By Manpreet Kataria, Managing Director. Our weekly reading of the investment-migration news that matters to clients in the Gulf, South Asia and the wider world, with Investment Migration Insider (IMI) as the primary source for each item.

Greece will tax non-EU property buyers 15 percent on transfer, but the start has slipped to July 2027

Greece announced a plan to raise its property transfer tax for buyers from outside the EU from 3 percent to 15 percent, a fivefold increase that would add roughly 96,000 euros to an 800,000 euro Athens Golden Visa purchase. Within the week the government moved the start date to 1 July 2027 and exempted corporate buyers, leaving a ten-month window for individual applicants. Greek practitioners quoted by IMI questioned the measure’s legality and expect a future government to revisit it. For our clients: anyone considering the Greek real-estate route should complete the purchase before the new date; the fund and conversion routes are being examined for whether the levy reaches them. Sources: IMI, IMI expert reactions.

Germany’s governing party drafts a plan to end dual citizenship

Two years after Germany allowed naturalised citizens to keep their original nationality, and after a record year of about 332,500 naturalisations, the CDU has drafted a proposal to reverse that change following the AfD’s strong state-election result. Nothing has passed yet. For our clients: German residents planning a second citizenship should watch this closely; if the reversal passes, a CBI passport could force a choice that does not exist today. Source: IMI.

Ireland moves toward eight years of residence and a language test for citizenship

Ireland plans to lengthen the residence requirement for naturalisation from five to eight years and add a language test, and the Justice Minister confirmed that people already four years into the current five-year clock would face the higher bar. Eight years would be the longest wait in Western Europe. For our clients: another reminder that naturalisation timelines can lengthen after you have started; investor-citizenship programmes fix the terms at filing. Source: IMI.

Which citizenship-by-investment programmes make a child born after the grant a citizen

IMI’s analysis looked at fourteen programmes and found that the answer is decided by each country’s nationality law, not by the programme: ten make a child born after the parent’s grant a citizen at birth, while four require a separate step. For our clients: this is one of the most common questions we get from couples planning a family, and the answer differs between Vanuatu, Nauru and the Caribbean programmes. We check it during the eligibility call rather than assuming. Source: IMI.

Dubai court orders fraudsters to repay AED 4.65 million in a golden-visa property scheme

A Dubai court ruling closed a year in which UAE golden-visa fraud ranged from a viral fake lifetime-visa offer to a celebrity selling residencies that did not exist. For our clients: verify any agent’s standing on the relevant government register before paying anything. Our own designations for Vanuatu, Nauru and Sao Tome and Principe are linked from our accreditations page. Source: IMI.

Canada will replace the Start-Up Visa with a high-impact entrepreneur route

IRCC’s new vocabulary points to a narrower programme for “elite” entrepreneurs, with a federal business-admissions target of just 500 for 2026. For our clients: Canada is becoming harder, not easier, for business migrants; families with a Canada plan should keep a second option open. Source: IMI.

Seventeen countries now charge an exit tax

Belgium became the seventeenth country to tax people on the way out when its new capital-gains regime took effect in January 2026. IMI’s table lists what each country charges, who it reaches and which allow deferral. For our clients: a second citizenship does not by itself change where you are taxed; relocation planning has to start with the exit rules of the country you are leaving. Source: IMI.

Caribbean CBI needs a new message, not an obituary

An opinion piece argues that the visa-free-travel pitch has run its course and that American and European families now want a different conversation about the Caribbean programmes. Alpha’s view: we agree, and it is why our programme pages now lead with verified costs, timelines and risks rather than destination counts. Source: IMI.

Alpha’s view this week

The thread running through this week’s stories is that the ground moves under residence-based routes: Greece’s tax, Ireland’s longer clock, Germany’s possible reversal and Canada’s narrowing all change the terms after people have committed. Contribution-based citizenship programmes fix their terms at filing, which is their real advantage. Current verified figures for every programme we work with are in our CBI programme database.

To discuss what any of this means for your family, get in touch or message us on WhatsApp at +971 4 340 6315.