EU: Golden visa schemes must guard against money laundering

The European Commission said on Wednesday it will provide guidance to European Union member-states on how to manage national schemes to sell passports and residency permits to wealthy foreign citizens, as campaigners and lawmakers warned of money laundering risks.

Government schemes to trade citizenship or residence rights for large investments are currently applied in Greece, Cyprus, Austria, Luxembourg, Malta, Latvia, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Britain, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and France. Hungary has terminated its program.

"If you have a lot of money that you acquired through dubious means, securing a new place to call home far away from the place you stole from isn't just appealing, it's sensible," Naomi Hirst of rights group Global Witness said.

She said checks on individuals that bought EU citizenship or residency permits were not satisfactory and...