⁍ British entrepreneurs are looking to ‘buy’ citizenship from countries offering visa-free access to the European Union.

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⁍ Astons said it had seen a 50% and 30% year-on-year increase in interest from clients seeking Cypriot or Greek citizenship.

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⁍ EU authorities are under pressure to clamp down on investment migration programmes by member states.

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– With Britain set to leave the European Union in March, companies are seeing a surge in business from British entrepreneurs looking to “buy” citizenship from other countries in the EU, reports Reuters. Companies such as Astons say they’ve seen a 50% and 30% year-on-year increase in interest in buying citizenship from Cyprus and Greece, respectively, as well as a 15% year-on-year increase in interest in buying citizenship from Malta, Portugal, Austria, and several Caribbean islands. “This isn’t about tourists. This is the UK high net worth community that have a constant need to travel to and spend significant time in the EU,” says the director of investment migration firm Henley & Partners. “This is investment migration as a volatility hedge and a component in a high net worth portfolio value defense strategy.” Citizenship in certain Caribbean states, including St. Kitts and St. Kitts & Nevis, can be obtained in less than four months for a minimum investment of 76,152 pounds. For less than 40,000 pounds more, investors can obtain citizenship of St. Kitts & Nevis—and visa-free travel to 156 countries—in around 60 days. Malta, meanwhile, typically processes investment migration applications in three months but only grants EU residency to investors and visa-fee travel to just 26 countries. “With HNWIs, time is often more important than what is essentially a small fluctuation in cost and many are looking to secure additional citizenship as fast as possible in the pandemic landscape,” Arthur Sarkisian, managing director of Astons, says.