EU Residency Programme via Business Investment -2014

The BBCU has launched a special project to help Ukraine citizens to acquire residency status in a mainland EU country during 2014. Ukraine citizens are required to invest in an EU based business that has been approved by government.

The investment leads to:
1. Automatic provision of a 5-Year EU Temporary Residents Permit
2. Spouse and young family members included
3. Followed by a 5-Year EU Permanent Residents Permit

Minimum investment including all government fees and lawyer’s fees is just
EUR 49,875.
Property purchase is NOT required.

Only citizens of Ukraine may apply.

Further details: Tel: +380 67 444 1381
Email: gerald.bowers@bbcu.com.ua

British Passports - For Sale - If you have £1 million or more.

This has been a matter of concern for me and most other right thinking British expatriates for a long time.

If you are Russian and you have £1 million or more you can buy your way into the UK and obtain a British Passport very quickly.

Very unfair for expat British passport holders who wish to return to the UK and are married to a non-EU citizen. More on that later.

A British Tier 1 (Investor) visa allows wealthy foreigners to fly into London if they have £1 million or more of their own money. They need to invest £750,000 of this into British government bonds, share capital of a company or even just loan capital in an active British company. In return they will obtain residency for their dependent family members also and retain control of their money. If the investment remains in the UK the ‘investor’ can then obtain permanent residency and after 5 years a British passport. Moreover, for those who can invest £5m or even £10m the waiting time for permanent residency and a British nationality is reduced to 3 years and then 1 year for the really big investor.

Some critics of the evil empire (oh sorry I meant Russia), claim that the vast amount of Russian money in London is having an impact on decision making by the British government regarding the introduction of sanctions against Russia in response to the attacks on Ukraine and the invasion of Crimea. But to be fair I recently read an analysis which showed Russian investors to be only around 1% of activity in the ‘City of London’. But I think we all know there are a lot of rich Russians now living permanently in the UK and mainly in London.

One of the greatest benefits from obtaining an investor visa is that there are no English language requirements. No tests are required. So provided you have £1m plus you can get into the country and be awarded a residents permit without uttering a word of English.

The unfairness of this system is mind boggling. A foreigner can enter the UK with his/her family without any restrictions if they have a £1m + investor visa. But a British citizen who has been living abroad for many years and married to a ‘Non-EU Citizen’, will face many barriers when he/she is seeking to enter the UK with his spouse for permanent settlement. British citizens must be able to show a minimum income of £18600 per annum from a job based in the UK or show significant savings to ensure their spouse will not be a burden of the state. The amount increases if they have dependent children. Moreover this income level must be shown to have been achieved for at least six months before the spouse is allowed to join the British citizen in the UK. What the UK government will also fail to take into account is any income generated within the EU or rest of the world.  So take for example the case of Steven and Sarah* who have been living in the UAE for the past 8 years. Steven is a British citizen and Sarah is a Canadian passport holder. They have built up a successful business in Dubai which produces an annual personal income to them of over $50,000 (£29500) They can still own and control the business even when they live back in the UK, but the current rules say they cannot enter the UK. Income must be earned in the UK only. )* names have been changed)

There is a great conflict between British law and EU law and both laws are not good for the British citizen who wishes to live in the UK with his Non-EU spouse. However, if the same British passport holder was a citizen of another EU country then life gets much easier.  Any citizen and his/her family from an EU country can enter the UK to find work or stay permanently without any questions from the UK Immigration Authorities. Is it any wonder that many British passport holders seeking to return to the UK are obtaining citizenship from other EU countries first.   Ireland is one friendly EU country who helps to do this.

Take another example. Peter and Tanya (not their real names). Peter is British and has lived in Ukraine for over 10 years. He married Tanya a Ukraine citizen in 2006. Ukraine is a non-EU country.  They live in Kyiv but have decided to relocate to the north of England. Peter does not have any job or business in the UK at present but he intends to set up his own business on return. Until he can show his income is at least £18600 per year, Tanya will not be allowed to join him in the UK. However let’s say for example that Tanya was married to a man from Poland, an EU country, they would both be able to enter the UK without any questions.

Let’s face it we all know that the British government introduced these new restrictions to reduce the high number of so called British citizens from bringing their wives/husbands and children into the UK from Asian countries and being a drain on state benefits, schools, hospitals etc. (Note that I can be non PC.) J   But the system has affected the wrong people as usual.

The British are not the only ones to offer investor visas. Two faced British people are quick to criticise other countries like Bulgaria, Spain, Malta, Cyprus and Latvia for introducing investor visa systems. These are all EU countries and a passport from one of these countries entitles the holder to go and reside in ANY EU country including the United Kingdom.

There are far too many Russians living in London and the rest of the UK already via the investor visa route. So my advice is, why not jump on the band wagon if you have £1m or more and go to live in the UK. If the British government are low enough to grant so many visas to Russians they will do it for anyone.

Personally I would recommend Cyprus as the best country for an investor visa leading to citizenship. Please contact me should you need further details. J

gerald.bowers@bbcu.com.ua

Inauguration of a New President - Ukraine

Tomorrow Saturday 7th June 2014 the country will witness the inauguration
of the 5th president of Ukraine. After securing over 53% of the vote in the first round
Petro Poroshenko a well known billionaire businessman will be sworn into office.

Who would have thought that change would come about so quickly in Ukraine.
The majority of people in Ukraine achieved victory by removing the previous
president who proved to be a corrupt criminal who stole billions from the state.

The people have high expectations from Poroshenko. Being the new president of Ukraine
must surely be one of the most difficult jobs in the world right now.

As a former businessman we all hope that Poroshenko will lead by example and ensure that
Ukraine develops a business friendly environment. He claims that one of his main priorities
will be to take the country closer to the EU and develop higher/improved standards.

Ukraine needs to be pulled out of the 'soviet union system'of doing business.
Since independence in 1991, the country has failed to break away from Russian influence.
There is now a chance starting in 2014 to finally make the break.

If Ukraine could achieve the same level of economic development as its neighbour Poland
that would be a significant achievement. The country has the full backing of the US and EU
behind it now to really achieve something. The new president and maybe soon new government
should focus on running the country for the benefit of the people of Ukraine.
This will be a first in its history and will require a major change in the mentality
of its elected politicians.

The world will be watching to see if genuine change can be brought about in Ukraine.

Tougher Action Needed Against Putin NOW

So the illegal referendum went ahead in Crimea yesterday. We were anticipating a strong reaction from the EU and other western countries today but nothing of significance has happened. A list of 21 people from both Ukraine and Russia will have their assets frozen. Maybe I missed something today?

Talk about an anti climax. The people of Ukraine were again hoping that the ‘west’ would step in a do something significant to stop further Russian aggression. Diplomacy is clearly not working. Putin and Medvedev must be laughing in the Kremlin every night. The time has come for tough ACTION.

Here is my list of proposed actions:

1. STOP all flights in and out of the Russian Federation immediately. Europe should refuse to accept any flights.

2. Close the border (100% not half way) between Ukraine and Russia and stop the movement of all goods going to Russia.

3. Kick Russia out of the G8 immediately.

4. Suspend Russia from the UN

5.  STOP all banking transactions between Russia and the rest of the world.

6. FREEZE the bank accounts of ALL Russian citizens in Europe. Yes ALL.

The EU should stop worrying about upsetting Mr Putin. He should be made to SQUEAL and feel the pain as a result of his actions.

Many many foreigners, myself included are ashamed of the weak actions taken by the EU.

The New Ukraine

Last night the proposed members of the new interim government in Ukraine were introduced to the people standing at Maidan. Today the parliament will decide and vote. Maybe there will be some further changes but at least by the end of today the country should have a new government.

Changes are taking place very quickly in the ‘New Ukraine’. Many changes can only be for the better and here are a few that I and many others would like to witness further:

1. Corruption – It has to stop at ALL levels in Ukraine. It would appear that everyone knew that Yanukovych and his regime were stealing money from the country and it was well known that ‘government people’ would never do anything to help you unless you provided some financial incentive. But it is not just those at the top who were corrupt. All throughout the system of government including the vast majority of state employees people were expecting a bribe. If you didn’t provide what they wanted then it was guaranteed you would have many problems. For example trying to obtain a work permit, residents permit, building permit, electricity connection the list is endless……there would be someone in the chain who wanted a payoff and sometimes these payoffs were huge in comparison to the work required. THIS HAS GOT TO STOP immediately.

2. Respect For The Rule of Law – This will be a difficult one. There is no culture of respect for laws in Ukraine. People do not abide by agreements. If Ukraine really wants to be a ‘European country’ it must stop acting like the wild east in the early days of post-soviet Ukraine. The police are in Ukraine are probably the most corrupt in Europe. Judges in the courts just cannot be trusted and bribes decide most decisions. Massive changes are required in the legal system. But maybe the one positive thing is that from now on people will no longer be afraid of the police.

3. Goodbye Government Mafia – The Yanukovych regime had zero respect for the citizens of Ukraine. Members of the government and parliament acted like they were far superior to everyone.  Drivers in Kyiv would witness the way that the regime would travel around in their expensive cars at high speed with total disregard for the law and other people. I doubt we will see any more showing off from Bentley/Roll Royce/ Mercedes drivers/owners. The government and parliament need to show RESPECT towards people.

4. Free from Oligarch Control – The country can no longer be controlled by a few billionaires. If they all disappeared today the country would still function without them. They are not gods but people who took advantage of post-soviet Ukraine and acquired many assets quickly. Moreover these few billionaires are not needed in parliament or government.

5. Free The Banks from Government Control – The new government needs to be reminded that soviet days are over, finished, no more. The Ministry of Income/Finance or whatever it will be called now should NOT be controlling what banks can do with their customers. Tax payments by individuals and businesses are NOT the responsibility of banks. The National Bank of Ukraine needs to stop acting like big bad brother. If someone wants to send a little money to their relatives in another country they should NOT have to jump through hurdles created by the government. Likewise receiving money into Ukraine should not be a nightmare experience for bank customers. THE PEOPLE MUST BE FREE TO DECIDE.

6. Allow a FREE MARKET ECONOMY to develop – Prices are far too high for many goods in Ukraine and in particular in the capital city of Kyiv. Ukrainians who have travelled to other countries are always shocked to discover how much cheaper they can by goods outside Ukraine. Clothes, food, cars, and even property are far too expensive in Ukraine and are the result of high margins set by traders. Ukrainians need to wake up and stop paying crazy high prices for simple goods and services. Why should Ukraine be more expensive than EU countries? Small and medium size enterprises need to be given the opportunities to develop in Ukraine through a genuine free market and not be controlled by big companies or government.

None of this will be easy. The new government will have tough decisions to make. Presidential elections will be held on 25th May and we all hope that a clear winner is chosen by the people and that the election process is void of any corruption. However the country also needs to make a clean sweep of the parliament and hold elections sometime during 2014.

This year Ukraine can finally bring about the changes that are badly needed to set the country on a path towards greater prosperity for all its citizens and not just a select few as in the past.

I’m sure the majority of people from Western Europe welcome the development of a New Ukraine.

The People Triumph in Ukraine

Well, the people of Ukraine finally did it.
Just in two days:

1. The Parliament voted to remove the President (328 votes from 450)
2. Passed laws to enable the release of Yulia Tymoshenko
    (she is now free from prison and on her way to Kyiv)
3. The people have full access to the Yanukovych presidential palace on the outskirts of Kyiv.
4. New Interim Ministers have been appointed.
5. Elections will be held on 25th May 2014
6. Created/amended a new constitution in Ukraine providing the Parliament with greater powers.

The past months in Ukraine the world has witnessed real people power. At times it appeared that the criminal regime of Victor Yanukovych would over power the people with force using the police and berkut and many unknown forces who we later saw to use violent force against unarmed Ukrainian people.
Too many lives have been lost and thousands injured in the process.

The determination of Ukrainian people has been exemplary.

Lets all hope and pray that this is now a bright new beginning for the country.

Ukraine – The Last Revolution - The only way forward or just a crazy idea?

The situation in Ukraine is looking more like stalemate every day. President Yanukovych has no intention of standing down and his Party of the Regions intend to stay in government. The opposition and ‘The People of Maidan’ are still demanding the resignation of both the President and his government. The next presidential election is exactly 12 months away.

Although the EU and US continue to release statement after statement condemning the government of Ukraine for its actions and both threaten sanctions against senior government people nothing appears to be working. Much rhetoric about a peaceful settlement will not change the peoples mind about Yanukovych. It is obvious that ‘The people of Maidan’ and maybe the rest of the country have decided – He must go.

You would have to be a complete idiot to not see that Yanukovych and his ‘Business family’ and The Party of The Regions are a corrupt criminal regime. They are not professional politicians. They care little about the people of Ukraine.  The regime places all emphasis on business. But only their business, the rest can go to hell. The parliament is run like a VIP club for the elite. Anyone trying to run a business in Ukraine who is not connected to the elite or a member of the Party of the Regions will come up against a whole range of problems from various government departments.  The threat of a visit from the Ministry of Revenue and Duties hangs over the heads of most business people. There is no independent civil service in Ukraine. Government employees are expected to do what they are told by the Party of the Regions. The same applies to Judges, Police, Teachers, Doctors and anyone that is paid by the government.

You would also have to be a complete idiot to not realise that the people will NOT give in this time. They have had enough. They have had enough of the so called elite club stealing their money year after year after year. The people want to live in a real democracy free from the fears of living under government control. Therefore this will be the last revolution in Ukraine. What of the future?

What is the way forward? – Well I’m sure that the majority of people in Ukraine would also agree that they have had enough of the same old faces in politics. They know that the current politicians including many in the opposition are corrupt. Ukraine has an unusual government system where the cabinet is still appointed with people from outside the parliament. You do not need to be a member of parliament to be a member of the government.

Therefore…here is my crazy idea. The next parliamentary elections in Ukraine will take place when the people decide but with a special restriction on candidates. Any current or previous member of parliament would be banned from running as a candidate in the next election. Members of the government would still be appointed by the NEW president and NEW prime minister but EVERY single member of the next parliament would be a new face. Parliamentary elections could be held at the same time as the Presidential election in February 2015.

This would help to provide Ukraine with a fresh start. This would help people to come forward as candidates who would not have considered it possible before due to the ‘party list’ system.

We all know that Ukraine NEEDS a fresh start.