1、
"Cyprus Documents"
In 2020, Al Jazeera, Qatar, aired an investigative program introducing a document called the "Cyprus Document".
Cyprus is an EU country. In previous years, in order to attract foreign investment, the policy of naturalization by investment was introduced, as long as you can invest 2 million euros in this country, you can get a passport from the country. Because of the value of this passport, it is also known as the "Golden Passport".
In just two years, Cyprus has earned 7 billion euros on this "golden passport". Cyprus has a GDP of only 21 billion to 25 billion euros a year. The Golden Passport accounts for almost a third of the country's GDP.
In the "Cyprus Document", it is also disclosed that some chinese billionaires who have purchased the "Golden Passport" are more famous.
For example, yang Huiyan, the former richest woman in Asia, the owner of Country Garden.
According to the documents, Yang Huiyan obtained a Cypriot passport in 2018, so according to the Chinese nationality law, Yang Huiyan's Chinese nationality cannot be retained. However, for such a billionaire, careful arrangements have long been made, so that Yang Huiyan can still hold a Chinese passport.
It turned out that Yang Huiyan had already obtained a Hong Kong passport before applying for a Cypriot passport. According to the "one country, two systems" policy, Hong Kong residents can have a second passport.
This is a bit complicated to say, and it is also a "gray area".
Although Hong Kong residents can hold a second-country passport, this "dual nationality" status is not recognized on the mainland side, unless you declare renunciation of Chinese nationality yourself, otherwise the law on the mainland side still regards you as a citizen with Chinese nationality.
It seems that this operation is arranged by professionals, and some drawbacks have long been taken into account.
2、
Island passport "Where is the incense"?
Cyprus is nothing more than an island nation of the European Union.
The population is only 1.2 million people, and the land area is only 9,200 square kilometers, which is a place half the size of Shanghai. So why did Yang Huiyan spend more than 2 million euros to get a passport for such an island country?
You may not think that among the world's most immigrant-loving rich people, France's rich are among the top five.
It is reasonable to say that France, such a developed country in the European Union, many people want to immigrate to it, why do the rich people in France abandon it?
This is because France has a high "rich man's tax" on the rich.
Gérard Wertheimer, the head of the French Chanel Group, chose to settle in Geneva, Switzerland, and his two children settled in Switzerland and New York.
There is also the Peugeot family of the French Peugeot Group, which has also immigrated to Switzerland.
French people can have dual citizenship, so their immigrants are even less psychologically burdensome.
There are also many rich Americans who have abandoned their American passports in order to avoid taxes. The most famous is Facebook co-founder, Eduardo Saverin, who immigrated to Singapore before Facebook went public. In addition to reducing the tax required to go public, it will also help him avoid paying capital gains tax when investing in the future, which singapore does not have at all.
Even if I do not immigrate, which major international company has not registered in the "Cayman Islands" or "Bermuda"? Take the domestic business giants, Tencent, Ali, Baidu, Qihoo 360, Country Garden, Li Ning, ANTA... All have registered enterprises in these overseas island countries.
Such "enterprise immigration" is, first, to make it more convenient to list overseas, and second, to avoid taxes legally.
3、
The "Golden Passport" is about to be cut off
However, these "golden passports" that make the world's rich flock to them are likely to face a "supply cut" situation.
After the "Cyprus Document" was exposed, the European Union issued a warning about cyprus's recklessness in not wanting to make money. You know, the reason why a Cypriot passport is so valuable is because there is the European Union behind it. If the EU is left with a blank face, then life in Cyprus will not be good.
But the EU is not the only Cyprus that does this, and many countries have a naturalization by investment policy.
In some countries, like Cyprus, the source and background of the applicant's property are not rigorously audited in order to make money.
Take Malta, another EU island nation.
The European Commission had issued an "ultimatum" to Malta a few days ago, saying it was to "continue its efforts to stop issuing golden passports." If the Maltese government does not take concrete action in the next two months, the Commission will bring a complaint to the European Court of Justice. ”
Another is Bulgaria, which is also a member of the European Union that issues gold passports. Bulgaria saw that the limelight was not right, and before the EU could intervene, it decided to announce the abolition of this policy at the end of March this year.
The EU said it would further propose that member states stop this practice and prevent the EU from becoming a haven for money laundering, bribery and tax evasion.
But can this really make the world's rich stop the pace of "immigration"? Capital is always in the pursuit of maximization of interests, even if the EU's "golden passport" is gone, there are many countries with investment immigration policies. This phenomenon will continue for a long time to come.