A second home for the rich-but-dubious

Every year, several thousand people spend a combined $2bn or more on buying a second citizenship.

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Trump: would you buy a second passport from this "funny character"?
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Imagine you're a Chinese entrepreneur or an Arab sheikh. You've made your millions, but are worried that the state could confiscate your wealth, or in the case of the sheikh, the government itself could fall. So what do you do? One answer is to become a "citizen of the world" and buy a second passport. Indeed, between 30 and 40 countries have active economic-citizenship or residence programmes, and another 60 have provisions for one in law, says Matthew Valencia in 1843 magazine. Every year, several thousand people spend a combined $2bn or more on adding a passport or residence permit to their collection.

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