Investment Migration from the Standpoint of International and EU Law

Abstract

Investment migration programmes are used by over eighty states globally and pose serious security and criminal risks. Their existence is additionally complex in the EU, as EU citizenship opens up its internal market and grants a set of political rights. Relying predominantly on the normative-legal method, the authors analyse the compatibility of investment migration with international and EU law. The purpose of this analysis is twofold. First, it determines whether national autonomy in citizenship matters is subject to limitations by international and EU law since they impact the legality of investment migration. Second, implications of the Nottebohm case are analysed to determine the relevance of the genuine link criterion for the international recognition of nationality. It was concluded that the genuine link criterion does not affect the legality of investment migration in international and EU law. Instead, legality is achieved if investment migration programmes comply with rules on combating corruption, money laundering, and tax evasion. While authors give due regard to the autonomy of EU law, the need to avoid the danger of the “vertical aspect” of international law fragmentation, i.e., incoherence between EU and international law, and to avoid the creation of an imbalanced legal environment is considered a priority.

Keywords

• investment migration
• citizenship by investment
• residence by investment
• international law
• european union
• nationality
• genuine link
• eu citizenship
• sincere cooperation