citizenship. Three, some rights are only available with citizenship. There are other reasons as well.
vladd 13y ago
Latvian banks have a residence program for 300K EUR: https://www.rietumu.lv/en/residence-permit https://www.rietumu.lv/en/residence-permit As long as the money is kept in a term deposit, "upon expiry of the term of residence permit investors and their family members are eligible to apply for the renewal." After some years one can apply for naturalization and gain full Latvian citizenship.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- _delirium 13y ago
  Residence programs are more common, but to take advantage of them you have to actually take up residence in the country, physically living there as your main residence. Then you must live in the country as a law-abiding, productive citizen for typically 3 to 8 years (depending on the country) before you can naturalize and get a passport. You may also be required to take a language and civics exam to do so. This at least ensures some connection between the passport holder and the country. Direct cash-for-passport schemes for someone who's never lived in the country are much rarer. Afaik, in the EU currently, only Austria sort-of has one, and it's not explicit. Like many countries, Austria can grant special-case citizenship to people who've rendered extraordinary services to Austria, but unlike most other countries, this includes not only scientific achievement and the like, but also a handful of very rich people each year, who negotiate through intermediaries a grant of citizenship in return for either a large donation, or a large investment. Mainly people from Dubai and similar places, who don't want to move to the EU (and therefore can't use the residency schemes), but do want an EU passport for travel or future-proofing purposes. The price isn't disclosed, but rumors have it that it's a lot higher than €650k, more in the €2m+ range for donations or €10m+ for investments.
  - bradleyjg 13y ago
    How many law-abiding, productive people generate €650,000 in positive externalities in 3-8 years? This looks like a win-win to me.
brownbat 13y ago
The EU was founded on the principle that free movement of people, goods, and services is a net win for society. Malta's just taking this idea one tiny step further. We'll really fix this though when the circumstances of your birth don't dictate where you are expected to live, work, or play. If you want to work in London for a couple years, then Sri Lanka, then Albuquerque, then Beijing, you should be able to do it, so long as you can afford the cost of living and appropriate taxes for the area. Sure, some do this now, but you should be able to do this as a mechanic from Ghana, not just as an international business manager from Vermont with a trust fund.
- macspoofing 13y ago
  >We'll really fix this though when the circumstances of your birth don't dictate where you are expected to live, work, or play. It would be nice to live in your Utopia.
- relet 13y ago
  > The EU was founded on the principle that free movement of people, goods, and services is a net win for society... ...within a gated community that encloses those who pay the access fee. While free roaming would be a net win for society, the currently advantaged part of society does not feel like sharing much.
  - macspoofing 13y ago
    >the currently advantaged part of society does not feel like sharing much. There is no country on Earth that has unfettered access, and unconditional citizenship - rich or poor.
  - ahomescu1 13y ago
    It's not exclusive to the rich/advantaged. IMHO the biggest opposition to unrestricted immigration in richer countries comes from workers, because "they're taking our jobs". Just look at the H1B mess in the US for an example (where a lot of company managers/owners want to bring in more foreigners, not fewer). EDIT: Maybe I misinterpreted, your post reads like "the rich are preventing free movement". I want to point out that anyone who has a well-paid job is "advantaged", not just rich people.
usaphp 13y ago
$500K will grant you a US permanent residence: http://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-through-job/green-card-through-investment http://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-through-job/green...
math0ne 13y ago
The truth is when you start looking into it, if you have money, you can live wherever you want.
cpursley 13y ago
St. Kitts & Nevis has a similar program. It's a pretty good citizenship & passport for a $400,000 real estate purchase or $250,000 "investment"... http://www.henleyglobal.com/countries/st-kitts-nevis/citizenship/ http://www.henleyglobal.com/countries/st-kitts-nevis/citizen...
rmc 13y ago
(a) It hasn't become law yet. (b) Lots of EU countries have (in some ways) liberal rules of citizenship. * Ireland gives citizenship to anyone who's grandparent was Irish (even if you and both your parents have never set foot in Ireland). * Bulgaria (EU) gives citzenship to Macedonians (non-EU). * Romania (EU) gives citizenship to Moldovans (non-EU). etc.
bowlofpetunias 13y ago
This will really help with the anti-EU sentiment in Northern Europa. 650K is a low price for EU citizenship because it's being subsidized by the richer EU nations. Malta citizenship would be a lot less attractive.
smtpserver 13y ago
Same, a bit cheaper in Hungary (250K EUR) http://www.akk.hu/object.E2A89FF4-D355-4173-9252-C8F50FD17F04.ivy http://www.akk.hu/object.E2A89FF4-D355-4173-9252-C8F50FD17F0...
kyriakos 13y ago
Cyprus does something similar, you need to buy property worth a million and make a 300k donation to the government. Then you get your citizenship in a month. Of course you can sell the property after. Lots of Russians do this.

42 points by lelf 13y ago

> "The award of citizenship through the controversial scheme is expected to yield €30m for the public coffers..." Well that seems like it might not be worth all the trouble.

tgb 13y ago
Malta's GDP is only 8.7 billion USD. €30m isn't too shabby.

spindritf 13y ago

I'm broadly against immigration to the EU, and 650k is a bit low, but in general, this is the best way to go about it. We're getting people who really want to get in, who demonstrably can contribute and won't be a burden on the system. Also, not too many.

romanovcode 13y ago
>Also, not too many. I think it's already too late for that.
notjosh 13y ago
Can you explain why you're against immigration to the EU? I've just arrived in Berlin, so it's relevant to me.
- spindritf 13y ago
  Obviously, the riots, car burning, head chopping... the kind of stuff you'd see on the news. But more importantly in the long run, it simply doesn't work, much like many of the immigrants who come here. See Malmö for example[1] where "the majority of foreign born working age adults do not work." That, and every other indicator makes for a bleak picture of immigration. [1] http://super-economy.blogspot.com/2013/05/malmo-case-study-in-multiculturalism.html http://super-economy.blogspot.com/2013/05/malmo-case-study-i...
  - bouk 13y ago
    "the riots, car burning, head chopping" you're kidding right?
    - jellicle 13y ago
      He's trying to say he doesn't like brown people.
  - jontro 13y ago
    If you're going to read the "facts" stated in the linked article, be sure to read the comments which refutes the whole article.
  - icebraining 13y ago
    See Malmö for example[1] where "the majority of foreign born working age adults do not work." That's not what the data really says. Think, how does the SCB know if people are working? Do they follow them around? No, they only know what people tell them. So what that data shows is that less than the majority of foreign born adults declare that they're working. Now I'm sure you can think of a few reasons why a poor immigrant would have to not declare that s/he's working.
  - dror 13y ago
    That's not the long run, that's just 20-60 years. Look at the US where 99% of the population is immigrants. We're not doing too badly, are we?
    - ahomescu1 13y ago
      Off the top of my head, Rodney King and Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman come up as recent counter-examples. The US isn't really a peaceful utopia of human diversity, anymore than any other country.
- Kequc 13y ago
  I've done the same, it was just over a year ago. I've seen separatists (from the EU), people who want to abolish the Euro, and more. If someone wants each country to have different currencies why stop there? Berlin area is much poorer than the rest of Germany, why not give Berlin a separate currency too? Because these people are racist. It's true! I try and tell people, I'm a skilled software developer, what Germany needs right now. And when was the last time a Canadian showed up in Europe and started causing a problem? Immigration is tiered based firstly on country of origin and wealth, not on skills. I find it a little bit offensive that EU residency is just one more thing the wealthy can now buy. But on the other hand it was inevitable and was already largely the case. For less than $650k if you have a good immigration lawyer.
  - romanovcode 13y ago
    >I find it a little bit offensive that EU residency is just one more thing the wealthy can now buy. Well, you could also be living in Pakistan or Somalia and apply for asylum which most likely will be granted to you with no money involved.
  - dredmorbius 13y ago
    Berlin area is much poorer than the rest of Germany, why not give Berlin a separate currency too? If you'll read up on currency theory, you'll find some people have proposed pretty much exactly this (Jane Jacobs comes to mind, probably in Cities and the Wealth of Nations, it's been a few decades since I've last read it). More generally: with a sovereign currency, a country controls both its monetary and fiscal policy, and can make its own allocation decisions with both. Which means it can set monetary policy to benefit its industrial / manufacturing or other economic centers, and use fiscal policy to create wealth transfers to underdeveloped regions. This is effectively what happens in the United States, for example, through SSI, welfare, medicare, SNAP, and similar programs. In the EU, you have a bifurcation of monetary policy (ECB) and fiscal policy (independent European states). This was pointed out by numerous early critics of the EMU, including rather notably Margaret Thatcher, in the late 1970s / early 1980s. Her comments then proved exceptionally prophetic.
- rmc 13y ago
  "The Other" is scary.
null_ptr 13y ago
You'll get a lot of Russian mobsters that way, buying their way in and buying property to get a foot in the EU door.
- bowlofpetunias 13y ago
  Russian mobsters have already bought their way in, and for a lot more money than 650K. If you have enough money you can buy your way into any country.
- _delirium 13y ago
  Yeah, I would guess there is relatively little overlap between the kinds of people willing and able to pay €650k for a passport, and those who have productive skills the EU is currently in need of. The EU needs more middle-class skilled labor, basically, ranging from skilled blue-collar workers to educated professionals. It doesn't really need Dubai sheikhs or Russian mobsters looking for a passport of convenience.
- true_religion 13y ago
  Would it really be a problem if all of Russia just joined the EU?
ben0x539 13y ago
If anything, having 650k available to invest like this suggests ability to exploit, not contribute.
- true_religion 13y ago
  In theory, its up to the government to ensure that you can only make money through positive means. Thus if you have money, its assumed it was earned by contributing to the economy in someway.
eli 13y ago
Sure, you could come at it from the other side too: people who are poor and a drain on the system can be stripped of citizenship and deported.

IvyMike 13y ago

€30m at €650k a head = less than 50 people, no? I guess the real problem is if this kicks off a "race to the bottom" among other cash-strapped EU members.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
websirnik 13y ago
That's what I was thinking. Considering Russian, Chinese and Indian people, who consistently faced with getting multiple visas, demand will be massive. EU passport also allows you to go to UK and US(much easier comparing RU/CH/IN passports). The idea that other EU countries will try to compete on price, to be honest intrigues me, as the outcomes might be unexpected. Probably EU will want regulate such thing.

auctiontheory 13y ago

Every country does this in some way through "investment visas." Including the US. Malta's sale is just a bit more blatant.

adamnemecek 13y ago
But that's still a visa. This is a full blown citizenship.
- usaphp 13y ago
  It's not a visa it's permanent residence: http://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-through-job/green-card-through-investment http://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-through-job/green...
  - adamnemecek 13y ago
    Fair enough, but it's still not a full blown citizenship.
    - eli 13y ago
      After 5 years in the US with a green card you can become a full citizen.
      - adamnemecek 13y ago
        Correct. Which is the reason why the two scenarios are different.
romanovcode 13y ago
Yes, AFAIK if you invest $1m+ to some U.S. company you get investment visa and free to live in U.S. There is one difference though - U.S. is a country, so is Malta. But if you get citizenship of Malta you get citizenship of E.U. which means you can leave Malta behind and go to any country that is in E.U. Also, Visa is not really citizenship.

kcorbitt 13y ago

Interesting. I always assumed that as part of the Schengen Agreement there was some kind of minimum requirement for naturalizing foreigners. Given that apparently there isn't, I'm actually quite surprised that some small country hasn't tried this before.

hop 13y ago

Why would you pay almost a million dollars for citizenship? Honest question.

wazoox 13y ago
Because you're some horrible criminal from about anywhere out of Europe, wanting to escape the law strikes me as the most probable reason.
- vignesh_vs_in 13y ago
  Or a rich person wanting to escape a horrible country(Government).
- nraynaud 13y ago
  we have jails in Europe
- zalew 13y ago
  EU is not an asylum for criminals (actually is a terrible place for a criminal trying to secure his freedom, because it takes only one country to raise an 'european arrest warrant' afaik), for that reason mobsters are more likely settle in countries without extradition treaties to their country of activity, or some banana republic where it's easy to vanish.
zalew 13y ago
This comment below nails the answer https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6745568 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6745568
silverbax88 13y ago
There are several reasons. Here are a few: One, because wealthy people sometimes want 'dual citizenship' (which has to be kept a secret in the U.S.) because they feel like if things fall apart in one country, they can quickly escape to another. Two, some business transactions require citizenship. Three, some rights are only available with citizenship. There are other reasons as well.

vladd 13y ago

Latvian banks have a residence program for 300K EUR: https://www.rietumu.lv/en/residence-permit https://www.rietumu.lv/en/residence-permit As long as the money is kept in a term deposit, "upon expiry of the term of residence permit investors and their family members are eligible to apply for the renewal." After some years one can apply for naturalization and gain full Latvian citizenship.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
_delirium 13y ago
Residence programs are more common, but to take advantage of them you have to actually take up residence in the country, physically living there as your main residence. Then you must live in the country as a law-abiding, productive citizen for typically 3 to 8 years (depending on the country) before you can naturalize and get a passport. You may also be required to take a language and civics exam to do so. This at least ensures some connection between the passport holder and the country. Direct cash-for-passport schemes for someone who's never lived in the country are much rarer. Afaik, in the EU currently, only Austria sort-of has one, and it's not explicit. Like many countries, Austria can grant special-case citizenship to people who've rendered extraordinary services to Austria, but unlike most other countries, this includes not only scientific achievement and the like, but also a handful of very rich people each year, who negotiate through intermediaries a grant of citizenship in return for either a large donation, or a large investment. Mainly people from Dubai and similar places, who don't want to move to the EU (and therefore can't use the residency schemes), but do want an EU passport for travel or future-proofing purposes. The price isn't disclosed, but rumors have it that it's a lot higher than €650k, more in the €2m+ range for donations or €10m+ for investments.
- bradleyjg 13y ago
  How many law-abiding, productive people generate €650,000 in positive externalities in 3-8 years? This looks like a win-win to me.

brownbat 13y ago

The EU was founded on the principle that free movement of people, goods, and services is a net win for society. Malta's just taking this idea one tiny step further. We'll really fix this though when the circumstances of your birth don't dictate where you are expected to live, work, or play. If you want to work in London for a couple years, then Sri Lanka, then Albuquerque, then Beijing, you should be able to do it, so long as you can afford the cost of living and appropriate taxes for the area. Sure, some do this now, but you should be able to do this as a mechanic from Ghana, not just as an international business manager from Vermont with a trust fund.

macspoofing 13y ago
>We'll really fix this though when the circumstances of your birth don't dictate where you are expected to live, work, or play. It would be nice to live in your Utopia.
relet 13y ago
> The EU was founded on the principle that free movement of people, goods, and services is a net win for society... ...within a gated community that encloses those who pay the access fee. While free roaming would be a net win for society, the currently advantaged part of society does not feel like sharing much.
- macspoofing 13y ago
  >the currently advantaged part of society does not feel like sharing much. There is no country on Earth that has unfettered access, and unconditional citizenship - rich or poor.
- ahomescu1 13y ago
  It's not exclusive to the rich/advantaged. IMHO the biggest opposition to unrestricted immigration in richer countries comes from workers, because "they're taking our jobs". Just look at the H1B mess in the US for an example (where a lot of company managers/owners want to bring in more foreigners, not fewer). EDIT: Maybe I misinterpreted, your post reads like "the rich are preventing free movement". I want to point out that anyone who has a well-paid job is "advantaged", not just rich people.

usaphp 13y ago

$500K will grant you a US permanent residence: http://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-through-job/green-card-through-investment http://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-through-job/green...

math0ne 13y ago

The truth is when you start looking into it, if you have money, you can live wherever you want.

cpursley 13y ago

St. Kitts & Nevis has a similar program. It's a pretty good citizenship & passport for a $400,000 real estate purchase or $250,000 "investment"... http://www.henleyglobal.com/countries/st-kitts-nevis/citizenship/ http://www.henleyglobal.com/countries/st-kitts-nevis/citizen...

rmc 13y ago

(a) It hasn't become law yet. (b) Lots of EU countries have (in some ways) liberal rules of citizenship. * Ireland gives citizenship to anyone who's grandparent was Irish (even if you and both your parents have never set foot in Ireland). * Bulgaria (EU) gives citzenship to Macedonians (non-EU). * Romania (EU) gives citizenship to Moldovans (non-EU). etc.

bowlofpetunias 13y ago

This will really help with the anti-EU sentiment in Northern Europa. 650K is a low price for EU citizenship because it's being subsidized by the richer EU nations. Malta citizenship would be a lot less attractive.

smtpserver 13y ago

Same, a bit cheaper in Hungary (250K EUR) http://www.akk.hu/object.E2A89FF4-D355-4173-9252-C8F50FD17F04.ivy http://www.akk.hu/object.E2A89FF4-D355-4173-9252-C8F50FD17F0...

kyriakos 13y ago

Cyprus does something similar, you need to buy property worth a million and make a 300k donation to the government. Then you get your citizenship in a month. Of course you can sell the property after. Lots of Russians do this.