These countries offer citizenship in exchange of money

Passport for cash Controversial "Golden Passport" (or visa) schemes are back in the spotlight as one of London's leading firms opens up to "huge growth" in demand for its services. Luke Hexter, CEO of Knightsbridge Capital Partners, told Forbes that the company's European Passport program was driving 70 per cent growth year-on-year. This comes after Knightsbridge was embroiled in a Sunday Times and Channel Four investigation that found firms brokering U.K. investment visas and European passports for foreign billionaires and millionaires had boasted of being able to sidestep government checks and safeguards for their clients. Currently Knightsbridge is selling passports from Cyprus that would give foreign investors and their families the right to travel visa-free to 163 countries in return for an investment of $2.2 million (€ 2 million) in local property or funds.The island raked off selling passports at $7.4 billion (€ 6.6 billion), but the scheme also attracted the ire of the European Commission and the OECD.According to Hexter, economic growth and political instability in emerging markets have created the demand for so-called Golden Passport investment programmes. "If you have a few billion–many of these clients will have citizenship in one country, passports in another, and residence elsewhere as a means of mitigating risk," Hexter says.  [More Details >>]( [Unsubscribe](