Wealthy Families Diversify Residence, Citizenship Options Amid Global Volatility

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 (Bernama) -- Henley & Partners’ new data showed a rising interest in additional residence and citizenship rights among wealthy families in some of the world’s most established countries, as political, regulatory and social volatility sharpened the focus on resilience and future optionality.

To date this year, the company has assisted clients from over 100 nationalities across 50-plus residence and citizenship country options, with more than a third of applicants already living outside their countries of origin.

“Families have long understood the value of diversifying their investments; increasingly, they are applying the same principle to where they have the right to live, work and build their lives,” said Henley & Partners chief executive officer, Dr Juerg Steffen.

According to Henley & Partners in a statement, the changing geography of demand is particularly striking. United States (US) nationals remain the firm’s largest source nationality, while the United Kingdom ranks sixth and Germany 10th.

Meanwhile, France has risen from 36th to 14th among source nationalities, and Australia and Canada are also now in the top 15, highlighting the growing prominence of clients from highly developed economies who already enjoy considerable international mobility.

Henley & Partners added that applications from French nationals were already close to matching the full-year 2025 figure by the end of the third quarter, while Italian applications had surpassed last year's level. Enquiries from both countries also recorded increases.

The US trend remains the most pronounced, with applications from Americans rising 52 per cent over the past 18 months compared with the preceding 18-month period, yet only nine per cent of US applicants actually reside outside the country.

According to the firm’s latest client data, US nationals have applied for 27 different residence and citizenship country options in 2026 across Europe, the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

French and Italian applicants are similarly securing access rights to multiple jurisdictions rather than converging on a single alternative destination. Half of Italian applicants still reside in Italy, while most French applicants already live outside France, the firm added.

Henley & Partners will explore these themes at its 20th Global Citizenship Conference in Zurich from Nov 23 to 25.

-- BERNAMA