Covid-19 and Unrest Prompt Rise in Americans Looking to Move to Canada

When the U.S.-Canada border reopens, some Americans will be making the move across the border. The handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and social unrest, the latest on Capitol Hill, have already prompted a rising number of Americans to look into second passports with some even moving just across the border, to Canada. We speak with citizenship advisory firm Apex Capital Partners' Nuri Katz and Vancouver realtor Pete Shpak.

In previous years, U.S. citizens rarely sought to buy so-called golden passports. The business mainly thrived targeting people from countries with fewer travel freedoms than the U.S., such as China, Nigeria or Pakistan.

But that’s changing. People close to the industry say they’ve been inundated with inquiries from citizens of the world’s richest country.

“We haven’t seen the likes of this before,” said Paddy Blewer, a London-based director at citizenship and residency-advisory firm Henley & Partners, referring to queries from U.S. individuals. “The dam actually burst -- and we didn’t realize it -- at the end of last year, and it’s just continued getting stronger,” from an interview in 2020.

The benefits of owning a second passport, which range from potentially lower taxes, to more investing freedoms and less hassle traveling, can be had for as little as $100,000. The so-called citizenship-by-investment programs haven’t historically been as popular with Americans since one of their main draws -- the favorable tax regimes of adopted countries -- has been of little benefit to citizens of the U.S., one of the few nations to tax its people regardless of where they live.

The current heightened interest among U.S. citizens predates the coronavirus pandemic, but the crisis has helped turbo-charge demand as they plan for how to maintain some freedom of movement with lockdown measures increasing amid a swelling second wave of Covid-19 cases.

“Americans are thinking: ‘I want to have that ability to move as quickly as possible and not be stuck,’” said Nestor Alfred, chief executive officer of St. Lucia’s citizenship-by-investment unit.

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