Europe Immigration News

The Maltese government has announced that it intends to go ahead with a controversial plan to 'sell citizenship' to applicants who pay €1.15m. The government intends that the Individual Investor Program (IIP) scheme should go live in February 2014.

However, there may be a last minute hitch. European Commission vice-president Viviane Reding is said to be taking legal advice about whether the Commission has the power to stop the scheme under EU Treaty law. The European parliament has already held a vote censuring Malta.

The Cypriot department of immigration has cut the cost of its Fast Track Citizenship program, also known as 'economic citizenship'. The main change was introduced to placate Russians who had lost money when the Cypriot government grabbed 40% of all deposits for themselves in two of Cyprus's largest banks.

There are now several different ways of qualifying for Cypriot citizenship by making investments in Cyprus. There is no requirement that you should be resident in Cyprus to qualify though you must have a property there.

The Mediterranean island of Malta announced on 19th November 2013 that it would delay the introduction of a new citizenship programme which would enable wealthy people to buy Maltese citizenship. Malta is an island in the Mediterranean which is a member of the European Union. Maltese citizens can therefore live and work in other EU Countries.

In the last year, Portuguese immigration has issued 318 'Golden Visas' under its Golden Visa and Golden Residence Permit Schemes. Most have been issued to Chinese nationals who have invested in property in Portugal. Portugal says it foresees issuing 400 Golden Visas each year.

Portugal opened its 'Golden Visa' scheme in 2012. Citizens of countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA) who purchase a property in Portugal worth at least €500,000 are thereby entitled to apply for a Portuguese temporary residence permit known colloquially as a Golden Visa.

On 1st January 2014, transitional controls preventing most citizens of Bulgaria and Romania from traveling to live and work freely throughout the EU will expire. The controls were put in place in 2007 when the two countries joined the EU. Under EU law these controls are only allowed to remain in place for seven years.

There is now growing pressure on the UK prime minister to extend the controls, despite the fact that this would be contrary to EU law.

Switzerland will hold a referendum on 9th February 2014 on whether to impose quotas on the number of immigrants it will accept from European Union countries.

The Swiss government is recommending that the people reject the proposal but the right wing, anti-immigration Swiss People's Party (SVP) is recommending a 'yes' vote.

The Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter told a press conference that a 'yes' vote would be likely to lead Switzerland to breach bilateral treaties with the EU allowing free movement of workers between Switzerland.