Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa October 2015 | Page 45

GEORGE EID
they’re doing here. Like all South Africans they love
their country but they want to have a backup plan in
case of political turmoil or instability.
The third benefit is the wealth protection and making
sure that their wealth can be passed on to the next
generation. When you look at secondary citizenship
plans that’s one avenue that you can investigate further.
they can double their investment 18 months after they
joined the program, put another half a million Euros
in government bonds and then apply for citizenship.
So it can basically take two years instead of the normal
5 year period.
Do you assist in terms of selecting a property?
In Cyprus we do filter a few properties that we believe
are suitable; where we’ve done all the due diligence
and there’s a bank guarantee which means that they
will eventually reach fruition etc. But of course when
you go with a passive investment in government bonds
there’s always the benefit of not having to worry about
the investment depreciating or being at risk; because
it