Malta to sell citizenships for 650K euros apiece

Prime minister expects citizenship sale will bring in 30M euros

Nov 13, 2013 3:12 PM ET Last Updated: Nov 13, 2013 4:55 PM ET

Malta's Parliament has voted to sell its citizenship for 650,000 euros ($915,590 Cdn), granting buyers a coveted passport that allows them into the 28-nation European Union.

The plan approved Wednesday is expected to go into effect within a few weeks. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat predicts it will bring in 30 million euros ($42.3 million Cdn) annually and help ease the country's deficit.

Lawmakers from the opposition Nationalist Party opposed the move and vowed to repeal the law and revoke all the citizenships sold if their party returns to power.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/malta-to-sell-citizenships-for-650k-euros-apiece-1.2425492

-- CBC News 2013-11-13

Lawmakers from the opposition Nationalist Party opposed the move and vowed to repeal the law and revoke all the citizenships sold if their party returns to power.

With a full refund?

Could we see Mr T with yet another passport soon ......hmmm ????

That's a bit more than the going rate for a EU passport on KSR.

Cue lots of Russians buying up that island's real estate with laundered money.

They should be ashamed of themselves, and to think the song was "Selling England by the pound".....

Great idea......

now if we can do that in the US our budget woes will be gone !

Vancouver BC Canada did pretty much the same thing with Hong Kong Chinese years ago,,,,,

you can fly a lifetime of visa runs with 650K euro so why bother? then you still got the cumulative interest to live on too.

650K baht? Where do I sign up?

They have priced themselves out of the market.

What an ice breaker, "I'm Maltese".

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

65k euro maybe, but not 650k and definitely not for malta.

I think there won't be a flood of applications from Thailand. Apparently, the Maltese government expects to get EUR 30 million next year from this passport selling scheme.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's government this week said the Individual Investor Programme (IIP) will reap €30 million next year by selling Maltese citizenship at €650,000 to applicants - but this falls to an average €185,000 per passport if a family of five acquires citizenship.

Source: http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Names-of-those-who-buy-Maltese-citizenship-will-not-be-published-20131014

I'm telling you, all the Russians that got their fingers burned in Cyprus will be queuing up.

I like Malta. BUT, think their plan will backfire.

Great stuff, welcome to the Islamic caliphate of Malta, applications now being processsed off shore in Lempedusa.

I reckon there might be a few Afghanis getting in on this as well (using US-provided rebuilding cash of course).

Looks like they spoke to Thaksin already and got the idea from the Thailand Elite Card. And the opposition party are going to throw it all out. Sounds familiar and sounds a bad investment.

Quote

" Malta's Parliament has voted to sell its citizenship for 650,000 euros ($915,590 Cdn), granting buyers a coveted passport that allows them into the 28-nation European Union.

The plan approved Wednesday is expected to go into effect within a few weeks. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat predicts it will bring in 30 million euros ($42.3 million Cdn) annually and help ease the country's deficit."

so this is 50 people they are looking for ?

at least they are not thinking that 1000s will be lining up