Even Citizens of Prosperous Countries Would Benefit Greatly from Having Second Passports

You are humbly paying the taxes to your national government while there are several legal ways to reduce your tax burden. Do you feel you are a true patriot? Does your country’s administration spend your money (and it is your money) wisely? Or does it spend it on some unrealistic bizarre projects? It is natural of a person from a poor country to look for a better place to live. However, a growing number of citizens of prosperous countries feel dissatisfied with how things work at home. Consequently, they are starting to think about relocating to a country where they will be treated better. Reducing the fiscal burden is not the only reason why many westerners are investigating various opportunities of acquiring second passports.    

History’s lessons and the current reality

In 1873, during Ulysses Grant’s presidency, the Government of the United States abolished the personal income tax. For almost forty years, citizens of the USA had a legal opportunity to pay no taxes on their personal incomes.  

It may sound strange to some people but the USA turned into a super power and an industrial giant in that period. The personal income tax was not charged but the inflation was low and the same was true for the national debt.

Things are different today. Over the 100+ years since the personal income tax was reintroduced, the dollar has depreciated by more than 1.5 thousand percent. The national debt of the United States of America is higher than the national debt of any other country in the world. And it is the highest national debt in history too.  

The cost of social services is rising rapidly in the USA. According to the data provided by the US Government, the long-term deficit in social security financing exceeds 40 billion dollars. Independent experts give much higher estimates.

What is especially alarming is the unprofessionalism of the Government officials. The politicians keep spending money without thinking. The White House residents believe that they can do whatever they please as long as they have offices in that building. They seem to feel that the laws of the financial universe do not apply to them. Obviously, they are wrong.

Do you know what the authorities borrow money for? To pay the interest on previously made loans! Besides, the American Government keeps spending money on new failed programs and projects. They hire armies of bureaucrats who make lives difficult for working people; they spend 2 billion dollars on building a new website for the healthcare system; they spend 1 billion dollars on destroying the ‘surplus’ armor that is worth 16 billion dollars. The list can go on and on.

The American taxpayer is the person who ultimately covers all these costs. Solvency of any country is based on its ability to collect taxes. However, it is not less important how the Government spends the taxes. When the Government takes loans, the citizens have to pay them back. And the citizens’ children and grandchildren as well.

One might argue that democracy has been invented to let the people express their opinions in the voting booth. If they are dissatisfied with their representatives’ performance, they can fire and replace them. This is the idea but it is a bit different from the reality. First, there are many different opinions and many different worldviews. People often disagree about the pillars that their societies should be built on. Second, in the age of informational technologies, people’s opinions and worldviews are constantly manipulated. There are various manipulation techniques and the politicians are not shy to make full use of them when trying to achieve their goals. (Think of the following propagandist device, for example: ‘repeat a false statement a hundred times in the media and it will become true’.) Third, a public office may give its holder a lot of power and he or she will lean over backwards to get there. Politicians lie and we all know it very well. Thus, democratic elections cannot solve the problem.

How can a taxpayer make an impact on his/ her Government that is not doing the right things? By giving the Government less money in taxes. We are not speaking about tax evasion here. What we are saying is that there are multiple legal ways of reducing your tax burden. Many Americans use them and so do people in other countries.

The USA is not the only high-tax country, of course. Many Western European countries charge high taxes and their Governments have not been much more efficient recently than the US Government has. The USA citizens, however, are at a disadvantage by default. The matter is that their worldwide income is taxes in the USA. If you are an American citizen, you have to pay Uncle Sam regardless of where you actually live and where you make the money. A great number of Americans living and working abroad are quite unhappy to be taxed twice: in the country where they make their incomes and in their home country too. This fact sets many of them thinking of renouncing their US citizenship. The same goes for some citizens of other high-tax countries.

A growing fiscal burden as a reason for acquiring second citizenship

Be it the USA, Canada, or a western European country, they have budget deficits and growing national debts. How do many governments manage to pay their bills? There are several ways of finding the money but levying higher taxes on the people is the simplest solution. So they go for it more often than not.

A number of western governments are very close to amending their fiscal legislations. Today, top public office holders say things that you could hear only from marginalized politicians a few years ago. They are talking about taxes for the rich as well as introducing retroactive and extraterritorial taxation.

• Taxes for the rich/ wealth taxes. The idea that the rich have to be taxed at higher rates is very popular in many western countries. The proponents of this idea insinuate that wealthy people are so wealthy because they manipulate the fiscal rules. The wealth tax has been legal in the USA several times already and there are signs that it may well become legal again soon.
• Extraterritorial taxation for natural persons. The USA, Eretria, and Myanmar are the only three countries that tax their citizens on their worldwide income. It does not matter where you live or how long you live in a foreign country: you have to pay taxes to the country of your citizenship anyway. This is not the case for citizens of other countries, however. They can leave their homeland, obtain tax residency in another jurisdiction and stop paying taxes at home. A Londoner, for example, can move to Dubai thus reducing his/ her tax bill significantly. In this way, a citizen of Great Britain can stop paying taxes in the country of his/ her birth. Do you think the British authorities are happy about it? Probably not. A growing number of national governments want their citizens to pay at least something. Chances are that the USA, Eretria, and Myanmar will soon cease to be the only three countries that apply extraterritorial taxation. Some populist politicians in Canada, for instance, are indignant to see wealthy Canadians leaving for Dubai, Panama, or Kuala Lumpur and stopping paying taxes in Canada. At the same time, say the politicians, the emigrants keep using all the advantages that the Canadian passport brings. Such views are popular not only in Canada but in many other western countries too. It is possible that Great Britain, Australia, Canada, or some other prosperous country will follow the example set by the USA. Actually, they are already moving in this direction and the exit tax that we discuss below is an indication of that.
• Exit tax. The world has changed dramatically over the last few years as far as people’s working habits are concerned. Information technologies are progressing and the recent pandemic has clearly shown that many jobs can actually be done from home. The number of digital nomads and remote workers has been growing at an amazing pace. Now, if you can work from anywhere in the world and receive the same pay, why not look for a warmer country with lower taxes? More and more people are thinking of making use of this opportunity. However, some countries including Canada, Australia, Spain, and others levy exit taxes on those who cease to be their tax residents when leaving for another country. (The US imposes the exit tax on those who renounce citizenship of the country: you cannot cease to be a US tax resident otherwise.) Other countries may well follow suit.
• Retroactive taxation. Some tax-related court cases show that a person can sometimes be taxed retroactively, that is, a few years after he or she had left the country. The grounds for imposing retroactive taxes can be rather flimsy at times. For example, an insignificant sum of money left in a safety deposit box in the home country may be the reason for taxing the person retroactively. China, for instance, applies this practice to Chinese citizens leaving for Hong Kong. The matter is that the taxation system in Hong Kong is much more beneficial than the taxation system in mainland China. So people leave the continent in an attempt to find better lives in another part of China (Hong Kong is a Chinese territory with a special status). However, the fiscal authorities of the country are reluctant to collect less in taxes and they try to make problems for the emigrants. It would be wrong to think that retroactive taxation is applied only in the east: many western countries also apply these methods of pulling some more money out of their citizens’ pockets. At the same time, you could legally avoid paying the taxes if you had a second passport. You will probably be surprised to learn that some countries impose no personal income tax on their citizens. What is more, it is possible to obtain citizenship of these countries!  

Other reasons why you should apply for a second passport

In addition to the tax considerations, there are other benefits that you may gain if you acquire a second passport. Probably, the most important of them are the following ones:  

• Protection from the chaos. Have you watched the latest news? If you have, you should feel scared. The world’s leading countries are going through really hard times at the moment. The situation in the USA is getting worse day by day and the poverty level in the country is rising. Under the current administration, a growing number of Americans are losing their houses and their social security benefits. There are civil disorders in France and they have been going on for months now. The French President is a sad sight to look at. Germany, one of the richest countries in the world, is making great losses due to the unwise decisions made by the Government. Great Britain is recovering from Brexit very poorly: life has become much harder for the people of the country. Australians have learnt how oppressive their authorities can be. Australia turned into a dictatorship, into a true police state during the pandemic times and now many citizens of the country are applying for foreign passports. They want to have a place to escape to in case something comparable to the pandemic happens again in Australia. They don’t want to spend weeks and months locked up in their houses anymore.
• Protection from state monopoly. Political diversification is another goal pursued by those acquiring second citizenship. If you hold only one passport, you are totally dependent on the government of the country that has issued it to you. Whatever laws they pass, you have to obey. Even if you believe that the laws are wrong. With a second passport, however, you can easily relocate to a country where the political climate is more comfortable and where you can find more freedom. You don’t have to live in an unfriendly country: you can leave and start a new – better – life. At any moment.
• New investment and banking opportunities. Your foreign passport can open many new doors to you as far as access to banking services and investment projects is concerned. You can use this document to set up an account with a bank that refuses to take customers from your home country onboard. You can participate in a lucrative investment project that would be inaccessible for you with your original passport. You can start a company and sign business contracts with international partners who would refuse to work with you if you used your home country’s passport.
• Better lifestyle at the same cost. Western countries are known for their high cost of living. You have probably heard that many American retirees choose to spend their ‘golden years’ in Panama or some other Latin American country. The reason for that is quite clear: they can enjoy a much better lifestyle living on their US pensions in Latin America rather than at home. And the level of comfort that they find in Panama and elsewhere is quite acceptable for them.

Where can you apply for a second passport?

Having a second passport will enhance your freedom greatly. We will put it plainly: you will have twice as much freedom with two passports as you have now. You don’t know when a deadly crisis is going to hit your home country so you’d better not put off until tomorrow acquiring second citizenship. The fastest path to this destination is applying for foreign citizenship by investment. You will be pleased to know that some low-tax jurisdictions such as Antigua, St Kitts, and Vanuatu offer this opportunity to foreigners.

• Caribbean citizenship by investment. If you would like to acquire a second passport in a fast way without paying too much for it, we suggest that you should give an eye to the Caribbean region. Five countries there administer citizenship-by-investment programs and some of them do not charge the personal income tax (fiscal residents of Antigua and St Lucia in particular enjoy this benefit). The process of acquiring a Caribbean passport spans over 2 to 6 months depending on the country and the workload of the local immigration officers. You don’t even have to visit the Caribbean country whose citizenship you are applying for: you can collect your passport at the embassy or consulate.  
• Citizenship of Malta by investment. Maltese citizenship costs more and it takes more time to acquire it (at least one year) but citizenship of Malta by investment is an easy path to legalizing your prolonged stay in the European Union. Malta is an EU member state and its passport allows spending as much time as you want in any other EU country. Besides, the tax rates are low in Malta by European standards.
• Programs for foreign investors in Turkey. Turkey sits at the crossroads between Europe and Asia and it offers high living standards. Doing business from Turkey can also be very beneficial. You have to invest in real property in Turkey to become a citizen of the country and we are not talking about million-dollar investments: a few hundred thousand will suffice.
• Programs for foreign investors in Vanuatu. Fiscal residents of Vanuatu do not have to pay any personal income tax. The ‘price’ of the Vanuatu passport is quite comparable to the ‘price’ of Caribbean passports.
• “Golden visa” as a route to foreign citizenship. There are countries that don’t ‘sell’ their passports to foreigners but they are prepared to issue long-term legal residence permits to those foreign investors who agree to spend some time on their territories. In some cases, the physical presence requirements are rather relaxed. A legal residence permit can turn into a passport of the country after a few years. If you would like to become a legal resident of the EU, you can invest in Greece, Spain, or Portugal, in addition to Malta. However, there are other interesting opportunities that you certainly should consider too. For example, you may be interested in acquiring legal residence in Serbia by investment in real property. Two factors make this opportunity unique. First, you don’t have to permanently reside in Serbia to be able to keep the permanent residence permit. Second, the price of the property is not specified in the Serbian legislation. All it says is that the property shall be ‘livable’. Property prices are not high in Serbia so you can acquire a residence card in a European country at low cost indeed. One more option is to make a small bank deposit in Paraguay (a few thousand dollars), which will also make you qualified for legal residence in the country. Later, you can turn it into full citizenship without losing any money at all.  

The best time to apply for a second passport is now!

Your second passport is one more insurance policy that you have. You can use it to avoid political instability in your home country, to improve your lifestyle, and to gain access to new banking, investment, and business opportunities.

However, you have to bear the following issue in mind: citizenship-by-investment programs close on a regular basis. Comoros, Montenegro, Cyprus, Moldova, and Bulgaria have closed their programs over the last ten years. It does not mean that they throw existing economic citizens out: they simply don’t accept any new ones.

Therefore, you have to act right now and get yourself an ultimate ‘plan B’ in the form of a second passport. You might regret it if you procrastinate. Don’t wait! Contact us straight away and acquire a second passport very soon!

We provide expert assistance in obtaining foreign citizenship

We have already helped a large number of millionaires, billionaires, celebrities, and ordinary people to become bipatrides (holders of dual citizenship). With our professional assistance, they have been able to find peace of mind and reduce their tax burdens. If you would like to do the same, please do not hesitate to contact us and request a free consultation on the matter from us. We will analyze your situation and offer you the best choice!