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Europe could soon be welcoming a wave of well-heeled Americans, as Democratic voters facing the prospect of another Donald Trump presidency eye refuges abroad.
Interest in so-called “golden visas” has skyrocketed among US citizens since the election, according to consultants that help the wealthy migrate. Golden visas allow people to effectively buy foreign citizenship or residence through sizable investments, including in real estate, government bonds or startups.
Henley & Partners, which claims to have invented the concept of citizenship-by-investment in the 1990s, said inquiries by US nationals via its website spiked almost 400% the week of the election compared with the prior week.
Many of these individuals don’t plan on permanently relocating to a new country, however. “The main focus for most Americans is just having the optionality… like an insurance policy,” said Dominic Volek, head of private clients at Henley & Partners.
Arton Capital, another investment migration consultancy, said it received well over 100 inquiries the day after Trump’s decisive victory was called, five times the typical daily average.
“A very small percentage of these people are actually relocating, but they all want to have the option as a Plan B,” CEO Armand Arton told . “We will definitely be very busy (over) the next six months with the US market.”
One Italian village is trying to make the most of the sudden spike in demand: Following the election, the village of Ollolai, on the island of Sardinia, launched a website offering ultra-cheap homes in the hope that those upset by the result will snap up one of its empty properties.
Rising US demand
Historically, residence- and citizenship-by-investment programs have attracted emerging market elites including from Nigeria, South Africa, China, India and the Philippines who typically face higher levels of political and economic instability at home or who want a second passport to enable visa-free travel.
Americans were not a major source of demand for golden visas until the pandemic, when Covid lockdowns meant they were unable to visit Europe without a European passport, even if they owned second homes on the continent or could travel by private jet, according to Volek.
“A lot of the very wealthy families… were a little bit more exposed than they realized,” he told .
Demand has been rising ever since, with increased political division and social tension in the United States also driving interest, according to a Henley & Partners report published earlier this year. Since 2020, US nationals have been the firm’s single largest cohort of applicants for investment migration programs.
Inquiries about golden visas from Americans have increased 33% so far this year compared with the same period last year, with programs in Europe the most sought after.
Portugal’s Golden Residence Permit Program tops the popularity list because it is relatively affordable, requiring a minimum outlay of €250,000 ($265,000) in support of the arts or national cultural heritage. It also offers a path to European Union citizenship after only five years, as opposed to seven to 10 years in countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy, which are also popular choices among Americans.
The super-rich those with a net worth of $50 million and above tend to favor Malta or Austria, according to Volek, which offer immediate paths to citizenship but at a much higher price.
Malta’s program requires a non-refundable payment to the government of €600,000 ($636,000), with considerable additional spending on real estate in the country and a €10,000 ($10,600) donation to local charities. Austria demands a direct contribution to the economy, such as an investment in a local business, which usually starts at around €3.5 million ($3.7 million).
With golden visas out of reach for most Americans, social media platforms are ablaze with chatter about other avenues for moving abroad.
A YouTube video on “countries for Americans who want to leave the US,” posted less than two weeks ago by a couple who help people move abroad, has received more than half a million views and 4,000 comments, including from Americans who say they are urgently exploring options for living overseas.
Elsewhere, on Reddit, one thread entitled “Emigrating after the US election results” has received 1,300 comments in less than two weeks.
In an LGBT Reddit group, one user posted shortly before the election that they and their husband feel that “leaving the USA as refugees may be necessary if Trump ends up winning.”
Flannery Foster, an American living in Spain who helps other Americans travel, work and study abroad, has heard similar stories.
“I’ve been talking to people (whose) lives are at risk and their livelihoods are at risk,” Foster told , referring to women, Black people, parents with transgender children and the LGBTQ+ community. “These people are not your golden visa people,” she added.
Since the election, Foster, who is in the process of obtaining Spanish citizenship, has seen “exponential growth” in inquiries and says she is currently working with around 50 people interested in living outside the US.
These individuals don’t want to surrender their US citizenship, however. “There is a sense that, ‘I’m leaving because I have to and I want to make sure that my vote still counts.’”
