The Guardian

Citizenship for sale: how tycoons can go shopping for a new passport

Citizenship-by-investment programmes offer the super-rich an opportunity to acquire a new nationality
Roman Abramovich gained Israeli citizenship after experiencing delays in renewing his expired UK visa Photograph: Anton Novoderezhkin/Tass

It’s the must-have accessory for every self-respecting 21st-century oligarch, and a good many mere multimillionaires: a second – and sometimes a third or even a fourth – passport.

Israel, which helped Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich out of a spot of bother this week by granting him citizenship after delays in renewing his expired UK visa, offers free nationality to any Jewish person wishing to move there.

But there are as many as two dozen other countries, including several in the EU, where someone with the financial resources of the Chelsea football club owner could acquire a new nationality for a price: the global

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