A research study by Henley & Partners, that specializes in the study of global issues of citizenship and the cross-country movement of people, analyzes the impact of the pandemic on long-term trends in global population mobility.
The Roscongress Foundation presents the salient points of the publication accompanied by fragments of broadcasts of relevant panel discussions from the business programme of international events held by the Roscongress Foundation.
The competition to attract foreign residents intensified against the background of the pandemic.
Anti Covid measures forced states to close their borders, including those countries for which tourism and attracting new residents is the most important source of income. These residents are predominantly foreign workers, «remote workers», «digital nomads» (workers in the digital field who can work from anywhere in the world) and investors who want to emigrate.
A growing number of states from the Caribbean to the Pacific Islands are entering the race for residents and investors by lowering barriers to entry, for example by changing their visa policies. Thus, tourists are able to stay longer in the country, to move into the class of entrepreneurs, and then obtain the rights of residents.
By strengthening their efforts, states increase their attractiveness to migrant investors through regulation and increased benefits for those willing to invest their money in the country. The example of Singapore, which has become a haven for many Americans, Europeans and Indonesians thanks to its COVID-19 policies and first-class health care system, is illustrative. Even before the pandemic, Singapore had begun to take a diversified approach towards different categories of migrant investors, offering different options for investors, entrepreneurs, professionals in the high-tech sector and families of foreign workers. Malta follows a similar path.
There is an increasing global struggle to attract high-level talents and specialists.
Although some countries try to limit the flow of investors and talent to other states, such as the European Union, traditional methods of combating this will have little effect until there is recognition of people’s objective desire to live in «green» areas with high levels of health care. Among other things, this is why large-scale demographic shifts and aging populations are forcing all countries to intensify the «importation» of young investors and potential taxpayers by increasing the country’s attractiveness to them.
The change in migration patterns in the post-pandemic world will be non-linear and unpredictable. Today, crises ranging from epidemics to climate challenges to political confrontations take place all over the world. Many states should draw conclusions from COVID-19 and improve their health care systems, complementing these efforts with reforms aimed at attracting a new wave of migrant investors.
Henley & Partners research is based on articles by leading experts analyzing the causes and consequences of global mobility in terms of global and regional trends.
For more information, see the special sections of the Roscongress Foundation Information and Analytical System: StayHomeEconomy, Tourism, Mobility, Migration, devoted to analytics in international population mobility.
