28 UGLOBAL IMMIGRATION MAGAZINE
Triggered also by the popularity of world renowned VIPs such as Madonna and Leboutin in Alentejo Comporta & Harrison Ford in Beoira Baixa - Castelo Branco etc ,” Macedo said .
Richard Hallam , who is a CBI agent in Grenada , agreed that many South American clients are interested in the E-2 route to the U . S .
“ All our Brazilian clients have the same motivation to get a Grenadian citizenship , it is to get an E-2 visa route to the U . S .,” Hallam said .
He said the entire process , from getting a Grenadian citizenship to an E-2 visa , takes just about six-seven months ; it takes 90 business days for the Grenadian citizenship and about the same time for the E-2 visa .
Other Caribbean destinations such as Cayman Islands and Antigua and Barbuda are also seeing some interest from South America . Kaline Kennard , who is the Managing Partner at Citizens International in Antigua and Barbuda , said her firm receives about 5 % clients from South America , most of whom are from Argentina .
Antonin Favreau , an investment immigration attorney at Favreau Law Firm Inc . in Canada , said he has been receiving few inquiries from Mexico . Instead , he has mostly seen an interest from Ecuador since he is an Ecuador citizen .
“ I assume and focus on my marketing there . Second is Brazil for me ,” he said .
According to him , South American clients were not interested in real estate options .
“ Even if they are HNWI , Latin American people are looking for cheap ways to immigrate and that is why the conversion rate is way lower than anywhere else in the world . They don ' t really care about having a house or not here ,” he said .
GLOBAL IMMIGRATION FIRMS HAVE YET TO TAP INTO THE SOUTH AMERICAN MARKET
One of the main reasons why investment immigration potential of South America remains unrealized is the fact that most immigration firms do not prioritize it , Hallam hinted .
“ There are two main reasons why there aren ’ t that many clients from South America ; first is a lack of awareness , or one should say education and the other is the language barrier in South America where most people speak Spanish , Portuguese etc . People still don ’ t understand the opportunities well enough .”
“ South America has been somewhat left alone in terms of marketing about second citizenship opportunities and the investment immigration industry needs to work on that . Generally , one does not find the offices of marketing firms in South America and if companies start to do that then it would create a huge difference ,” Hallam added .