European Commission Expresses Concerns On Non-EU Citizenship Programs With Visa-Free Schengen Access

The European Union may restrict visa-free travel for citizens of non-member states that offer citizenship to investors, grants visas and residence permits.

In a recent report, the European Commission (EC) has expressed concerns about the security risks posed by investor citizenship schemes operated by visa-free third countries, which could enable nationals of other visa-required third countries to circumvent the EU short-stay visa procedure. To address these concerns, the EC has revised the suspension mechanism for visa-free travel, which allows the temporary reintroduction of visa requirements for third-country nationals in case of migration or security risks. The EC has also monitored the compliance of visa-liberalized countries with the benchmarks for visa-free travel and citizenship policy. These actions could have significant implications for non-EU countries with citizenship-by-investment programs that enjoy visa-free Schengen access and which commercially