There's a surge in Americans applying for secondary passports. Political unrest ahead of the election and a rise in antisemitism are 2 major factors.
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- Henley & Partners sees an ongoing surge in Americans seeking secondary passports in 2024.
- Applications spiked due to political uncertainty and antisemitism concerns, the law firm said.
- Secondary passports can serve as an insurance policy of sorts, with costs starting at $200,000 per person.
The number of Americans seeking secondary passports continues to surge, according to global citizen firm Henley & Partners.
A spokesperson for the firm said it received a 125% increase in American applications between the last quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024. That number rose again in the second quarter of 2024, with another 86% increase in applications compared to the first three months of the year, the firm said.
Judi Galst, who manages the Henley & Partners' New York office, told Business Insider that secondary passports are a sort of "insurance policy" for clients rather than a place they plan to move to permanently. She said interest in secondary passports has grown globally in the last few years, and it started with the pandemic.
It's not all doomsday scenarios driving the interest, Galst said. Some people want a secondary retirement home and the flexibility to go back and forth.
However, she said others want to diversify their assets due to political instability with the upcoming election, and Jewish Americans are increasingly seeking a possible escape method due to a rise in antisemitism.
"I talk to hundreds of clients, and I hear a lot about concern about the election and just the words 'Plan B,'" Galst said. "And, you know what, I hear from people on both sides."
One of Galst's clients, a 77-year-old living in New York who prefers to stay anonymous for safety reasons, is working with his wife and daughter to get a secondary passport in Antigua. He was born to European ancestry right after World War II ended and said he grew up listening to stories about the Holocaust.
"You live through history, you have to learn the messages from history," he said. "We thought maybe we should take some precautions."
The client said that his family decided in November 2023 that they needed a backup option. He said he had come to fear political extremism on both sides and felt intimidated by what he called a mob mentality of protests in New York City critical of Israel.
The FBI's hate-crime statistics report has found that Jews are the most-targeted religious group, and there's been a rise in hate crimes and violence against Jews since the October 7th attack on Israel by Hamas. In April, the Anti-Defamation League, which records antisemitic incidents, tracked 3,283 incidents between October 7, 2023, and January 7, 2024, indicating a 360% year-over-year increase. At least 628 of the incidents targeted Jewish institutions like synagogues, the report said.
Acquiring a secondary passport isn't cheap, though. Galst said clients interested in a Caribbean passport can either make a nonrefundable contribution of $200,000 or invest in real estate for around $325,000 or $300,000.
The New York client said Antigua was one of the quicker options and his family didn't want to wait years to get it done. He also said it's becoming more common in the Jewish community as antisemitism grows — he referenced a recent incident on the NYC subway that resulted in charges against a man — and that several of his Jewish friends or acquaintances are getting secondary passports to Portugal, another common location.
"We need to have an escape," he said.