Four Valuable Passports That Anyone Can ObtainRecently by Simon Black: In Case You’re Wondering Why I Spend So Much Time Down Here…
The idea of international diversification is a simple one – if you live, work, hold investments, own property, structure your business, store gold, etc. in the same country as your citizenship, then you truly have all of your eggs in one very fragile basket. If just one little thing goes wrong, whether it’s a court case, divorce settlement, political instability, government agency ‘administrative error’, or some noxious bureaucrat who’s out to get you, all of those aspects of your life can be put at extreme risk. The idea of ‘planting flags’, or diversifying internationally, involves spreading these aspects of your life across multiple jurisdictions and territories overseas. Banking in one place. Setting up a brokerage in another. Investing in another. Storing gold in another. Owning property in another. You can do this with dozens, potentially hundreds of aspects of your life and/or business – using an offshore email account, obtaining medical treatment overseas, seeking personal companionship abroad, setting up an overseas credit card processor for a web business, initiating an IPO for your company on an overseas exchange, foreign health insurance, etc. Taking these kinds of steps can make your life much, much easier. Suddenly all of those aspects of your life no longer fall under the jurisdiction of your home government; legions of blood-sucking bureaucrats no longer have access to confiscate your assets and frustrate your life with a few mouse clicks. Potentially the most important and most powerful aspect of your life to diversify, however, is citizenship. I view this as the ultimate insurance policy – something that you hope you’ll never have to use, but you’ll really be glad you have it in case you do. Having a second citizenship is like having a ‘get out of jail free’ card. It creates options. No matter what happens in the world, you’ll always have a place to go. You’ll always have a ticket out. And as I’m fond of saying, nobody ever hijacks an airplane and threatens to kill all the Lithuanians. Second citizenship does bring a greater sense of security. Obtaining citizenship, however, is elusive for many people. Some people are lucky enough to come from a line of Irish, Polish, or Italian ancestors. For most, though, it takes a combination of three things:
If you’re willing to simply pay for it, there are certain countries like St. Kitts and Dominica which offer citizenship to people who are simply willing to pay. Most folks unfortunately can’t afford the $250,000+ price tag that’s required, so that leaves the other two. Just about every country is willing to eventually naturalize permanent residents who reside in the country for a particular amount of time. It varies greatly from place to place. This past weekend, I learned from a subscriber who came down to Chile that, in Japan, it takes two decades of continuous residence. February 28, 2012 Copyright © 2012 Sovereign Man
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