Indians In UAE Gave Up Citizenship, Paid Big For ‘Second Passport’ – Now The West Is Locking Them Out | World News
New Delhi: They had a dream. A passport that opens the boundaries. A quiet backup plan. A security network. Now, they’re watching the dissolution. Thousands of expatriates living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), many of which are Indian citizens, face the sudden collapse of second citizenship investments.
These are not refugees or asylum seekers. They are rich professionals, business owners and parents who spend six figures for the promise of mobility. For years, they returned to countries such as Dominica, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Cambodia and Egypt. Offer: Inpati enough money and get a passport in return. And this passport has opened the doors-the European, the United Kingdom and more to a visa-free travel.
Now, these doors are starting to close.
60 -day countdown that shakes everyone
On June 14, a note from Washington. Quietly. No title. However, the effect hit like a thunder. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned 36 countries to clean up citizenship (CBI) programs or confrontation with their consequences. They were given 60 days. Either tighten the veterinaryness and start sharing the risk of losing the visa privileges or who gets a passport.
The United Kingdom is already on board. The European Union follows from behind. Brussels is preparing a legislation to suspend Schengen access for countries that are seen as very loose with citizenship rules. The law is expected until September. If it passes, hundreds of thousands of CBI can convert the passport to almost worthless documents overnight.
Why is the UAE in the center of the storm
Emirates is home to millions of foreigners. Gurists make up approximately 90% of the country’s population. Among them are thousands of people investing in CBI plans. Industrial estimates have shown that more than 10,000 CBI applications have come from the UAE in recent years. Many of them are families – spouses, husbands and children. The total number of affected number may be as high as 30,000.
Most of them are Indian citizens. The sprinkler for them is even more complex. India does not allow dual citizenship. In order to have a CBI passport, many had to give up the Indian ones.
In 2023, he gave up more than 4,300 Indian citizenship and chose Caribbean documents to facilitate his travels in Europe while living and working in the Gulf.
They bet on security. Now they can result in any of them.
Why now pressure?
The movement not only aims to control the limit. This is related to trust or loss. The 2023 European Commission report created red flags on how some Caribbean nations distribute passports. The background controls were weak. Sources of wealth were not controlled. According to the report, criminals can easily pass.
The US note did not stop with the Caribbean. In addition, the CBI programs and minimum transparency of the CBI programs and the name of Cambodia and Egypt.
Among the Western governments, there is an increasing fear that the CBI plans have become a back door. Not only for tax avoidance or visa -free travel, but also for crime, espionage and impact operations.
Fortunes spent, people are now in limo
“People have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in citizenship programs, believing that it was a ticket for global freedom and the founder of Dubai’s legal scene and the founder of Bayat Legal Services.
His office was full of questions. Customers who once saw CBI as a security network now ask if it is even valid. Whether they can travel. Whether they will be stopped. Whether the passport they pay will be marked at the airports.
No answer yet. Just a countdown and concern.
Some are already looking elsewhere
With the pressure building, many UAE expatriates are looking for more determined options. Canada. Australia. New Zealand. Countries with point -based systems. Programs that last longer but offer long -term reliability. Some also follow the UAE’s own gold visa for 10 years. It does not offer global travel advantages, but it provides an increasingly rare stability.
What happens to countries selling passports?
Passport sales for countries like Saint Kitts or Dominica are not only on the side, but survival. Finance money, hospitals, roads and schools.
In some cases, CBI income constitutes more than half of the national budget. If the EU or the United Kingdom draws the plug in visa-free access, the damage will be severe-diiplomatic and economically.
Governments in these countries are trying to show that they tighten the rules. Recruitment of compatibility companies. Update forms. However, experts say it will not be enough. Trust is broken. It will only restore sweep reforms and deep transparency reliability.
And the time is running out.
Dreams paid in dollars threatened by politics
For thousands of families in the UAE, this is more than a legal problem. Is personal. They saw the second passports as an insurance policy – something that will maintain their children, work and mobility.
They didn’t see it.
Now, they look at a future with less options. Less deserved. Less open sky. Their freedom is no longer guaranteed.
And nobody knows what will happen when the 60 -day deadline ends.
