All that glitters

Anyone, irrespective of nationality, willing to part ways with $5 million (€4.6 million) will not only be granted indefinite leave to remain in the US but will have their application for an American passport expedited. If nothing else, Trump’s on-the-fly announcement at least breathed new life into the investment migration sector, which was estimated to be worth an annual $22 billion (€20.3 billion) globally in its pre-war heyday.

Ever since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, however, EU member states that effectively sell long-term residence permits have come under intense pressure from Brussels to scrap their so-called “golden visa” schemes entirely or, at the very least, bar Russian and Belarusian applicants from applying.

The lax, inadequate screening by governments of deep-pocketed newcomers and the granting of residency and citizenship via investment programmes has enabled crypto scammers, international fugitives and other unsavoury figures to launder their identities and enjoy enhanced mobility privileges as a result. Should the Trump administration actually end up launching its scheme in lieu of the existing yet unwieldy EB-5 visa which can take up to 10 years to adjudicate, Kremlin-affiliated frontmen and surrogates are likely to figure prominently among those applying for it.

Needless to say, the steep asking price and subsequent transfer of funds from Moscow to Washington will entail major sanctions relief as well as the inevitable rehabilitation of Russian state-owned banks that at present remain cut off from global capital markets. Moreover, giving Putin’s foot soldiers the opportunity to reside in what is arguably the most coveted destination in the world would render EU movement restrictions against them null and void.

Rather, the controversial move would likely serve as a catalyst for the process of entente already underway between Moscow and Washington, boosting direct contacts between the two while further freezing European leaders out from negotiations on bringing the war in Ukraine to an end.

The inevitable influx of wealthy Muscovites to the US would almost certainly be considered a net benefit to society by Trump, who has no issue with throwing the Russian elite a lifeline while Europe fine tunes its punitive measures against those close to Putin. That said, it wouldn’t just be Russian oligarchs taking advantage of the administration’s mercantile and elitist approach to immigration — wealthy Chinese and Iranian citizens keen to distance themselves from their own countries’ role in Russia’s continued war in Ukraine are also likely to want in.

By transforming the fundamentals of the US immigration system from something broadly meritocratic to a for-profit endeavour also sets a dangerous precedent. Other Western democracies that boast robust rule of law and high living standards now have licence to introduce their own exorbitantly expensive pathways to permanent residency or citizenship, regardless of how incongruous this practice happens to be with social democratic values.

Worse still, Trump’s grand plans to monetise the growing Russian appetite for “domicile diversification” as Ukraine continues to “bring the war home” to Putin is a shot in the arm for investment migration practitioners whose once booming businesses have struggled to survive amid the ending of dozens of citizenship by investment programmes over the past few years.

One notable example is Cyprus’s defunct €2.5 million (€2.3 million) “golden passport” scheme, which was abolished after an undercover investigation carried out by Al Jazeera in mid-2020 laid bare how senior Cypriot officials cut corners to illegally approve applications made by politically-exposed persons and even known criminals. Of the roughly 2,500 beneficiaries of the country’s “cash-for-passport” scheme between September 2017 to November 2019, more than 1,000 were Russian-born.

Late last year, Cyprus went as far as to revoke the citizenship of 77 individuals, including billionaire metals baron Oleg Deripaska and ex-FSB operative Sergey Kovbasyuk, after openly acknowledging that a system of checks and balances designed to prevent the programme being abused had been bypassed to issue them Cypriot passports.

Thanks to its own citizenship by investment scheme, as well as its strategic location, Türkiye has already established itself as a haven for high-profile Russians who no longer enjoy access to the European capitals that were once their mainstays. In the first four months of the war in Ukraine, around 5,000 Russian nationals acquired Turkish passports via property purchases, many of whom did so with a view to entering the United States on an E-2 investor visa, for which citizens of Türkiye are eligible.

Trump’s “green card for the rich” is a godsend to many high-net-worth Russians, many of whom identify strongly with MAGA’s conservative outlook and anti-woke agenda. As such, multimillionaires seeking to escape an increasingly dystopian and totalitarian Russia will doubtless be prepared to pay top dollar to realise their American dream.

Having already approved the appointment of incoming Russian Ambassador Alexander Darchiev and floated the resumption of direct flights between Moscow and New York, this latest Republican grift operation will not only make it far easier for members of Putin’s inner circle to visit or live in the United States, it will also bolster the until-recently-unthinkable budding alliance between the two countries, much to the detriment of Ukraine.