Saudi Arabia

Increase in demand for second passports among Saudi expats

Expatriates living in Saudi Arabia are more interested than ever in obtaining second passports, according to new data from Dubai-headquartered immigration firm Citizenship Invest (CI).

In an interview with Arab News, CEO Veronica Cotdemiey said that in the second half of 2020, interest among expats in the Kingdom in obtaining a second passport through various investment schemes increased 46 percent.

CI said Libyan expats in Saudi Arabia were the biggest group looking for a second citizenship, followed by Syrians, Indians, Iraqis, Lebanese, Yemenis and Egyptians.

The top three most popular programs selected by expats in Saudi Arabia were St. Kitts & Nevis with 46 percent of the applications, the Commonwealth of Dominica with 21 percent, and Vanuatu with 18 percent.

Other countries include Grenada, which made up 6.28 percent of applications, Portugal (3.43 percent), St. Lucia (2.86 percent) and Antigua (1.14 percent).

The desire to obtain a second passport is not a new phenomenon in the Middle East. In 2019, Arabian Business Magazine reported that nearly one-third of respondents to a global online survey by Arton Capital, a Canadian firm that specializes in global residency and citizenship investor programs, said that they had acquired citizenship of a country other than their country of origin, or planned to do so.

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Arab News

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