The Personal Wealth Management has recently launched a special report titled ‘A Guide to Global Citizenship’ which has been published by the Financial Times. The report presents an overview of the top 12 jurisdictions which offer fast-track Citizenship in return for an investment which generates employment and is beneficial to the jurisdiction’s economy.
The Malta Citizenship by Investment Programme has classified as the ninth’ best in the world, based on a number of pillars, including due diligence and high quality of life for which Malta ranked very well.
Malta- topping the charts in Standard of Living, Due Diligence and Freedom of Movement
The analysis carried out took into consideration seven factors: namely standard of living, freedom of movement, mandatory travel or residence, due diligence, citizenship timeline, and ease of processing and minimum investment outlay.
Malta was commended for its due diligence which highlights the high level of professionalism and transparency undertaken by the Maltese Government when bestowing citizenship on investors. Strict scrutiny in the way information is collected from the applicants and analysed by Identity Malta (the authority responsible for the Maltese CBI) ensures that only high calibre individuals attain Maltese Citizenship and shows that robust processes policies and procedures are in place.
Malta, together with Austria, ranked as the best jurisdiction as far as standard of living goes.
Malta topped the rankings in freedom of movement as it grants visa-free travel to 168 jurisdictions, including the EU, the US and Canada.
Malta has also received a commendable score for ease of processing.
An Overview
In a statement, Jonathan Cardona, CEO of Identity Malta highlights that the Malta Citizenship by Investment Programme is aimed at high calibre individuals.
While Malta ranked lower than other jurisdictions in qualifiers such as minimum investment outlay and mandatory travel or residence, one must also keep in mind that vis-à-vis other programmes, Maltese citizenship grants a number of benefits which add considerable value to one’s life by facilitating one’s travelling and conferring a good standard of living. As pointed out by Mr Cardona, Malta “offers the best programme as it is highly regulated, recognised by the European Commission and offers best practice in the field on a global level”
