Increasingly more high-net worth and ultra-high-net worth Americans are “hedging their bets” against political turmoil and social unrest by pursuing backup visas and citizenships abroad.
That’s according to the 2024 USA Wealth Report put out by investment migration consultancy Henley & Partners and New World Wealth, which finds there are now more Americans applying for residence and citizenship-by-investment programs than citizens of any other country. Over the past five years, inquiries from the U.S. about these programs have increased by 500%.
These programs involve making an investment of, typically, a few hundred thousand dollars and spending a few years in a country in exchange for a visa or citizenship. Each country determines its own rules for applicants, including a time frame, investment options, and due-diligence expectations.
Henley & Partners isn’t the only migration consultancy finding that more wealthy Americans are vying for second residences or citizenships. Alex Ingrim, a financial advisor with global financial services firm Chase Buchanan, recently told Fortune that since the COVID-19 pandemic, what used to be the purview of Russia’s elite and those seeking to escape oppressive regimes is now increasingly popular among U.S. citizens, who are seeking so-called golden visas and passports.
Top 2023 destination countries included Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, and Spain, according to the Henley & Partners report. That’s partly because of the weather and cultural attractions, the report notes, and partly because those countries have “no or very minimal residence requirements,” which attracts wealthy Americans who don’t want to leave the U.S. quite yet but do desire a backup plan.
That “fire insurance” is attractive for a number of reasons, says David Lesperance, an international tax and immigration advisor who helps the elite move abroad. More of his American clients are increasingly worried about the political climate in the U.S., while some are interested in international business opportunities.
Others plan to move because they’re worried about their kids facing the singularly American problem of mass shootings, or—in the case of his Silicon Valley clients, in particular—they’d like a place to ride out the apocalypse. And some plan to expatriate to a nation with a friendlier tax code. Lesperance points to the possibility of a “billionaire tax”—promoted by Democrats, including President Joe Biden—as a particular catalyst.
“It doesn’t mean you use it,” Lesperance says of adding residence or citizenship. “But you’ve got the insurance and an escape plan.”
To that end, Mehdi Kadiri, head of North America at Henley & Partners, says the dramatic increase in wealthy Americans seeking a visa or second citizenship portends potentially bigger problems in the U.S. The report points to “stagnating living standards, rising debt levels, and a dangerously polarized society” as just some of those obstacles.
“With political divisions and societal tensions at an all-time high, American investors, entrepreneurs, and wealthy families are increasingly hedging their bets and pursuing backup citizenship or residence abroad, signaling declining faith in the domestic outlook,” Kadiri says in a press release accompanying the report.
America still No. 1
Despite the doom and gloom, there are plenty of wealthy people who still want to come to the U.S., the report finds. The U.S. gained 2,200 millionaires in 2023, with even more projected to come in 2024. San Francisco and Austin remain top draws for wealthy tech workers, while Florida is also an attractive locale for rich foreigners.
That’s no doubt because the U.S., for all its faults, is still “the undisputed leader in private wealth creation and accumulation,” the report notes: America holds 32% of global liquid investable wealth and home to 37% of the world’s millionaires.
If anything, the report notes that rather than fleeing the country completely, millionaires and other wealthy people are migrating to different cities within the U.S., with the likes of Austin, Miami, and Scottsdale seeing the largest growth in the millionaire population over the past decade (that said, New York still remains the undisputed king of the millionaire scene, with 10 times as many millionaire residents as Austin or Miami).
What’s more, some 5.5 million Americans hold at least $1 million in liquid investable assets, a number that’s climbed by 62% over the past 10 years. The U.S. also remains home to the most centi-millionaires and billionaires at least partly because, despite whatever turmoil exists in the U.S., it still remains a relative “safe haven” globally, the report notes.
“While the world frays at the edges, the USA holds steady as the top destination for global wealth,” the report reads. “The enduring allure of the American dream continues to draw ambitious talent from across the globe, however tarnished.”
