Property Talk

Listen up buyers of residency or citizenship property

South Africans, like many of their counterparts in China, Hong Kong, the Middle East and Russia, have for a while been buyers of residency or citizenship property as a mechanism of diversification and ensuring alternates to citizenship in their own country is available to them and their families.

Seeff Atlantic Seaboard have partnered with the leading estate agency in Malta (Frank Salt Real Estate) as well as legal and tax specialists in order to provide this opportunity to South Africans and interestingly enough to clients within KZN in particular who they tell me are a key a growing segment of the buyers of property in Malta.

Other niche players in this market such as Hurst & Wills have created a business around this demand by working exclusively for the buyer in selecting offshore properties, based on their specific requirements and goals. Investing offshore can be complicated and there is no doubt that expert advice is valuable and advised.

Mauritius and Seychelles have been long-time favourites for South Africans looking for diversification and property-linked residency programmes. The low tax environment makes perfect sense for businesses that are able to establish their primary office in Mauritius and the proximity to South Africa make it easy to manage,

However, each destination seems to have different costs and benefits. Nadia Read Thaele is the CEO of LIO Global and says that Caribbean countries like Grenada and Antigua are cheaper and that these countries give you citizenship and a passport within four to six months, and allow visa-free travel to the Schengen-zone countries, the UK and many others.

The trade-off between residency programmes versus actual citizenship in an offshore destination usually revolves around cost with the former being more affordable.

The citizenship-by-investment programmes (CBI) in the Caribbean islands are the most affordable of their kind with options ranging from a donation of $100,000 or to approved property investments of around $300,000. Other specific requirements may apply in certain destinations such as the Caribbean island of St. Lucia requiring that applicants have a minimum net worth of $3m.