Malta to sell citizenship for .55 million
02-02-2014, 11:17 AM
I think the Ecuadorian program is priced according to its usefulness, as Cattle Rustler pointed out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requir...n_citizens
That is often mentioned as a benefit of dual citizenship, but I wouldn't recommend it. A Russian friend of mine went to the trouble of buying some overpriced real estate in a banana republic called "St. Kitts & Nevis". He intended to use his two nationalities to spend more time in the UK. End result: it worked for the first two border crossings, then when he tried to enter for a third time he was slapped with a 10-year ban. He was smart enough to ask a border guard in Frankfurt before handing over his passport... same story. If he proceeded, he would have been banned from the Schengen zone for trying to subvert the visa policy. In the end, he found out that his banana-government-approved real estate had been priced well over market value. The only way he could sell it without incurring massive losses was to find another sucker who wanted a useless passport, and he still lost about a fifth of his 'investment'.
I also know an Italian-American who was slapped with a ban for having two concurrent Russian visas (a business visa in each passport). He now does the same thing in Ukraine and they don't seem to mind.
So it may work in some other countries, but not in the larger parts of Europe.
Quote: (02-02-2014 09:24 AM)username Wrote:
Potentially could alternate between your two passports to stay in a country longer.
That is often mentioned as a benefit of dual citizenship, but I wouldn't recommend it. A Russian friend of mine went to the trouble of buying some overpriced real estate in a banana republic called "St. Kitts & Nevis". He intended to use his two nationalities to spend more time in the UK. End result: it worked for the first two border crossings, then when he tried to enter for a third time he was slapped with a 10-year ban. He was smart enough to ask a border guard in Frankfurt before handing over his passport... same story. If he proceeded, he would have been banned from the Schengen zone for trying to subvert the visa policy. In the end, he found out that his banana-government-approved real estate had been priced well over market value. The only way he could sell it without incurring massive losses was to find another sucker who wanted a useless passport, and he still lost about a fifth of his 'investment'.
I also know an Italian-American who was slapped with a ban for having two concurrent Russian visas (a business visa in each passport). He now does the same thing in Ukraine and they don't seem to mind.
So it may work in some other countries, but not in the larger parts of Europe.