Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/329964
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 15 JUNE 2014 4 News 140 nationals seek IIP passport CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 Malta hopes to use its generous 80% tax rebate for multination- als channelling profits to the is- land, and the low 15% flat-rate tax for highly-skilled individuals and CEOs earning over €75,000, to at- tract the global rich in acquiring a passport. Few applications hailed from the United States, with a majority of applications hailing from Rus- sia and other Eurasian nations, the Middle East and the Far East. Countries like China do not allow dual citizenship. Joseph Muscat's government hopes it will reap €150 million from this year's applicants – 90% of the €650,000 'donation' for the passport will be passed on to a posterity fund that is supposed to finance capital projects, housing, schools and healthcare. Henley & Partners representa- tive Christian Kälin said the IIP's success should not be hidden. "It is important to mention the pro- gramme's success… and it is also important for us [Henley] to state that it is successful," Kälin told MaltaToday. Henley has already revealed that over 50 main appli- cants have already received their residence permits, placing them firmly on the route to achieving full citizenship of Malta. The IIP does not come without it critics: the Nationalist opposition mounted a successful campaign to force the initial €650,000 passport sale to be backed up by real invest- ment opportunities, and also by residence requirement. After the initial scheme was lam- basted by the European Parliament, the Maltese government sought the green light from the European Commission, which originally con- tended that EU citizenship should not be put for sale without consul- tation from other member states. Following talks in Brussels, the Maltese government introduced a one-year residency requirement, which critics however surmise could be as little as six months un- der international tax law defini- tions. Opposition leader Simon Busuttil has vowed to publicise the names of people naturalised under the IIP, to which he will have access to as a member sitting on a high-level committee monitoring the pro- gramme's application.