JUNE 2012 |
www.opp.org.uk WORDS | John Howell
Who needs a visa? I
n response to the worsening economic climate, countries are looking very carefully at who they will allow in. Yet many people retiring are looking to retire further from home (outside the ‘visa free’ zone) and many residents in China and the Indian subcontinent see the ability to obtain a residence visa as one of the key criteria when deciding where to buy their international property. As a result, OPP is going to be
running a series of articles explaining the basics of what visas are available in which countries and how to obtain them. They are intended to give you enough knowledge to enable you to have a sensible preliminary discussion with potential buyers about a subject that is going to be very important to them. These articles will start in next
month’s edition of OPP Magazine. They will also be available for download by OPP Connect members in the Info Zone at
www.opp-connect.com. In preparation for this series, last week I telephoned six major international estate agencies: two in the UK, one in the US, one in Spain, one in France and one in Turkey. These were blind calls asking for initial information. Not one of the agencies had anybody who knew anything about visas – though one pretended to and gave some preliminary ‘advice’ which, if followed, would have been catastrophic for the buyer concerned. As a result, I thought that, before the series started, it would be worth a short
introduction to the whole concept of visas and restrictions on travel. These are a relatively new concept. Immigration to the United States was not regulated at all until 1875. The UK only introduced a system of immigration controls in 1905. Australia, in 1901, introduced its notorious White Australia Policy and it was not until 1932 that France passed its fi rst law establishing quotas for immigrants. Since then, the position has become more restrictive and more complicated with almost every passing year. Recent examples of this increasing complexity are the changes in the investor visa rules introduced in the US, the restrictions about to be introduced on the right to live in Switzerland, the restrictions already existing in Turkey and the recent changes to UK policy concerning the admission of students. A further complication for those wishing to understand visas is that different countries use different terminology to describe the same thing. For example, the ‘visa’ needed to enter Turkey or Cape Verde is bought at the airport: basically an entry tax rather than a system of entry control. In other countries, the visa is the document that gets you past immigration control. If you do not have the right type of visa you will not be allowed in. Elsewhere, the visa is yout permit to stay in the country rather than the paperwork that permit you to enter. In technical legal terms, a visa is an endorsement on a passport or travel document confi rming that the document
is in order and permitting the person concerned to enter or travel through the country that issued the visa. Forgetting these diffence in terminoogy, the visa (in its broadest sense) is a critical document for people wanting to buy property. There are fi ve main types of visa that will be of concern or interest to buyers. The categories vary a little from country to country but these main principles usually apply:
Visas for tourism or short term visits There are usually several types of such visas. Some people may not need
“The visa in its broadest sense is a critical document for people wanting to buy property”
one at all (for example, EU citizens travelling within the EU) or they may be exempted from the requirement for a visa by means of a visa waiver agreement between the country in which they live and the country they’re visiting (for example, many English or French people visiting the US). Other people will need to apply for a document permitting them to enter the country. In this article I will call this document a visa. Usually, you have to apply for the visa
Flying high | Obtaining a visa can prove just the ticket for property investors
before you leave your own country and, almost always, it is obtained from the consulate, in your country, of the country you’re going to be visiting. In other cases, the visa can be applied for at the border. Sometimes there are different categories of short term visas. For example, visas for tourists, visas for business travel and transit visas merely permitting you to pass through the country. Usually, short term visas permit you to stay in a country for no more than 90 days or three months. In many countries they can be extended provided that you can prove to the authorities that your visit is a short term visit and you are not trying to work in the country or settle in the country. Just because the visa is short term does not necessarily mean thatit is easy to obtain.
BUSINESS
Developer profi le
VISAS | 53
The issue of visas is climbing to the top of the international property agenda. The subject had fallen away as more countries joined the European Union and other countries relaxed their entry criteria ... making visas necessary in far fewer cases. All this is now changing.
1. Student visas
Most countries admit genuine students on very favourable terms. This is because they recognise that students not only tend to love the country where they studied (which is good for your long term foreign relations policy) but they also tend to spend a lot of money while they’re studying.
2. Working visas
These are often divided into two categories: one for people who wish to work as a paid employee and another for people who wish to run their own business. In most countries, it’s pretty tricky to get a visa to work because they want to preserve available jobs for their own citizens. You normally have to show that you have skills that are not available amongst the local people. Obtaining a visa to start your own business is usually easier. In either case you need expert advice to make sure that you meet, precisely, the requirements of the visa.
3. Settlement visas
These fall into several categories. There are usually visas to allow a person to join his/her spouse in the country or young children to join their parents. There are often visas to allow people who are not working to retire to the country. however, there are a number of countries (including the US) where this is not simple/permitted. Settlement visas can be easy or
diffi cult to obtain, depending on your personal circumstances and the country in question.
4. Investor visas
Some countries permit a person to live in the country solely on the basis that they’ve made a signifi cant cash investment in the country, so creating employment opportunities. In fact, there are usually many other categories of visa. When I last looked there were about 100 separate categories for the US. This means that a person who is keen to live in a particular country can often fi nd a basis for doing so, especially if they have a bit of money.
This is the most general of introductions to the subject. For more details, see the articles that will appear in the coming months.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68