Special Report: Passports . . . for a price

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http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/02/12/uk-passport-idUKTRE81B05F20120212

(Reuters) - For decades, the two-island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis exported sugarcane to keep its economy afloat. When sugar prices fell, St. Kitts began to sell an even sweeter commodity: its citizenship.

For $250,000, a foreigner can buy full rights as a citizen there. The transaction can take as few as three months and applicants need never visit the nation's sandy shores.

The allure? St. Kitts citizens can travel without a visa to more than a hundred countries, including Canada and all of Europe. They pay no personal income taxes, and the island's remote location in the West Indies serves as a safe haven, should the need for a quick move ever arise.

Demand for a second passport is "way up," says David Lesperance, a Canadian immigration lawyer. Among his recent clients: an Egyptian pro-democracy activist who worries about instability in his country, and a Chicago businessman who is convinced that the Occupy movements will lead to riots.

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1. Read that same report on MSNBC this morning. So, it appears that soon

the rich will be able to 'buy' citizenship in any country they want to avoid taxes. Even the UK and Canada are selling passports to invesors ($10 million, in one case).

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46359336/ns/world_news/