The European Union (EU) has raised security concerns over the trade in ‘golden passports’ after discovering that five Caribbean states have sold citizenship to 88,000 individuals from nations like Iran, Nigeria, Russia and China.
The EU is seeking to review its visa-mechanism in countries that offer investor citizenship schemes to countries with a corruption perception and poor human rights records.
The commission said this has become imperative to curtail security risks to member states.
According to the commission, this has become necessary in order to reduce security concerns to member states.
Investor citizenship schemes, sometimes known as “golden passports,” are typically administered by third-country nationals having visa-free entry to the EU.
These schemes confer citizenship rights in exchange for local investments or a flat fee, with low or no residency requirements and visa-free entry to EU countries for interested new nationals.
