Читать книгу Global Residence & Citizenship Handbook - Christian H. Kälin - Страница 51

With regard to the acquisition of alternative citizenship, it is important to always obtain proper advice from reputable legal advisors, and to check the citizenship laws and procedures as published by the country’s government. This is particularly relevant if citizenship is sought on the basis of an investment or other direct contribution to a country. Unfortunately there are many illegal activities in this “field” and it is safe to assume that most offers are fraudulent. What makes matters worse, sometimes even seemingly reputable professionals have been found to be involved in what turned out to be fraudulent offers. For example, between November 2010 and May 2011 a Canadian immigration lawyer and a private client lawyer based in Switzerland simultaneously offered citizenship in Iceland for a US$ 400,000 investment in some private equity fund. Iceland’s citizenship law requires the passing of a parliamentary bill in order to grant citizenship to a foreigner outside the normal naturalization procedures. A simple check of the Citizenship Act would have revealed this, yet the “marketing” activities of these lawyers made it necessary for the Icelandic Government to publish an unequivocal statement. The government statement underlined that Iceland has never had in the past and has no intention to establish any kind of Citizenship-by-Investment program.³⁶