Thanks, John. I didn’t know it was changed. My last meeting with tax attorneys was last Fall.
Though is the wealth tax paid to the government in areas that zeroed it out, the existing “solidarity wealth tax” which is levied on wealth above a higher limit? Interest only as I don’t live in Madrid or the couple of other regions that zeroed it out or zeroed most of it.
So, another factor to consider is whether these other countries will actually deliver citizenship after the N years.
This is a little bit hearsay, but when it comes to Spain and Greece… while the law says you can get citizenship after N years… it’s completely discretionary, and the word I have gotten is that it’s nigh unto impossible to actually get it unless you are able to actually speak, act, and function as if you were a native, and most people should consider those programs RBI only. Can you learn Greek? “It’s Greek to me” isn’t a saying for a reason (and my wife is a linguist who learned Greek).
It is nice to say that “if they’d just change the boots-on-ground requirements”… but it’s kinda more than that.
PT appears to be the only GV that provides a realistically (as opposed to theoretically) attainable passport from an RBI.
I could be wrong on this. This is just what I’ve learned from some sources. Do your own research. But I would suggest digging into it further.
In Spain, the two other requirements for Spanish citizenship in addition to the physical residence requirement, are the ability to speak Spanish as attested by passing their language exam at A2 level or above (DELE Diploma) and their citizenship exam called CCSE (Conocimientos Constitucionales y Socioculturales de España). I think this is the government’s attempt to qualify the criteria and lessen administrative discretion in deciding whether to grant someone the citizenship or not.
As to whether GV investors have obtained Spanish citizenship by GV/RBI, I think this is yet to be seen for most of them since the program was just launched in 2013 and after the 10 year residency period, many are just meeting the threshold for the physical residence requirement at this point. So we should be hearing about success (or not) stories by GV investors who went this route in the next couple of months.
At least the trend in Spain is in favor of wealth tax. And Spain is really PT’s neighbor.
GVers who already completed the five years are unable to withdraw their investments, lest they lose eligibility for PR / citizenship:
is the number of days since AIMA/SEF has done anything with my application
695 days here
1060 days since the date of the application payment, and still no final approval. Lawsuit filed in May!
1031 days since the date of the application/payment, and still no final approval. No lawsuit.
Conclusion drawn: Either you are the epitome of patience or a certain country and its’ multiple institutions have gone to the dogs.
Wrong: it is Both:
Ditto +5days
you might consider how dogs feel about your words…
Have they ever considered how those bitten by them feel? Actions hurt harder than words. It is my frustration and helplessness for a system against which I have no other means to fight (having exhausted all options as available in a so called first world, rule of law based, democracy strengthened by self proclaimed independent judiciary and bureaucracy). I choose not be held on ransom by any institution or personnel.
