Over 150,000 Golden Visas were issued since 2019, Passport Legacy, a Swiss boutique firm has observed a surge in the number of expatriate high-net-worth individuals who are renouncing their US citizenship, obtaining alternative citizenship and migrating to the UAE.
A reported 2,872 HNWI expatriates renounced their US citizenships in the first three-quarters of 2022, exceeding the number throughout the previous year which was 2,421.
A recent poll found that American expats are reaching their wit’s end; 4 percent are planning to relinquish their US citizenship, while 18 percent are seriously considering it. A vast majority of American citizens do not think that they should have to pay US taxes while living abroad and feel like they are not represented fairly by the US government.
With over nine million American expats living outside the US, this is a likely contributing factor for the growing increase of expatriate HNWIs who have renounced their US citizenships.
More than four in 10 proclaiming they would abandon their US citizenship due to the burden of filing taxes, it is seemingly becoming an unreasonable expectation for many to file income taxes on worldwide earnings such as salaries, interest, rental income, business profits, and more.
