Comments by "Matthew Nirenberg" (@matthewnirenberg) on "He Thought He Was Getting Six Citizenships" video.

Legitimate question: Why is visa-free to the EU so important? Why is it the factor that makes a passport useless or not? Thanks to the Schengen Zone the bulk of the EU is treated as the one area for the 90 day time limit in a 180 day period. The only valuable thing is a residence permit or citizenship to an EU country. I don't understand how not having visa-free to the EU makes a passport worthless. Sure other factors might but not having visa-free to the EU? If you're visa-free to the EU you require an ETIAS which requires the same information as a Schengen Visa (except for an invitation letter - easy to get) but it restricts where you enter and exit the EU unlike a Schengen Visa. You CAN'T work or do any business / banking / investment / purchase/rent apartments or property, on an ETIAS as its only for tourism. I think that the Caribbean will either lose all visa-free to the EU or they'll end their CBI programs to keep visa-free to the EU. Would that make those passports worthless? Absolutely not! Why I think they'll give up visa-free to the EU is because they want the CBI money more than the tourism access to the EU. To someone such as myself I don't care if I can be a tourist to the EU or not - its not hard to get a Schengen Visa (same information as an ETIAS but you get a visa put in your passport and don't have entry and exit locations specified), I care about being able to lower/eliminate my taxes by being able to legally become a citizen of a zero tax country and legally move there.
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@chronicreader The zero tax life requires one to live in a no income tax country. Once tax residency is established there's nothing to prevent having a holiday or the abroad each year to mix things up and live cheaper. At the border even a visa-free ETIAS holder can be rejected at the discretion of a border guard. As Andrew has always said, the only way to guarantee to be let in is to be a citizen. One point about property in the EU, student visa holders and long-term work permit holders can buy apartments but only citizens can buy houses with land. Tourists are absolutely prohibited from buying either so visa-free access doesn't help with that.
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@rivenoak You'd have to complete another ETIAS to enter and exit from different locations as its literally listed on the ETIAS. An ETIAS is only valid for 3 years if none of the approved information changes
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@ANT-yr9zo Makes zero difference as an ETIAS can be denied for the same reason, also note that border guards can cancel any visa at the border at their discretion. A Schengen Visa for tourism is easy to get and you can pick which country you apply via so as to ensure you get it
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@lusvus5445 Why Vanuatu over St Kitts? For some people St Kitts isn't an option as they have a requirement that comes and goes from time to time which requires you to show over $5 million to your name over a 3 year period as part of the wealth test. Most other CBI programs require 750,000-1,000,000 in liquid wealth to be shown. Vanuatu only require 350,000 - 500,000 over the past year with the 350,000 to be liquid. Also some people want a zero tax life in Oceania where they can do business at local rates whilst living the island life with the countries they go to all just a short flight away. If you don't do business in Europe then there aren't any EU withholding taxes to worry about.
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@madewithrealdiamonds With the exception of a few countries in Africa and the Middle East, everyone else can freely transit all EU airports without a transit visa, the US require an ESTA or a visa to transit anyway so that doesn't change for anyone other than a US citizen. Canada aren't any harder to transit than the EU. Google which countries need an airport transit visa to transit the EU and you'll see the list is tiny. I've had to transit many countries I can't enter without a visa. If transiting is your only concern then visa-free to the EU is irrelevant - if you want to holiday there, then either get a Schengen Visa (easy to get) or work towards a residence permit or passport that gets you in. Remember, visa-free to the EU is only for tourism, you can't work or perform any business unless you have an EU visa for work or an EU residency permit.
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