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Variations could be in order

Feb 22,2018 - Last updated at Feb 22,2018

State Minister for Media Affairs and Government Spokesperson Mohammad Momani made public a government decision on new rules governing the acquisition of Jordanian citizenship or obtaining permanent residency in Jordan by foreign investors on Monday.

Jordan is not unique among nations across the globe in offering citizenship or permanent residency to foreign investors under certain conditions. Many countries do the same. This is not like offering citizenship or residency for sale. Far from it.

The relaxed immigration rules for granting citizenship or permanent residency is a functional tool to promote investment and develop the country. Opening the door for foreigners to live in the Kingdom and become part of it in order to share in the promotion of economy is not being done at the expense of national security or stability. Nor would it jeopardise or compromise the rights of the citizens of the country. Aspiring applicants would be carefully screened and their backgrounds properly and thoroughly checked to filter out people whose residency could threaten Jordan’s security and stability.

The rules governing this offer are rather stringent and cannot be met by any investor. For starters, applicants must be genuine and their investments must be sizeable. For citizenship purposes, the investment must be no less than $1.5 million to be deposited at the Central Bank of Jordan for a minimum period of five years, invested in ten-year treasury bonds or in securities or invested in a project outside of Amman.

Permanent residency requirements are more lax as the only thing required is buying a real estate valued at no less than $200,000, and keeping it for no less than ten years. Immediate members of the family of the applicant, including his wife and children, less than eighteen years old, would also be eligible. There is, however, a limited annual quota for these purposes not exceeding 500 applicants. So far so good!

A slight variation on this open door policy could be in order. Instant citizenship for qualified people no matter how high is their investments should not be the norm. The rule of thumb in such circumstances is to offer qualified applicants permanent residency, first to be followed by gaining citizenship after a certain period of time, normally set at one year at least. Automatic citizenship does not seem right. Neither the annual quota limitation make much sense.

Why, for example, only 500 foreigners could qualify for these purposes per year. Processing the applications of the interested people would take months if not years.

In any case, this new open door policy should be put on a trial basis and subjected to periodic reviews. That would be the reasonable way of applying it.

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