Golden Gateways: Unravelling the Practices of Selling Citizenships and Residence Permits in the EU

Konstantinos Papanikolaou

Global migration flows remain a dominant political issue, with debates often focusing on asylum-seeking migrants and related government actions. The flip side of this is tailored investment migration programs for wealthy actors, which are largely ignored in public debates on migration. Commonly referred to as “golden passport” and “golden visa,” these programs make it possible to obtain citizenship or residence, typically through significant financial investment. The uniqueness of the EU, a dual citizenship system (nationality of the Member State and Union citizenship), is associated with conflicts, since the exclusive competence for granting citizenship lies with the respective Member States. This dissertation project combines approaches from economic sociology and the political economy of European integration to examine the rise and (non-)fall of “golden passport” and “golden visa” programs in the EU. Moreover, it examines the conflict of competencies over the selling of citizenship and employs case studies on Malta, Cyprus, Greece, and Spain. The aim of the dissertation project is to provide a more profound understanding of citizenship as a commodity and the closely related moral dimension in the European context, using a range of qualitative methods and theoretical approaches.