Malta’s ‘golden passports’ ruled illegal by EU court, as Trump woos wealthy investors to US
Malta’s “golden passports” programme for wealthy investors violates European Union rules on citizenship, the bloc’s top court ruled in a case that could have transformed the EU into a haven for affluent foreigners at a time when President Donald Trump wants to entice them to the US.
The tiny island nation’s offer, which granted nationality to investors, among them Russian and Middle Eastern tycoons, celebrities and sports stars, contravenes EU law, the European Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday.
An EU nation “cannot grant its nationality – and indeed European citizenship – in exchange for predetermined payments or investments, as this essentially amounts to rendering the acquisition of nationality a mere commercial transaction,” the Luxembourg-based EU court said.
President Trump has recently made moves to entice rich foreign investors stateside. The so-called “Trump Gold Card” offers residency and a path to citizenship to investors who pay US$5 million to the US treasury. US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has claimed the government sold more than 1,000 visas on a single day in March.
Malta’s investor citizenship programme, meanwhile, has allowed individuals to obtain citizenship so they can live and work there, with a minimum donation of €600,000 (US$684,400). The required investments also include buying a house, and voluntary donations are encouraged. As an EU nation, Maltese passports grant holders the freedom to live and work anywhere inside the 27-member bloc.
The Mediterranean island is one of a handful of European countries that have over recent years offered golden visas and passports, which gained popularity during the European debt crisis when nations started selling residency to attract foreign investment.
Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Hungary had in recent years also launched such programmes for the wealthy to get their hands on much-prized EU freedom of movement. But the offerings caused uproar from the European Commission – the bloc’s executive arm – which claimed cash-for-citizenship policies expose the EU to money laundering and security risks.
In September 2022, the Brussels-based authority filed a legal challenge against Malta’s programme, claiming that “granting EU citizenship in return for predetermined payments” is “not compatible with the principle of sincere cooperation enshrined” in the bloc’s rules.
Tuesday’s judgment is at odds with the non-binding opinion of an adviser to the EU tribunal, who said last year that it was for EU countries themselves to “determine who is entitled to be one of their nationals and, as a consequence, who is an EU citizen.”
