Concierge Golden Visa Service

Due to their ability to expand business and lifestyle opportunities and extend market reach, golden visas are the key to optimizing a high-net-worth portfolio. Acquiring a golden visa is the best possible insurance policy against economic and political risk in a volatile world. In addition to enabling global mobility, golden visa programs give wealthy individuals the option of physically relocating to a more favorable jurisdiction and accessing full residence rights, including the right to live, work, study, and receive healthcare in that country.

An Overview of Golden Visas

In its most basic form, golden visa acquisition, or residence by investment and citizenship by investment, denotes the process whereby qualified, vetted candidates are granted either full residence or citizenship rights in exchange for a defined economic contribution to the host country. Golden visa programs give high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) the option of physically relocating to a favorable jurisdiction — either now or upon retirement — and becoming residents of that state with full legal rights, including the right to live, work, study, and receive healthcare in that country.

Benefits of Holding a Golden Visa

A golden visa provides investors and their families with access to new markets and a host of business, career, educational, healthcare, tax, and lifestyle opportunities on a worldwide scale, for both present and future generations. Many golden visa programs allow the successful applicant to apply for citizenship after a few years of residence.

Providing increased optionality worldwide along with the ability to hedge against potential risk and volatility, golden visas allow HNWIs and their families to:

  • Secure an alternative safe haven

  • Enrich and expand their lifestyle and business opportunities

  • Enjoy a high quality of life and access to excellent infrastructure

  • Access world-class healthcare at leading facilities

  • Attend first-rate educational institutions

Golden Visa Programs

Shay Ventures specializes in residence and citizenship by investment and facilitate the acquisition of golden visas (residence programs) in United States (US EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program) and The Bahamas. Our specialist private client advisors guide hundreds of investors and their families each year on their journeys to acquiring alternative residence and citizenship solutions.

Requirements for Acquiring a Golden Visa

Investment options depend on the specific program’s requirements; however, real estate is the most popular option among investors. International real estate has always been a reliable asset class for global investors due to its long-term staying power. Real estate–linked golden visa programs have the additional advantage of enhancing one’s options for relocation or retirement (or both), alongside the tried-and-tested benefits of investment in international real estate. The potential gains over the lifetime of this kind of hybrid investment include the core value of the asset, rental yields, and global access as an ultimate hedge against market and political volatility.

Most golden visa programs also include a residence requirement, meaning that new residents need to spend a certain amount of time in the country to maintain residence status.

Gold Visa: Bahamas

The Bahamas is an independent Caribbean island nation with its own government. It was a British crown colony until 1973 when it gained independence. As a result, Common Law governs the land, and English is the official language. The Bahamas is one of the wealthiest countries in the Caribbean, and it is home to a large number of Western expats. The Bahamas government allows foreign investors to apply for residency in exchange for investment in The Bahamas.

The Bahamas Residency By Investment (aka Bahamas Golden Visa) program grants permanent residency to approved applicants and their families. Foreigners may apply for citizenship after ten years of residence in the Bahamas. 

Applicants for The Bahamas Golden Visa Program must invest in either real estate or a business operation. The Bahamas have a $500,000 minimum investment requirement, but the authorities give real estate investments of at least $1,500,000 priority. The investment must be kept for the duration of the visitor’s stay in the region.

The Bahamas has one of the most friendly tax systems in the world. Personal income and most types of corporate income are not taxed in the country. The Bahamas passport is the best in the Caribbean, allowing visa-free travel to the Schengen region of Europe and visa-free travel to the United States.

Investment Incentives

The attractiveness of a low-tax environment and a stable currency are enhanced by a series of investment incentives that provide relief from customs duties on approved raw materials, equipment and building supplies, as well as allowing exemptions from real property taxes for up to 20 years.

The following incentives are open to any qualifying individual or firm:

  • The Hotels Encouragement Act — Provides duty free entry of approved construction materials, furnishings and fixtures for hotel development as well as provides for exemption/concession from real property tax for the first twenty years of operation of a hotel/resort.   Hotels with as few as four guest rooms on a Family Island and those with a minimum of ten rooms in New Providence qualify for concessions under the Hotels Encouragement Act. The act has been amended to also include shops and restaurants, which have a touristic component, and entertainment facilities.

  • The Industries Encouragement Act — Provides duty-free concessions for the importation of machinery, raw materials and building supplies for manufacturing entities in addition to exemption from Real Property Tax for a 15 year period. Duty free concessions for applicants is valid for the first five years of operation. Thereafter, applicants would be required to pay a reduced rate of duty (10%) on all approved materials and equipment imported.

  • The Bahamas Vacation Plan and Time Sharing Act — Provides duty-free concessions for building supplies for the construction of timeshare facilities.

  • The Free Trade Zones Act — Designates areas within The Bahamas as free industrial and commercial zones.

  • The Tariff Act — Allows for customs duty exemption on specified raw materials, supplies and equipment for Agriculture, Floriculture, Horticulture, Fisheries, Forestry, Cottage and Light Industries, and Commercial Printing.

  • The Export Manufacturing Industries, Encouragement Act, The Agricultural Manufactories Act, The Spirits and Beer Manufacture Act — Investment incentives under these acts include exemption from the payment of customs duties on building materials, equipment and approved raw materials and real property taxes for periods up to 20 years.

  • The City Of Nassau Revitalization Act — Provides incentives and duty concessions in connection with the restoration, repair and upgrade of buildings, commercial and residential, in the City of Nassau.

  • The Family Island Development Encouragement Act — Provides duty concessions on the importation of building materials, equipment and supplies for commercial and/or residential developments on specified Family Islands.