Italian "golden visas" for citizens of Russia and Belarus "sunk into the past"

In July 2023, the Italian authorities suspended the participation of Russians and Belarusians in the Investor Visa for Italy program.

This happened a year after the recommendation of the European Commission to member countries to do this because of the aggression of the Russian Federation and Belarus against Ukraine. This fact drew the attention of the publication Altreconomia.

The message about the abolition of “golden visas” appeared on the web page of the program, which says that the Italian Ministry of Economy made this decision on July 14, 2023, based on the recommendation of the European Commission dated March 28, 2022. According to the publication, during this one-year period, 36 Russian citizens used the Investor Visa for Italy program, of which 32 received an “investor” visa for a period of two years.

Among citizens of different countries, Russians are the largest national group of recipients of Italian “golden visas” for 2022. Next come the citizens of the United States and Britain (12 each), another 23 are citizens from outside EUtheir nationality is not revealed due to privacy concerns.

Altreconomia tellsthat Cyprus and Malta canceled dozens of “golden passports” of Russians and Belarusians because of the war in Ukraine. Last year, the volume of investments under the Italian Golden Visa Program reached its highest level since 2017, since the mechanism was in existence, and amounted to 32.3 million euros.

Over the past years, the European Commission has called on the member states of the union to cancel these tools for granting a residence permit, considering them one of the means of legalizing financial transactions by foreigners. After the start of the Russian war in Ukraine, the EC again declared the controversial practice illegal and recommended that the countries of the European Union consider the possibility of abolishing such citizenship – especially if people are on EU sanctions lists or support the aggressive actions of the Russian Federation.

In recent months, countries such as Portugal, Malta, Ireland and Greece.

Our publication previously described how the termination of the Portuguese Golden Visa program forced many stakeholders note to Greece.

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