Surveys
US Millionaires Get Itchy Feet – Study

Domestic economic and social woes are encouraging US millionaires to think of leaving, or moving to lower-taxed, more amenable cities and locations. The number of HNW people considering living in the US and becoming citizens has also dropped
The number of Americans thinking of leaving the US has
surged by the highest percentage on record while the volume of
millionaires wanting to enter the country has fallen, according
to a migration advisory firm specialising in advising
wealthy people.
Henley &
Partners said it received the most enquiries from US citizens
on record in 2022 (a 447 per cent increase from 2019) when, for
the first time, Americans ranked highest of all nationalities
worldwide applying for residence and citizenship by investment
programmes.
Such data come at a time when rising federal taxes, worries about
crime, inflation, political unrest and other woes are encouraging
some HNW US citizens to renounce citizenship. (To take that step
requires citizens to pay a fee. Starting from 7 January, the sum
is being slashed to $450 from £$,350.) The US taxes people on a
worldwide basis, so expats must file an annual IRS return
regardless of whether they spend any time in the US. This has
been criticised as a burden, since expats can struggle to access
foreign financial services.
“The tide is turning in the USA, a country shaped by generations
of immigrants from across the globe, whose descendants went on to
create the largest wealth market in the world. As we enter 2023,
a new dynamic is playing out, with wealthy Americans seeking
greener pastures abroad at an unprecedented rate,” the firm said
in a statement yesterday.
The findings come in Henley’s inaugural USA Wealth
Report.
The report also shows that there is a significant internal
movement of high net worth individuals within the country. Cities
such as Austin, Scottsdale, Greenwich, and Miami are gaining
millionaires, while the big wealth hubs of Los Angeles, Chicago,
and New York City are losing them. To cater to demand for
expatriation and handle other migration matters, Henley said it
has opened three offices in the US in recent months.
“The new consumer class rising up in non-Western countries will
ultimately outnumber Western consumers by three billion or more.
The American Dream that is floundering in its birthplace is being
re-conceptualised by this developing consumer class and reaching
that base might well mean stepping outside of US borders and
establishing yourself and your family elsewhere,” the author of
the report, Jeff D Opdyke, said.
A number of firms advise HNW clients about moving to other countries, obtaining second passports and handling cross-border issues. Examples include award-winning Huriya Private - see an article about it here. Other firms include Range Developments, a company which works with clients applying for access to the US through the Caribbean and Grenada’s E2 investment programme, and Farani Taylor. A pan-industry group, the Investment Migration Council, has developed in recent years to represent this specialist area, hold discussions, lobby for change and where necessary, scold countries with poorly designed or questionable programmes.