Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Owing your government several million dollars in back taxes or being indicted for fraud can be a strong incentive. Living in the US or some other western country is not always milk and honey, and these countries' citizenship sales are directed at a certain clientele that is moire than willing and able to pay for them. Especially since the US IRS has imposed banking regulations that have effectively ended all banking secrecy on Earth, now a US colony.
Still think for $300k, one can get a better passport than a Cambodian one?
If i could keep my Dutch passport i might consider it for $300, not $300k.
Ha! That would be a hell of a deal since you'd pay that much in visa fees to go there a half dozen times.
Cambodia is starting to see a a decent amount of tourist economy investment, not unlike Vietnam before it and Thailand before that. The resorts popping up around Sihanoukville alone are significant, including a large number of stupidly big Chinese-built casinos (well out of proportion to the existing local population, even when including tourists, and rumored in some circles to be money laundering operations). I can see how things like this could significantly raise the value of a Cambodian passport, particularly since the government still has more than a bit of a wild west mentality there. If you have a lot of sketchily acquired money to stash somewhere, or even if you are legitimately making a large speculation on future tourism, $300K might be well worth it. Honestly 1,500 people in four years seems like such a tiny number that I don't even know why we're talking about it, at any price.
There’s an international trend among some cash strapped third world countries to sell citizenship especially in the Caribbean. 300k is a lot of cash and beyond the pocket book of most people. What’s the advantage especially in underdeveloped Cambodia?
I’m guessing there’s probably some questionable activity going on with some people. Perhaps money laundering for people trying to avoid taxes in the US and Europe. And the international drug trade might find Cambodia attractive to park their cash.
For anybody who isn't familiar with getting citizenship in another country, this ~$300,000 is for a kind of naturalization path commonly known as citizenship by investment. If you're getting citizenship through another path, like marriage or long-term naturalization, you don't have to pay that kind of money.
$300,000 seems high, but it's an investment. If you do your homework and feel the investment is worth it, why not go for it?
There’s an international trend among some cash strapped third world countries to sell citizenship especially in the Caribbean.
That's certainly not limited to cash strapped third world countries. You can buy a passport in the US, Switzerland, Australia, or just about anywhere else for the right "investment" price, too.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.