Billionaire Peter Thiel has one. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has one. Actress Kirsten Dunst has one. Singer Ricky Martin has one.
Frankly the list of American celebrities, billionaires, and famous business moguls who have second passports is incredibly lengthy… and those are just the ones that we know about.
It’s not panic, and it’s not paranoia. Almost all of these people live and work in the United States, and they recognize that the US– despite overwhelming and incredibly frustrating problems, is still a good place to be.
But they also understand the worrying trends and enormous challenges ahead… and that having a second passport is a great tool to diversify those risks.
The concept is simple; when everything in your life– your nationality, your business, your residence, your savings, your investments, your retirement, etc. is all tied to the same country, then it means you’re putting all of your proverbial eggs in one basket.
If that single country has major problems, whether social, political, or economic, then everything you’ve worked for is at risk.
Diversification is key in controlling that risk.
You can diversify your finances quite easily by investing in gold, foreign currencies, international stocks, or even crypto. And you can diversify personal risk for yourself and your family by obtaining legal residency in a foreign country– which gives you the right to live, work, invest, and retire abroad in a place where you really enjoy spending time.
Becoming a dual citizen of another country takes that personal diversification to an even higher level… because it comes with a second passport, i.e. a valuable document that can be used for travel and business.
But the biggest misconception about second passports is that they’re only for the rich and famous. And that’s just completely wrong.
In fact, two weeks ago, the President of El Salvador announced that his country will be giving away 5,000 free passports “to highly skilled scientists, engineers, doctors, artists, and philosophers from abroad.”
He said that there would be no taxes or tariffs related to moving or importing any belongings, including intellectual property.
And he indicated that they intentionally chose a small number: 5,000 new citizens would represent “less than 0.1% of our population, so granting them full citizen status, including voting rights, poses no issue.”
“Despite the small number,” he added, “their contributions will have a huge impact on our society and the future of our country.”
He’s right. El Salvador will likely receive a ton of benefit from the 5,000 skilled immigrants they welcome, and very little downside.
(This is the opposite of US immigration policy, which makes it extremely difficult for talented, skilled people to obtain legal residency… yet with open arms they welcome millions of illegal migrants who cross the southern border without so much as a background check.)
The details of El Salvador’s skilled passport program haven’t been released yet. But since the whole point is to improve the country’s economy and quality of life, it’s likely to require the applicant to relocate to El Salvador to work in the country.
Most likely the program in El Salvador won’t entice too many people from North America or Europe. But I imagine a vast number of engineers from India, doctors from Africa, etc. would be willing to move.
After all, an El Salvadoran passport is a much, much better travel document than a passport from, say, India, Bangladesh, or Ghana, because it includes visa free travel to Europe, most of Latin America, and much of Asia.
Fortunately, El Salvador isn’t the only chance to get a practically free passport.
The first thing anyone pursuing second citizenship should check is if they are part of the “lucky bloodline club”. Several European countries allow people to claim citizenship through ancestry.
Italy, Ireland, Greece, Poland, and others offer citizenship to those who can trace their descent through official documentation.
Each country varies on how many generations they allow you to go back. But if you qualify, the total cost will be minor– procuring documents, getting translations, and government application fees.
Another fairly inexpensive way to acquire a second passport is to naturalize in a country by spending a certain amount of time living there.
For example, anyone who is interested in moving to Argentina can qualify to apply for naturalization and citizenship after just two years of living there as a legal resident. It takes five years in Portugal, and ten years in Spain, Italy, and Greece.
Also, certain foreign countries, such as Mexico and Brazil, grant citizenship to any children born on their soil. They also grant permanent residency to the parents, with an expedited path to citizenship.
This is a great gift to give a child, to be born with more access to the world that they can pass down to future generations. It’s one reason my wife and I chose to have both of our children in Mexico.
When it comes to El Salvador, we’ll withhold final judgment on the program until the details come out.
But if you want a second passport, there are plenty of paths that will get you there.
And again, it’s an insurance policy that makes a whole lot of sense in such an uncertain world.
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