This article summarises the findings of Henley & Partners' third annual report.

Malta has been ranked as the global hotspot for citizenship investing while Portugal’s resident-by-investment programme has taken top place in its cohort, new data shows. 

For the third consecutive year, Malta’s Individual Investor Programme (MIIP) snagged the top slot, scoring 81 out of 100, according to the Global Residence and Citizenship Programs 2017-2018 report, published by Henley & Partners.

Meanwhile, Portugal’s Golden Residence Permit Programme has scored 79 out of 100, earning it the prize place in the cohort also for the third year in a row. 

Released yesterday, the report helps benchmark the attractiveness 28 schemes evaluated by a panel of “independent experts”, comprising immigration and citizenship lawyers, economists, country risk experts, academics and other specialists. They took into account a “broad range of factors” and the end result is a bird’s-eye view of the investment migration industry, Henley & Partners said. 

Following Malta in the citizenship investing category is Cyprus with a score of 72, then Austria (63). Antigua and Barbuda came 4th, followed “very closely” by Grenada. At the bottom end of the scale is the Dominican Republic, which scored just 51. 

Sitting directly below Portugal in the resident investing scoreboard is Austria, awarded 78, followed by Belgium (77) in third place. At the opposite end of the spectrum was Bulgaria, scoring only 36 to land it in bottom place.