Global Residence and Citizenship Handbook. Christian H. Kälin
a legal background. Footnotes are therefore avoided where possible for the sake of clarity.
This book can in no way substitute legal or other professional advice. The publisher and author therefore unreservedly exclude any liability for losses or damages of any kind – be these direct, indirect or consequential – which may result from the use of this book or the information it contains. Although the publisher and author have undertaken great care in preparing this book, they obviously cannot guarantee its correctness and completeness, and the explanations and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation.
Any comments and suggestions, praise and criticism will be gratefully received. If you as the reader feel that a particular topic should be added to this volume, please let us know. We will be happy to recompense any useful information with a complimentary copy of the next edition of this book.
Dr. Christian H. Kälin is the Group Chairman of Henley & Partners. He is one of the pioneers and leading specialists in residence and citizenship programs and advises both private clients and governments.
Marshall J. Langer is Professor Emeritus at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and is recognized as the most experienced US tax attorney specialized in expatriation and international taxation.
Simon Anholt is the world’s leading authority on measuring and managing national identity and reputation. He was Vice-Chairman of the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s Public Diplomacy Board, and has advised more than 50 national, regional and city governments worldwide.
Henley & Partners:
The Global Leaders in Residence
and Citizenship Planning
The production of this book has been made possible by the generous sponsorship of Henley & Partners – the global leaders in residence and citizenship planning.
The concept of residence and citizenship planning was created by Henley & Partners in the 1990s, at a time when most international lawyers and wealth planning professionals did not consider the subject to be of much relevance.
Over the years, Henley & Partners has emerged as the world’s leading firm specialized and focused in this particular area of practice. International residence and citizenship planning has itself become a major topic among the increasing number of internationally mobile entrepreneurs, as well as many wealthy individuals and families, who are interested in looking at alternative residence and citizenship solutions.
Lawyers such as Dr. Christian H. Kälin, as well as many others, further developed the discipline together with an entire group of specialists who now work at Henley & Partners. The firm’s Chief Executive Officer, Eric G. Major, who formerly built the most important Canadian immigrant investor business at HSBC, is another guiding light in the area of global residence and citizenship planning.
Today, individual clients as well as advisors and law firms worldwide rely on Henley & Partners for specialized advice and assistance in this delicate area where its expertise and experience are second to none.
The firm’s renowned Residence and Citizenship Practice Group advises private clients and their close advisors, as well as governments, on investor immigration and citizenship solutions. Henley & Partners works with the government authorities of all relevant countries and constantly monitors the worldwide situation. The firm also assists in designing, implementing and operating investor immigration programs and gives relevant advice to governments.
Two of the most recent mandates are from Antigua and Barbuda, where Henley & Partners act as a special advisor to design, implement and administer the citizenship-by-investment program for this country; and Malta, where Henley & Partners won a public call for services and was awarded a Public Services Concession for the design, implementation and international promotion of the Malta Individual Investor Programme.
Residence planning and related tax planning for private clients involves finding solutions for individuals and families who move internationally, own property in different countries and who often have complex international situations and requirements. In this regard, they work closely together with the firm’s Trust and Tax Planning Group, and our combined services cover not only tax, immigration and citizenship law, but also international private law, real estate structuring and more.
For many years, Henley & Partners has organized the Global Residence and Citizenship Conference, which is the most important such event in the world. It is held annually in the first half of November in different locations each year. To check for the program of the next conference and to benefit from early registration discounts, please visit henleyglobal.com/events. For more information about the firm please visit henleyglobal.com
Impact
Henley & Partners typically advises very wealthy individuals and families, successful entrepreneurs and investors, top-level managers, artists, and celebrities. Without a doubt, we and our clients are among the most privileged people in the world.
An important distinguishing feature of our firm is our substantial commitment to help those who are less fortunate. This commitment dates back to its roots and is today expressed mainly through the Henley & Partners Foundation. It operates quietly but very effectively.
While several of the firm’s partners are themselves involved in important philanthropic work, for many years Henley & Partners as a firm has committed large parts of its yearly global profits to support humanitarian projects. This substantial commitment is further strengthened by the fact that all projects benefit directly from it and are administered by volunteers within the firm or associates in the countries where we operate. Furthermore, several of our clients have become important sponsors of our projects.
Most of the projects are focused on helping children in need. For example, more than 120 million children around the world are without any formal education or schooling, and many more have only very limited access to education. With rare exceptions, they never have the chance to improve their lives, and those children who are born poor tend to die poor. We therefore believe that one of the most significant contributions we can make to humankind is to help those who cannot help themselves, in particular underprivileged children.
We also fund other significant projects of local, national or international importance, such as youth entrepreneurship initiatives, reforestation, and our partnership with UNHCR. We support UNHCR’s global refugee registration activities with a contribution of over USD 1 million and further advocacy to assist UNHCR’s resource mobilization efforts.
If you would like to know more about our
humanitarian initiatives, or if you would like
to support them, please contact
Acknowledgements
This work originally arose from my vision and the need for a first-rate, up-to-date and useful handbook on residence and citizenship options for private clients.
It was forward-thinking pioneers like US attorneys Marshall Langer and Stephen Gray who started to systematically plan for wealthy clients in terms of their residence and citizenship requirements, and have thus helped form the basis of this increasingly important field of private client advisory practice.
While there have been many different publications in the past, mainly information brochures, nothing of this kind, and in particular of this level of professional accuracy, has been attempted before. The publisher, Ideos Publications, concurred with this idea and together with the author, they are now pleased to present the 6th edition.
A great deal of specialist knowledge, work and effort has gone into this project,