As we head into 2018, uncertainty
surrounds Brexit with little clarity
as to how free movement around
the EU will operate come March
2019. At the same time, we continue
to see conflicting developments
across the EU and UK in both
investor and the broader migration
debate. What is the impact of
these developments and Brexit on
investment immigration programs
across the region?
NATIONALISTIC
TRENDS
Despite the upcoming Brexit, which
has England on a course to leave
the European Union by 2019 after
a historic referendum last year, the
applications for United Kingdom's
immigration investment programs
are increasing. The upswing has
137 EB5 INVESTORS M AGAZINE
also been triggered by waves of
nationalism sweeping across
Europe.Migration and nationalism
have featured prominently in
"The UK’s Tier 1
categories have
proved resilient
against Brexit
uncertainties."
European elections in 2017 and are
becoming increasingly conflated in
political debate. Germany’s election
delivered concerning results with
AfD sweeping into the Bundestag
with 12.6 percent of the vote, having
fought on a hard anti-immigration
ticket. It gained over 4.5 million
voters compared to its 2013 result
– giving them nearly 6 million votes
in the federal election. Elsewhere
in the region, the Dutch election
was seen by some as a "symbolic
Euroscepticism showdown that
seems to have split society along
the immigration policy divide" 1 and
France’s presidential election was
billed as a battle between the "anti-
immigration, anti-EU, far-right and
the progressive, pro-business and
socially liberal". 2
The spotlight has also been placed
on EU’s investor migration programs
by some national publications in the
UK, focusing negatively on certain
applicants to such programs. The
EU Commission is also set to turn
its attention to investor migration
programs across the union, with a
review planned in the coming year.