Chris Kaelin: «It Makes More Sense to Stay Outside of Europe Now»

With war on its doorstep, Europeans are increasingly considering emigration. Henley & Partner's Chairman Chris Kaelin spoke to finews.tv about how recent events have changed the way Europeans view their continent.

Now that the Russia-Ukraine conflict bears the potential of escalating, more Europeans are interested in acquiring additional citizenships. This is a change from Europe being mainly a magnet for migration.

«For the past few days phones have been ringing off the hook,» said Christian Kaelin, chair of Henley & Partners, a company that aids investors and entrepreneurs to gain citizenship in other countries.  

With the danger of the current situation becoming worse, «it probably makes more sense to stay outside of Europe if you can,» Kaelin says, adding that Caribbean countries, as well as Dubai and Thailand, are gaining in popularity. Switzerland, however, with its great stability and level of security continues to be an attractive place to reside, he says in an interview with finews.tv.

For many Europeans, seeing national borders closed during the pandemic shook their self-certainty to the core, making it clear for some that second citizenship was more of a necessity than a «nice-to-have,» he says.

Passports for $270,000

Kaelin, who also advises governments on how to set up such residency programs, points out that citizenship doesn't always cost millions of dollars, with some countries making these privileges available for as little as $272,000.

Currently, about 15 countries actively offer investment citizenship, while investment programs for residency exist in about 50 countries. Overall roughly 100 countries have legislation in place encompassing citizenship.

The level of demand these generate often depends on tax levies or the complexity of the procedure.