US lawmakers seek visa denial over golden passports

American congressmen have presented a bill to the United States House of Representatives, to revoke countries’ eligibility for the Visa Waiver Program if they sell passports through citizenship-by-investment.

Malta is one such country that is part of the American visa waiver programme, allowing travellers to the US to be fast-tracked through less onerous checks than other third-country travellers. It is also currently facing an infringement procedure by the European Commission over its continued sale of citizenship.

The bipartisan bill – No Travel for Traffickers Act – by Burgess Owens (Democrat) and Steve Cohen (Republican), specifically calls to ban participation of countries that sell passports from participation in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program.

It all asks that the government cooperate with the United Kingdom and the European Union to eliminate Schengen area visa-free travel for countries that sell passports, as well as prohibit the use of American money to vet “golden passport” applicants.

The bill has the support of Marshall Billingslea, the former assistant secretary for terrorist financing at the United States Department of Treasury, who visited Malta in 2019 and had expressed concern at Malta’s role in fighting financial crime.

“Congressmen Owens and Cohen are leading to protect our security by introducing bipartisan legislation to clamp down on the dangerous practice by some countries who sell their citizenship and passports. These so-called ‘golden passport’ schemes are abused by criminals and traffickers from around the world, and this practice needs to come to an end,” Billingslea said in a statement of support for the two American congressmen.

In a visit to Malta, Billingslea had told the press that golden passport schemes needed careful scrutiny. “Indeed, one might even question why it is necessary in a country like Malta with such an outperforming economy,” he had told The Times. “The revenue [from citizenship schemes] might be nice to have, but we certainly hope the government recognises the risks that this brings with it.”

The two congressmen insist that golden passports are “notoriously abused by human traffickers, international criminals, and corrupt oligarchs”, and accuse Russians of being chief buyers.

“Human trafficking kingpins and other international criminal enterprises rely heavily on their passport purchasing power to freely travel the world, establish a foothold in multiple countries, open bank accounts, and evade accountability,” Owens said. “The No Travel for Traffickers Act addresses the severe security risks of golden passports, signalling a critical step in our efforts to isolate bad actors around the globe.”

Another bill introduced in 2021, the Golden Visa Accountability Act, calls on the Department of State to establish and maintain a database for investor visa denials due to the applicant's involvement in corruption or serious human rights abuses.

Generally, the United States offers immigrant visas to qualified individuals who invest in the United States and create a certain number of full-time jobs.

“Initially, the database must include records related to such denials of U.S. investor visas. The bill also requires the State Department to eventually expand the database to include records of such denials of investor visas in other countries. The State Department shall prioritize including records from European Union countries and from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom,” the Bill reads.

“The Secretary of State shall expand the database to include foreign investor visa denials. Foreign states that provide records related to foreign investor visa denials for inclusion in the database shall gain access to records contained therein. Priority foreign states for inclusion in this database are the foreign states of the European Union.”