WEBVTT 1 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:09.039 All right. In joining us now is Christopher Willis, and Chris is a 2 00:00:09.039 --> 00:00:15.880 managing partner of Latitude Caribbean and a managing director of Latitude Consultancy. He has 3 00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:19.559 been involved in immigration industry since nineteen ninety five. He's got a long list 4 00:00:19.640 --> 00:00:23.239 of credentials an organization that has been in and I'm not going to go through 5 00:00:23.239 --> 00:00:27.600 all of that because i want to get to what is happening right now. 6 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:32.079 A lot of people are very concerned about what's happening in our government here in 7 00:00:32.119 --> 00:00:37.840 America, in the European Union and other things. There's recently, the EU 8 00:00:38.200 --> 00:00:44.840 has just started cracking down on people who are trying to leave. We've also 9 00:00:45.079 --> 00:00:49.479 had if you've followed, I haven't really covered it, but you've got one 10 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:56.759 guy that was nicknamed Bitcoin Jesus who used bitcoin to relocate to Europe. He 11 00:00:56.920 --> 00:01:00.799 was just arrested in Spain and is going to be extradited to the United States 12 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:04.120 because the IRS is after him, saying that he transferred he didn't report all 13 00:01:04.120 --> 00:01:07.280 of his bitcoin holdings and things like that. So I want to talk about 14 00:01:08.439 --> 00:01:11.000 this. Is it something that is only for the rich? What do people 15 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:15.680 have to do if they want to do this, why would they go to 16 00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:19.359 particular places and how this stuff works. So joining us now is a Chris 17 00:01:19.400 --> 00:01:23.280 Willis, thank you for joining us, Sir Hi David, thanks for having 18 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:26.400 me on. Yeah, And I mean it's a very interesting trend right now 19 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:30.319 in the US, you know, with Americans looking at getting a second residence 20 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:33.920 or citizenship because typically this wasn't on their radar, but you know, there's 21 00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:37.200 been a confluence of events, you know, over the last few years that 22 00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:40.760 sort of led people to start looking at this as a viable option. And 23 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:44.480 you know, it's important to note that it doesn't necessarily mean you have to 24 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:48.159 leave the US, but it's more having the option to leave should you be 25 00:01:48.200 --> 00:01:52.480 said, be dissatisfied with the direction that the country's going. Obviously it's getting, 26 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:55.480 you know, closer and closer to the election, and people, no 27 00:01:55.519 --> 00:01:57.400 matter where you sit, you know, have very strong opinions of how they'd 28 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:00.480 like to see the direction of the US and if it doesn't go your way, 29 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:04.079 then you know, half the country is going to be unhappy. So 30 00:02:04.120 --> 00:02:08.520 they're looking at a different alternatives. And you've seen this because of maybe because 31 00:02:08.520 --> 00:02:10.800 of taxes or stuff like that. But you know, after what happened in 32 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:14.080 twenty twenty. A lot of people are looking at this and saying, and 33 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:22.199 I have listeners and in Africa that said, hey, everybody here was fine 34 00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:23.960 with this pandemic stuff. Nobody was freaking out about it. It was the 35 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:27.840 Europeans who were freaking out and the Americans who are freaking out about it. 36 00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:32.039 After they left, everything was fine. Well, you raise a good point. 37 00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:35.479 I mean, the pandemic was really the kicker to a lot of this 38 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:38.240 because you'll remember when there was the travel band, right, so it didn't 39 00:02:38.280 --> 00:02:39.759 matter who you were. If you only had a US passport, you know, 40 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:44.080 your wings were clipped and you were grounded. And so a lot of 41 00:02:44.439 --> 00:02:46.800 you know, particular of the family office, did we lose them? They 42 00:02:46.919 --> 00:02:47.840 freeze up here. You've got to figure out, Okay, we're back, 43 00:02:47.879 --> 00:02:51.400 we're back. I froze up for a moment. We lost that last bit. 44 00:02:51.479 --> 00:02:53.800 What you said, you said if you only got one passport? What 45 00:02:53.840 --> 00:02:58.039 was it you said after that? So the with the pandemic is people were 46 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:00.719 grounded. You know, they didn't matter if you were. If you only 47 00:03:00.759 --> 00:03:04.280 had a US passport, then you weren't able to travel. And so when 48 00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:07.120 we're speaking to a lot of family offices. You know, the feedback they're 49 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:08.759 getting from their family principles is, you know, you've got to fix this 50 00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:12.800 gap. You know, we were exposed here and we don't want this to 51 00:03:12.840 --> 00:03:15.840 be a problem again in the future if there was a similar situation. Yeah. 52 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:20.159 Yeah, And it is also important, I think in many cases to 53 00:03:20.199 --> 00:03:27.199 have what i'd call residential ambiguity. They tend to work with you differently if 54 00:03:27.240 --> 00:03:30.879 you're actually a citizen, then if you've got a different citizenship somewhere. I 55 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:34.960 remember when I was in high school, I went with some friends to Europe 56 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:39.560 and it was like a music organization. We were touring, but we had 57 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:44.080 a day off and we decided that we're going to ride bicycles around London. 58 00:03:44.520 --> 00:03:46.840 And the guy who rid the bicycles to us said, well, you're not 59 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:50.240 allowed to ride these things to the park, but since you're Americans, you 60 00:03:50.280 --> 00:03:53.800 can probably get away with it. So we did, and we had a 61 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:59.719 very angry bobby who flagged us down. He was ready to give us fines 62 00:03:59.800 --> 00:04:01.319 or cuffs or whatever. We weren't doing anything crazy, I mean, we 63 00:04:01.319 --> 00:04:04.599 weren't trying to run people over. We were very very calm. We're just 64 00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:09.719 calmly and riding through and so then as soon as we started talking to him, 65 00:04:09.719 --> 00:04:11.759 he goes, oh, you're Americans. Okay, well you're not allowed 66 00:04:11.800 --> 00:04:14.000 to do that here. I know you didn't know that, but we'll just 67 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:15.240 just walk it out of here and you'll be fine. That's the type of 68 00:04:15.279 --> 00:04:20.519 thing where where if you have these other residencies that can kind of give you 69 00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:24.759 a little bit of an out sometimes. I think that's why what I mean 70 00:04:24.759 --> 00:04:29.399 by residential ambiguity. Yeah. Absolutely, but I mean it raise a good 71 00:04:29.399 --> 00:04:33.040 point because I'll go back to the pandemic in the Caribbellan in particular, most 72 00:04:33.079 --> 00:04:36.519 of the islands closed their borders unless you were a citizen, right, So 73 00:04:38.279 --> 00:04:41.639 you know, I give you an example of someone who had a multimillion dollar 74 00:04:42.199 --> 00:04:46.000 pretty in john By Bay and Antigua and thought, you know, I'll go 75 00:04:46.079 --> 00:04:49.040 hang out there during the pandemic, but never took out citizenship. So you 76 00:04:49.079 --> 00:04:51.000 know, he was turned away. He wasn't able to travel and go and 77 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:54.879 spend time at his home. So it's it's that preparedness. And you know, 78 00:04:54.959 --> 00:04:57.759 to be fair, people didn't expect something of the nature of the pandemic 79 00:04:57.800 --> 00:05:00.519 to kick in, so they didn't really think about it, paricularly as an 80 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:02.639 American. You can hop on a plane and go anywhere, right, But 81 00:05:02.759 --> 00:05:08.399 suddenly these these challenges put themselves on the front foot and people had to make 82 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:11.639 some adjustments. Well, now you know, I'm looking at this, this 83 00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:15.519 golden passport. The cost escalates to two hundred thousand dollars on EU cracked down. 84 00:05:15.560 --> 00:05:19.560 What is a golden passport? First of all, so it's you know, 85 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:23.680 I mean the term golden passport or you know, there's a lot of 86 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:27.920 media spin on how these are portrayed. But in the Caribbean you have what's 87 00:05:27.959 --> 00:05:32.360 called citizenship by investment, so in exchange for making either a donation to the 88 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:39.120 government or purchasing a proved real estate, then you can receive citizenship in exchange. 89 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:45.800 So what's been happening is the European Union has been making some noises about 90 00:05:45.800 --> 00:05:49.120 how they would like to see some enhancements, let's say, to the programs 91 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:55.000 in the Caribbean, and one of that was increasing the minimum investment level. 92 00:05:55.240 --> 00:05:59.040 So right now it sits at one hundred thousand US. And there's been what's 93 00:05:59.079 --> 00:06:02.639 called a memorandum of agreement which was signed by four of the five Caribbean governments 94 00:06:02.839 --> 00:06:06.680 which agree to raise the floor from one hundred to two hundred thousand, and 95 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:12.879 that's scheduled to be effective June thirtieth of this year. The sort of one 96 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:17.720 outstanding countries indicated they will be signing as well, So the expectation is that 97 00:06:18.199 --> 00:06:21.639 the minimum investment level will start at two hundred thousand instead of the current of 98 00:06:21.639 --> 00:06:25.879 one hundred. Wow, they're gun double it. Wow, that's amazing. 99 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:28.079 Yeah, when I was looking at it this years ago, I remember looking 100 00:06:28.120 --> 00:06:30.879 at some of these Belize had like twenty five thousand back in the nineties and 101 00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:33.959 New Zealand, and you know, you had golden passport, you get to 102 00:06:33.959 --> 00:06:40.639 a lot of different countries. Sometimes they would have other restrictions, but for 103 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:43.959 the most part, it was just if you could put that much money into 104 00:06:44.120 --> 00:06:46.519 the country. Is this something that only the very rich can do? Though? 105 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:49.560 Is there anything that people can do that is, you know, to 106 00:06:49.560 --> 00:06:56.639 get citizenship somewhere without a big stash of cash. Yeah. The only other 107 00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:00.360 real way is through descent, and we have a division that specialized in this. 108 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:02.759 So if you know, if you had ancestral links, then that could 109 00:07:02.759 --> 00:07:05.800 be a pathway. And you know, I remember one client we were speaking 110 00:07:05.800 --> 00:07:09.480 to who was looking at the multi program in Europe, you know, which 111 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:14.279 cost about a million euro giver take and you know, having discussions with them, 112 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:17.360 their surname sounded Italian, so we dug a bit deeper found out they 113 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:21.600 were eligible through descent, so they got their Italian citizenship, which then gave 114 00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:27.319 them full access to the European Union and save a million europe. Right, 115 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:30.519 So here was over the moon. So it's it's another way that you can 116 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:33.800 do it. But the programs we focus on, David are typically you know, 117 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:36.240 for your high net worth, ultra high net worth, for the mass 118 00:07:36.279 --> 00:07:42.720 affluent and such. There are other programs, but typically they'll have a residency 119 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:47.839 component involved as well. So it's important to distinguish between residency and citizenship. 120 00:07:47.959 --> 00:07:53.560 So the Caribbean programs I spoke about are a direct pathway to citizenship, so 121 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:57.319 that leads to a passport. Other programs you know, very much like in 122 00:07:57.319 --> 00:08:00.759 the US you have a green card, right, so that type of would 123 00:08:00.759 --> 00:08:05.160 apply in places like Canada, Portugal, Spain, Greece where you know, 124 00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:09.199 you have a permanent residency. But to graduate or upgrade to citizenship you have 125 00:08:09.240 --> 00:08:13.240 to meet certain criteria, which is typically time and daycount. Mm hmmm hm. 126 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:18.199 So if you can get somewhere and you can afford and sometimes the cost 127 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:22.480 of living is significantly less. We talk a little bit about that. But 128 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:26.160 if you can get somewhere and establish residency, you might be able to get 129 00:08:26.199 --> 00:08:30.800 in without the Golden passport based on time that you're there, right, yeah, 130 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:33.120 correct, I mean, and there's you know, there's a multitude of 131 00:08:33.159 --> 00:08:37.799 programs you know, I mean in Canada for example, where you know, 132 00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:41.000 especially around a US election, many Americans look to sort of take a hop 133 00:08:41.080 --> 00:08:45.360 up north and spend time in Canada. So we sort of Joe Canada's immigration 134 00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:48.159 website crashes usually the day after the election because so many people are looking at 135 00:08:48.679 --> 00:08:52.919 a lot of people. Which way the depending I know, who wins, 136 00:08:52.919 --> 00:08:56.039 half the country is going to want to get out, Yeah, exactly. 137 00:08:56.159 --> 00:09:00.399 So it's it's one of those things that there's many other routes, but people 138 00:09:00.440 --> 00:09:03.360 could qualify, you know, whether it's through setting up a business, whether 139 00:09:03.399 --> 00:09:07.720 it's through a spousal relationship, whether it's through being a skilled worker for example. 140 00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:11.080 But for our focus, it is by investment and or by by descent 141 00:09:11.240 --> 00:09:15.440 or the two areas that we focus on. David I see. Let me 142 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:18.279 ask you this I mean is that I know a lot of people are wanting 143 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:20.360 to get out of the United States because of what they've seen with the pandemic 144 00:09:20.840 --> 00:09:24.440 and because of what is happening with politics. But of course the same type 145 00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:30.399 of issues are there in Europe as well. And I guess you know this 146 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:37.759 Bloomberg piece that's talking about the cost of the Golden passport soaring and the Caribbean 147 00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:41.240 how it's going to double in just a few months. Here they also mentioned 148 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:46.279 cryptocurrency, and that's one of the things when you have they just recently had 149 00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:50.519 a debate between some goldbugs and some cryptocurrency people. One of the things they 150 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:54.759 were saying was, you know, that makes it easier for us to exit, 151 00:09:54.960 --> 00:09:58.799 but there also seems to be an attempt to crack down on that as 152 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:03.679 well. Make an example out of the guy they called bitcoin Jesus. He 153 00:10:03.799 --> 00:10:07.240 had some cryptocurrency that he did not declare. Evidently, that's what the I 154 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:13.879 R S is alleging, and so they contacted the Spanish government to arrest him 155 00:10:13.960 --> 00:10:18.960 and to extradite him for the I R S over his cryptocurrency holdings. That's 156 00:10:20.200 --> 00:10:24.600 that's kind of a more aggressive aspect of it as well. Talk a little 157 00:10:24.600 --> 00:10:28.080 bit about that, and you know how the issues in terms of if you've 158 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:33.039 got money to buy a citizenship or if you want to establish residency, the 159 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:39.200 issues of trying to get your money out of the jurisdiction here. Yeah, 160 00:10:39.639 --> 00:10:41.519 there's two elements to that. I mean, the first one is the due 161 00:10:41.559 --> 00:10:46.159 diligence source of well, source of funds is a key component to all of 162 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:50.840 these, making sure they understand, you know, how the how you wealth 163 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:56.159 was generated and that everything was done in a legal manner. What we're seeing 164 00:10:56.440 --> 00:11:00.120 for people who are in the in the crypto space is that you know, 165 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:03.159 your crypto wallet can be used in terms of source of funds. However, 166 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:09.159 they still need to demonstrate how they acquired the funds that led to that initial 167 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:13.000 crypto investment. So it's going to go in that far back just to make 168 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:16.720 sure it resolved that in the proper ways. But in particular in the Caribbean, 169 00:11:16.159 --> 00:11:20.639 they won't accept crypto directly, so it would still have to be converted 170 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:24.120 to US banking. And you know, values in the Caribbean are still very 171 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:26.840 traditional, so they haven't quite advanced to that stage yet, but certainly there 172 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:31.639 are opportunities for people who have their wealth in the crypto space, and it's 173 00:11:31.720 --> 00:11:35.919 you know, as you rightly say, many more people are looking at this 174 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:41.879 saying how can we use our crypto funds to manage this? But it's still 175 00:11:41.879 --> 00:11:46.799 evolving. Some countries have certainly said that they want to explore how they can 176 00:11:46.840 --> 00:11:52.600 attract the crypto market and make it as removing barriers if you like, in 177 00:11:52.679 --> 00:11:56.840 terms of making investment. But the key thing here, as I mentioned, 178 00:11:56.919 --> 00:12:01.279 is the due diligence. So anybody who's applying for any of these programs needs 179 00:12:01.320 --> 00:12:05.399 to understand that not only the sources of well source of funds, but you 180 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:11.879 know, your personal background, what's in the public domain, everything that's advised 181 00:12:11.879 --> 00:12:16.440 on the forms or declared on the forms will be verified as well as final 182 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:20.000 sort of international checks, you know with Interpol, Europe, poll watch list, 183 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:22.320 sanctions list on all that good stuff. So it isn't just a question 184 00:12:22.360 --> 00:12:24.799 of here's my money, thank you very much. You don't have to go 185 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:28.559 through this process of evaluation, right right, And that's what you do. 186 00:12:28.840 --> 00:12:35.279 You help people to go through what I imagine is a real maze of regulations, 187 00:12:35.480 --> 00:12:37.799 a lot of hoops and a lot of vetting and all that kind of 188 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:41.559 stuff that has to go through, right, Yeah, absolutely. I mean 189 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:45.159 the first thing is we you know, we have our first consultation where we 190 00:12:45.240 --> 00:12:48.440 have to understand the client, make sure we understand their motivations and their needs, 191 00:12:48.440 --> 00:12:52.200 and then we can suggest which programs might be best suited. And then 192 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:54.600 we have to dig a little bit deeper into the background to make sure there 193 00:12:54.600 --> 00:12:58.799 won't be anything that would stop them qualifying. Where are you seeing people coming 194 00:12:58.840 --> 00:13:05.799 from mostly and going too in your practice, Well, I mean we're fortunate 195 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:07.240 that we you know, we've got twenty three offices around the world, so 196 00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:11.320 we're dealing with people with very different profiles. As we spoke about at the 197 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:16.440 beginning, you know, Americans weren't typically a major source market because you had 198 00:13:16.519 --> 00:13:18.080 these freedoms already. You could get on a plane and go. But if 199 00:13:18.120 --> 00:13:20.600 you were from Nigeria, if you were from Pakistan, if you were from 200 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:24.919 South Africa, you know, you need a visa to pretty well get anywhere, 201 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:28.440 right, So the mobility aspect here was key. So suddenly you were 202 00:13:28.440 --> 00:13:31.440 going, let's say from Pakistan, You're saying, if you're going from Pakistan, 203 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:33.440 and then and then froze up so you can pick up from there. 204 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:37.080 Yeah, sorry about that. So if I was going so in sitts Ina, 205 00:13:37.080 --> 00:13:41.200 Pakistan for example, can go to thirty nine countries visa free, and 206 00:13:41.320 --> 00:13:45.159 if they invest into the Caribbean, suddenly that jumps to one hundred and fifty 207 00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:48.440 seven, which includes you know, the Shanngan area, the UAE, Singapore, 208 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:52.600 places like that. So it's it's the mobility. The enhancing of mobility 209 00:13:52.679 --> 00:13:58.679 is key for people from these reasons regions, and so that's a key motivation 210 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:01.799 for them. But again, if you're you can go to those places anyway. 211 00:14:01.240 --> 00:14:07.000 The key attraction for Americans is looking to enhance their freedoms by having another 212 00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:09.320 option. So it's all about, you know, as many options as you 213 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:11.919 can, you know, in the sort of a hotile world we're living in, 214 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:16.320 and it's it's actually becoming a little bit more of a status symbol, 215 00:14:16.360 --> 00:14:20.480 you know from many Americans. You know, it's not the car you drive 216 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:22.960 or the watch on your wrist, it's you know, what passports in your 217 00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:24.960 pocket, you know, and knowing that you can access different parts of the 218 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:30.120 world with all this, So it's it's you know, it's it's becoming more 219 00:14:30.120 --> 00:14:33.639 mainstream as you spoke about at the beginning, and I think that's that's a 220 00:14:33.720 --> 00:14:37.759 key thing that as more and more people understand what the benefits are. And 221 00:14:37.799 --> 00:14:39.639 for the wealthy, you know, a couple hundred thousand dollars, they'll spend 222 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:43.799 that on a week's holiday, right. So it's whereas you know, citizenships 223 00:14:43.799 --> 00:14:46.000 for life, and this is something they can pass on to their kids, 224 00:14:46.039 --> 00:14:50.440 you know. So it's again with a lot of the family offices, we 225 00:14:50.519 --> 00:14:54.840 speak to the succession planning and making sure that you know, they've they've got 226 00:14:54.840 --> 00:14:58.840 this ankle covered. You know. It's it's a very straightforward and practical solution. 227 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:03.559 Let me because you're talking about having visa requirements and things like that and 228 00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:07.879 being able to expand that from moving from one citizenship to another one. The 229 00:15:07.960 --> 00:15:11.519 visa requirements are starting to increase, as I've noticed the United States and even 230 00:15:11.559 --> 00:15:18.320 the EU are starting to add additional visa requirements. Talk a little bit about 231 00:15:18.360 --> 00:15:22.919 that. I think the European Union is going to start having some visa requirements 232 00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:26.159 for Americans, is that right, Yeah, So they're going to have, 233 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:30.639 like many countries have an electronic travel authority if you like, so that you 234 00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:33.279 still have to you'll essentially be given it, but you have to apply right 235 00:15:33.559 --> 00:15:37.000 to show that you've been pre qualified to come in. So you have that 236 00:15:37.039 --> 00:15:39.519 in Canada, you have that for people going to the US. It's not 237 00:15:39.559 --> 00:15:43.240 an uncommon thing, but it's something that the EU is looking to roll out. 238 00:15:43.480 --> 00:15:46.759 I think they were looking to get it out this year. It's probably 239 00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:50.960 rolling into twenty twenty five now with the European Union introducing this, and I 240 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:54.759 think the rolling it out is what's causing them a lot of problems right now. 241 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:58.120 That's why it's going to it's continually getting delayed. But what it obviously 242 00:15:58.159 --> 00:16:02.559 gives them is access to data right, which is being able to track people, 243 00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:07.159 manage people, and to ensure that any party, anybody or bad actors 244 00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:10.799 or undesirables. You know, we're getting or getting picked up at these early 245 00:16:10.840 --> 00:16:15.879 stages. Now, you mentioned passing this on to your children. Talk a 246 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:18.519 little bit about that in terms of you know, we are familiar with how 247 00:16:19.879 --> 00:16:25.519 you know, we have situations with open borders and immigration and you know how 248 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:30.159 citizenship is essentially claimed or passed on here. What are the types of situations 249 00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:36.559 that you see in other countries. I mean, is it can you is 250 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:38.879 there any other country that just lets you go across the border and just kind 251 00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:41.840 of hang out or you know, like we do here, or is everybody 252 00:16:41.879 --> 00:16:47.480 else kind of policing their borders I imagine, right, yeah, I mean 253 00:16:47.480 --> 00:16:51.679 it's getting tighter and tighter. And one of the things why the very very 254 00:16:51.720 --> 00:16:53.919 popular even though it's the most it's it's very expensive, you know, at 255 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:57.919 about a million euro which is non recoverable. It gives you access to the 256 00:16:57.919 --> 00:17:00.799 European Union and the core all the settlement rights, so even though you're a 257 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:03.599 citizen of Malta, you could go, you know, live, work, 258 00:17:03.680 --> 00:17:07.640 study, retire in any of the other member states. So that's attractive to 259 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:11.319 many people, especially an America and who says, well, I want to 260 00:17:11.400 --> 00:17:14.480 like for like you know, so you know, the Caribbean is great, 261 00:17:14.519 --> 00:17:21.640 but it's not necessarily the lifestyle that I want and or having access to resources. 262 00:17:21.920 --> 00:17:25.640 So that's why Europe is always an attractive alternative. But not everybody you 263 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:29.000 know, has the has the funds to do it. So the Caribbeans a 264 00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:33.519 nice sort of happy, happy medium. It's also geographically much closer familiar to 265 00:17:33.559 --> 00:17:37.759 many people, and you know, which is why it's a very popular option. 266 00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:41.960 Especially because the processing is also much quicker, takes abound six six to 267 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:44.839 eight months, give or take, whereas Malta is going to take about eighteen 268 00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:48.559 months. And so when somebody gets a citizenship legitimately legally in one of these 269 00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:52.200 countries, they can pass that on to their children generally, I imagine there's 270 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:56.759 some Yeah, So basically, if you are let's say it was you know, 271 00:17:56.839 --> 00:17:57.920 your nuclear family, mom, dad to kids, you know, the 272 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:02.759 kids would get it and that's not an issue. In some cases, you 273 00:18:02.759 --> 00:18:07.240 can include a sibling if they're unmarried and have no kids. You can include 274 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:11.920 your parents or your grandparents. You know. The family unit or the definition 275 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:15.920 of a family unit can be expanded to allow more people to be included on 276 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:21.440 one application. So there's each country has its own rules and how they define 277 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:25.920 independent, but they're trying to be as competitive as possible to include as many 278 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:29.559 people as they can. So let me ask you about reciprocity. You know 279 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:33.799 we've been talking about in the legal process. Here is if an American wants 280 00:18:33.799 --> 00:18:40.720 to get on a raft Caribbean or whatever, is there are they is that 281 00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:42.000 a thing that is happening in their country. I mean, we see that 282 00:18:42.039 --> 00:18:45.480 happening in the EU. We see it happening in the US extensively. Is 283 00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:49.720 that anything that's happening in the other direction or do they clamp down on that 284 00:18:49.799 --> 00:18:55.480 extensively. Yeah, it's really not really, I mean, you're right, 285 00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:59.319 you know, people coming into the US. The UK is having a big 286 00:18:59.319 --> 00:19:03.160 issue with that right right now, with people coming over from Mainland and Europe 287 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:07.519 on boats and then arriving in the United Kingdom. Europe of course has had 288 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:11.279 that for many years, in particular with people starting their journeys in North Africa 289 00:19:11.400 --> 00:19:15.039 and you know, typically ending up in the southern tip of Italy. So 290 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:22.880 there's a lot of challenges around that. Again, it's a reinforcement of the 291 00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:29.400 amount of migration that goes on around the world, whether through displaced people or 292 00:19:29.559 --> 00:19:33.599 the wealthy people are moving around, you know. But yeah, in terms 293 00:19:33.640 --> 00:19:37.359 of you know, the profile a person we're speaking to, you know, 294 00:19:37.400 --> 00:19:41.079 they're looking to give themselves as many options should they need them, because not 295 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:45.039 everybody. You know, someone may have a citizenship in the Caribbean and they 296 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:45.680 say, yeah, it's great, I'm going to pop down. They maybe 297 00:19:45.680 --> 00:19:48.559 buy a house and hang out, you know a couple of months or a 298 00:19:48.599 --> 00:19:51.160 couple of weeks of the year, especially when it gets cold, let's say 299 00:19:51.160 --> 00:19:53.839 in up North, and then that's good enough for them. But for other 300 00:19:53.880 --> 00:19:57.000 people it's they want to actually move, they want to settle there, they 301 00:19:57.039 --> 00:20:00.200 want to live there, they want to raise their family there. So it 302 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:03.319 goes back to my earlier point that you know, we need to understand the 303 00:20:03.319 --> 00:20:07.039 client and what the motivations are and then we can see what program is best 304 00:20:07.079 --> 00:20:11.400 suited for them. When somebody wants to establish residency, I mean, how 305 00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:17.079 complicated is that? Do they just need to Is there a legal process that 306 00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:19.559 you help people with with that if they don't get citizenship? Are there still 307 00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:26.079 issues preventing them from buying property or something like that in many of these places, 308 00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:30.880 Yeah, you tend to have. You know, in some countries it's 309 00:20:30.920 --> 00:20:33.839 called an alien landholding tax, or they'll have additional taxes for non citizens if 310 00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:38.480 you're looking to go into buy varies from country to country. Many people understand 311 00:20:38.519 --> 00:20:42.559 the concept of buying real estate, so those programs have been quite popular, 312 00:20:42.920 --> 00:20:47.559 but it's you know, the residency, of course, is there. It's 313 00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:51.559 not for life. You've got to knew it or you've got to upgrade listenship. 314 00:20:51.799 --> 00:20:55.880 That's why a lot of people like listenship programs because it is for life. 315 00:20:56.039 --> 00:20:59.960 Yeah. Yeah. Let me ask you another thing too about since we're 316 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:07.359 we're talking thinking momentarily here about the you know, kind of reciprocity Americans going 317 00:21:07.400 --> 00:21:11.680 to other countries like that, is there anything in these other countries for political 318 00:21:11.680 --> 00:21:15.279 asylum for somebody that is coming from Europe or Canada or the United States or 319 00:21:15.319 --> 00:21:19.720 something. Do any of them have political asylum programs or is that absolutely? 320 00:21:21.319 --> 00:21:23.279 Yeah? I mean all countries, most countries. I mean that you look 321 00:21:23.319 --> 00:21:27.599 at places like Canada, the United States, European countries, the UK will 322 00:21:27.640 --> 00:21:33.319 all, you know, look to take a certain amount of asylum seekers or 323 00:21:33.400 --> 00:21:37.599 refugees there per year. The biggest challenge, of course, is determining are 324 00:21:37.640 --> 00:21:42.839 they genuine right, and so they'll have their own different protocols to establish that. 325 00:21:42.920 --> 00:21:47.720 You know, there was the Safe Third Country agreement between Canada the US 326 00:21:47.720 --> 00:21:49.720 for a while, which has been been adjusted. But you know, they're 327 00:21:49.720 --> 00:21:56.039 making sure that they can understand quickly is this a genuine refugee because part of 328 00:21:56.039 --> 00:22:00.200 the strategy in the past was that they would you know, get on a 329 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.799 plane, flush the passport down, the toilet turn up and say, you 330 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:06.519 know, the only mm hmmm hm the system for four or five years, 331 00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:11.279 right until they can be adjudicated upon. So that's that's something a lot of 332 00:22:11.319 --> 00:22:15.839 these countries are looking to tidy up. But with the amount of displaced people 333 00:22:17.079 --> 00:22:22.160 and pressures in developing countries, it's becoming you know, quite you know, 334 00:22:22.279 --> 00:22:25.480 quite the issue to be able to manage. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 335 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:27.799 And it's pretty easy for people in a war torn country to try to make 336 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:32.680 a case for political even though they don't always get it. I would imagine 337 00:22:32.680 --> 00:22:36.200 it'd be a lot harder for somebody that is, you know, coming from 338 00:22:36.200 --> 00:22:38.559 the United States to try to make a case for a political asylum to go 339 00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:44.039 to you know, one of these other and I would imagine that perhaps it 340 00:22:44.039 --> 00:22:48.160 wouldn't even be considered in most countries that would be politically friendly to the United 341 00:22:48.200 --> 00:22:52.920 States. Is that true? Yeah, I mean, it's the the to 342 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:56.640 define you know, being a person at risk and therefore eligible for asylum. 343 00:22:56.680 --> 00:23:02.400 It's quite a high bar to hit. And you know the United States, 344 00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:07.640 someone's saying, oh, I'm being politically persecuted for my beliefs. It's again 345 00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:11.559 many people, you know, it's hard to say ready to be hard, 346 00:23:11.559 --> 00:23:14.319 to have that prove them so a bit. Some people will try it on. 347 00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:17.960 Of course they won't, right, And you know, we've seen examples 348 00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:22.400 where people have tried, I think more of a pr stunt than anything else, 349 00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:23.680 you know, to say, you know, I want to be considered. 350 00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.640 But you know, it takes away from genuine refugees who have yeah in 351 00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:32.200 other countries. Yeah, we just had a case here I was talking about 352 00:23:32.200 --> 00:23:37.400 earlier where there was a family coming from Germany, homeschooling family, and they 353 00:23:37.400 --> 00:23:41.039 were given asylum about ten years ago because the Germans is going to take away 354 00:23:41.960 --> 00:23:45.119 there were Christians. They want homeschool the kids. Germans are going to take 355 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:48.359 away their kids. They got asylum here, but because the change in political 356 00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:52.759 regime, the Biden administration decided that they wanted to deport them, so that 357 00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:56.960 became something of an issue. So that's always the case. And I guess 358 00:23:56.960 --> 00:24:02.119 if you get political asylum somewhere, it's always uh subject to the whims of 359 00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:04.640 whatever the current political regime is. I guess it's kind of a shaking right 360 00:24:04.680 --> 00:24:10.000 absolutely, it's you know, and I've I've worked with with people with his 361 00:24:10.079 --> 00:24:12.000 profile in the past, and you know, when you're speaking to a genuine 362 00:24:12.039 --> 00:24:15.799 asylum seeker or a genuine refugee, I mean you understand the difference. You 363 00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:19.559 know, what they've gone through and how they should be afforded protection as opposed 364 00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:22.759 to some people who are just sort of trying it on and hoping for the 365 00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:26.799 best because you know, for people like you and I, it's unimaginable. 366 00:24:27.119 --> 00:24:32.839 Yeah, yeah it is. And so you know, if somebody can afford 367 00:24:32.920 --> 00:24:34.720 to do it, it is certainly going to be going up quite a bit 368 00:24:34.920 --> 00:24:37.480 in just the next few months, are going to be doubling it. So 369 00:24:37.640 --> 00:24:44.599 there's a there's always seems like there's a constantly closing window on all these different 370 00:24:44.599 --> 00:24:47.640 things that are happening everywhere. Even if it is open for you at this 371 00:24:47.720 --> 00:24:49.839 point in time, it may be closing pretty soon. Is there anything else 372 00:24:49.880 --> 00:24:55.279 that you would tell us that we didn't cover about this that I think people 373 00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:56.640 be interesting? I mean, you touch, you touched on a good point. 374 00:24:56.680 --> 00:25:00.799 Because Kinada just you know, closed up their self employed category with a 375 00:25:00.839 --> 00:25:04.160 day's notice. You know, Ireland and the UK have done similar things. 376 00:25:04.720 --> 00:25:10.400 Portugal change their program, So there's there's you're right if you qualify today and 377 00:25:10.440 --> 00:25:12.319 it's something you want to do, you know, don't delay too long because 378 00:25:12.359 --> 00:25:15.640 the goalpost could change, and you know, we're expecting, you know, 379 00:25:15.720 --> 00:25:19.640 potentially changes the government in the United Kingdom, in Canada, and the United 380 00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:22.839 States this year, right, so that could change, you know, the 381 00:25:23.119 --> 00:25:26.960 direction of those three countries and therefore the immigration policies as well. You know, 382 00:25:27.079 --> 00:25:30.839 we're also seeing pressures from the European Union in the Caribbean and in other 383 00:25:30.920 --> 00:25:37.640 jurisdictions, so again that could impact their policy making decisions as it relates to 384 00:25:37.640 --> 00:25:41.240 immigration. And as we've seen in the US, immigration is always a key 385 00:25:41.799 --> 00:25:45.720 political topic when it comes to elections. So my advice to people is, 386 00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:48.440 if you qualified today, you know, get it done. It's in your 387 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:51.039 back pocket. You know you've got it. You know, better to have 388 00:25:51.119 --> 00:25:52.039 it and not need it than need it and not have it, right, 389 00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:56.200 So get that done tucked away, and then if things change, then at 390 00:25:56.279 --> 00:26:00.359 least you've you've taken care of yourself and your family. Yeah. Yeah, 391 00:26:00.440 --> 00:26:03.680 certainly, we don't see freedom increasing anywhere in the globe and everybody it seems 392 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:07.279 to be closing everything down. So if you've got any plans, now's the 393 00:26:07.319 --> 00:26:12.440 time to make your preparations. Because it seems like globally everything is shutting down. 394 00:26:12.480 --> 00:26:15.599 Even in the Caribbean, they're shutting stuff down. That's amazing. But 395 00:26:15.799 --> 00:26:21.079 it's very interesting to talk to you about that. And thank you so much 396 00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:30.240 for what you do. Christopher willis again Latitude Caribbean and Latitude Consultancy and tell 397 00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:33.079 us your website here. I'm looking at the website and a Latitude world dot 398 00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:37.079 com. Is that the best place to find you. We're looking for absolutely 399 00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:41.799 latitudeworld dot com. You go into the team, you'll find my details. 400 00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:44.480 Please reach out and be happy to have a conversation to see how we can 401 00:26:44.519 --> 00:26:45.960 help you. That's great, Thank you very much, Chris. Great talking 402 00:26:45.960 --> 00:27:03.200 to you. Very interesting. The David Night Show is a critical thinking super 403 00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:10.799 spreader. If you've been exposed to logic by listening to The David Night Show, 404 00:27:11.759 --> 00:27:18.440 please do your part and try not to spread it. Financial support or 405 00:27:18.519 --> 00:27:27.519 simply telling others about the show causes this dangerous information to spread. Father people 406 00:27:27.759 --> 00:27:34.480 have to trust me, I mean, trust the science. Wear you mask, 407 00:27:36.119 --> 00:27:45.799 take your vaccine, don't ask questions using free speech to free minds. 408 00:27:47.440 --> 00:27:49.960 It's The David Night Show.