Moldova launched one of the exciting citizenship by investment schemes accepting first applications in Nov 2018.
In six months since the of the launch of the scheme, Moldova CBI scheme off to a slow start with one citizenship is granted and 23 applications received by Moldovan authorities. This was announced by by Iulia Petuhov, Deputy Director of the Public Services Agency and responsible for implementing the Citizenship Investment Program, at a press conference.
The presidential decree of 1143 dated 27th april granted first citizenship to IT businessman under moldovan citizenship by investment program (MCBI). This was published on official gazette Nr 119-131, which entered into force on April 5, 2019. The decree was signed by President Igor Dodon, published in the Official Gazette.
You will see names CBI citizens is not disclosed protecting confidentiality, it is only referred as file number, says foreign citizen and main applicant. Moldova usually publishes full name, date of birth and origin of country in gazette for naturalized citizens through presidential decree.
Last year, the government adopted regulations to protect confidentiality of CBI investors. The decree of the President granting of citizenship by investment will contain only identification data of the applicants’ files, without indicating the name and surname of the applicants. This is an exception only for the category of investors.
Moldova is set to grant 5,000 citizenships to main investors and their families for investors under MCBI. The limit applies to main applications through the investment scheme. The CBI funds collected will be invested in infrastructure, education and other strategic projects of the Republic of Moldova
The Program for Acquisition of Moldovan citizenship through investment is implemented by the Public Institution “Public Services Agency” of the Republic of Moldova, according to the provisions of the Government Decision no. 786 of 4 October 2017 on the acquisition of citizenship through investment.
All Applicants are subjected to 4 tier due diligence checks before granting citizenship
Citizenship can be acquired in exchange for investments under the following three options
- Donation – EUR 100,000
- Real estate – EUR 250,000
- Government securities/bonds: EUR 250,000
One reason why slow start of Moldovan citizenship with only 23 applications received in six months is pricing and moldovan passport is not as powerful as caribbean passports
The prices of Moldova is slightly higher than caribbean cbi schemes, plus the prices for Moldova in euros, instead of US dollars. This makes it slightly expensive in the range of $12,000 plus EUR 35,000 processing fee per application..
Moldova passport despite having visa free access to 121 countries, have no visa free access to United Kingdom and Ireland, US/Canada and Australia.
