COVID-19 Increases Demand for Golden Visas

First of all La Vida would like to thank all those who took part in our recent survey on the effect of COVID-19 on potential plans you may have for a residency or citizenship by investment programme.

Over 30,000 prospective clients on our database were invited to take part. We recognise this is a difficult time for many to commit to survey questions but we appreciate the time taken for your response. It not only helps us but helps many people with the same desires and objectives as you in formulating their way forward. Demand for residency and citizenship through investment has grown substantially in recent years with now more than 20,000 families a year from around the globe undertaking such investment for their future. We don’t see this growth in demand changing as it’s a win-win situation for both clients and the countries offering such programmes.

Results

The results showed a slight positive bias when asked if the Corona Virus had affected the likelihood you would consider a programme with 36.9% saying this was either now “more likely” or a “lot more likely” and 26.1% of respondents saying less likely. We have mentioned in previous articles how a Plan B is now more desirable or even necessary for many people post Corona Virus. This result is not surprising for us particularly when asked how the virus has affected perceptions of the benefits of the programmes.

More than half of respondents (54.2%) said that Safety and Security offered through a second residency or citizenship was now more important than before followed closely by Healthcare (46.7%) and the need for a Second Passport (42.6%) all now being more desirable than before the outbreak. Education and Ease of Business remain important choices.

Over one third of respondents (35.1%) said that COVID-19 had affected their choice of program. A very interesting statistic no doubt tied in with the changing reasons we are also seeing in the survey.

However as expected many of our clients have been affected economically with 67.7% saying it has had some reduction on their overall wealth. Although this does not seem to have affected the desire for our programmes what is problematic at the moment is the ability to undertake the process currently. With lockdowns around the world, everything from obtaining documentation to international travel has become more difficult. This reflected in our survey with 81.2% of clients saying the process is more difficult right now.

In summary we have some positive takeaways in that demand has increased but right now for all of us it’s logistically more difficult but that’s something we see improving in the coming months. One thing we have mentioned in previous posts is it is possible to undertake programmes without travelling. We are also seeing countries move towards digital processing of applicants under current lockdowns.

Reasons and choices are shifting and we would encourage anybody trying to understand the various programmes and benefits to discuss with our consultants who are experts in this area before making a decision.

Anyone wishing to obtain the full results of our survey please email covidsurvey@goldenvisas.com.