The UK’s decision to exit the EU is having a negative impact on Malta’s individual investor scheme, with several local agents reporting a sudden dwindling of interest from potential passport buyers, The Sunday Times of Malta is informed.
It is a known secret that many of the buyers are not interested in setting up home in Malta but are using the scheme to acquire freedom of movement in the EU. This means the UK’s imminent withdrawal from the bloc is denting the attractiveness of Malta’s scheme.
“The UK was a very important selling point for Maltese passport buyers. Most of the Russian and former citizens of the Soviet Union were buying passports to go and live in the UK or send their children there. If this is lost, it may be the beginning of the end of the Individual Investment Programme,” one agent told The Sunday Times.
“Since the UK decision, we have received many queries about the scheme. Some applicants have also told us they are no longer interested in proceeding with their application,” another agent said.
Some applicants have also told us they are no longer interested in proceeding
“We think that the government should do something to explain what is going to happen. There is a lot of uncertainty and although buyers are normally millionaires, they still don’t like wasting their money.”
Since the introduction of the controversial scheme in 2014, to provide rich families with a Maltese passport, more than 1,000 applications have been received.
A passport will set the applicant back €650,000 in cash while they also need to invest in a Maltese property or rent for five years.
According to law, residents have to live in Malta for a year to be eligible for a Maltese passport, but rules are said to be lax and easily circumvented.
Contacted by this newspaper, Henley & Partners, the brains behind Malta’s scheme and the government’s concessionaire, played down fears that the Brexit will have a negative impact on the IIP.
Despite admitting in an interview a few weeks ago that most of Maltese passport buyers had the UK in mind, a spokesman said he was sure the UK would retain some kind of relationship with the EU.
“I have no doubt that the UK will find some form of association with the EU which will, at least for financially independent citizens, continue to provide access to settle in the UK,” he said.
“Brexit will of course not impair visa-free travel between the UK and the EU countries, and also have no impact on the visa policy of either the UK or the EU as this has always remained separate, with the UK setting its own short-term visa police,” the Henley & Partners representative said.
Despite all the doom and gloom caused by Brexit, some are seeing a silver lining and an opportunity.
As the debate in the UK rages on, many UK citizens are said to be desperate not to lose their freedom of movement.
Politico, one of the mostinfluential Brussels-based news portals, has suggested UK citizens with “deep pockets” might want to buy a Maltese passport. Describing it as the cheapest option on the market, it said that “Maltese passports are a snip at €650,000, although wannabe citizens are also required to acquire property on the island and be resident for at least a year.”
ivan.camilleri@timesofmalta.com