For a man whose standout career achievement has just been ruled unlawful by the EU’s top court, Christian Kälin is defiant. “If Europe decides to go backwards, let them go backwards. But the rest of the world is going forward, and it’s only one direction,” said Kälin, group chair of Henley & Partners, a London-based consultancy that devises and markets schemes selling passports and residency permits in more than 40 countries. The European Court of Justice earlier this month struck down Malta’s citizenship-by-investment programme, which allowed people to acquire a Maltese passport — and by extension EU citizenship — in exchange for a one-off investment of €600,000 (CHF563,000) and purchasing or renting a property. The ECJ said the scheme, developed with Henley, had made “the acquisition of nationality a mere commercial transaction”. It was a blow to Henley and the whole global investment immigration industry. The company takes credit for propelling the growth of paid-for passports ...
