BEIRUT // With a crackdown on refugees crossing into Europe by boat and slim chances of resettlement, Syrians and Iraqis have fewer legal or illegal ways to escape the region’s conflicts. That is, of course, unless they have money.
Across the world, a number of countries offer citizenship or residency for foreign nationals in exchange for investment or property purchase. With few other options, Syrians and Iraqis who can afford these programs – most of which have price tags ranging from the hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions – are being drawn to them as the wars in their homelands continue.
Savory and Partners is a Dubai-based firm that acts as a middleman for clients looking to acquire a second citizenship or to secure residency by investment. Of late, Syrians have represented the company’s biggest client base, with Savory and Partners helping more than 100 Syrian families in the past year alone, with the vast majority opting for second citizenship services.
“The Arab Spring is where it all really saw an upswing in demand,” said Jeremy Savory, the company’s chief executive and founder. “So it started off with Egypt and Libya and then obviously we had Syria and Iraq.”
After Syrians and Iraqis, Mr Savory says Lebanese are his company’s third-biggest clients.
Most of the Syrian and Iraqi clients at firms like Mr Savory’s are already out of their homelands, with many working and residing in Arab Gulf states. But despite being safe from the war, many find their passports increasingly weakened as countries restrict the entry of Syrian and Iraqi nationals. And as they watch the wars in their countries continue, many have lost hope that they can ultimately return and are looking for a plan B.
“They’re just good people born in countries that in the space of a few years have been turned upside down,” said Mr Savory of his clients. “They’re upstanding individuals who are in a situation where they need a second passport to find stability for their family and their assets and their business.”
One Syrian who recently acquired a second citizenship is Yaser Akkad, a 44-year-old Aleppo native who is an executive at an information technology firm based in Jeddah. A few years ago, Mr Akkad was on a trip to England when he lost his passport. Knowing that Syria no longer had diplomatic representation in the United Kingdom, he panicked, putting advertisements in the local news and contacting the police.
Facing a long and difficult process of getting a new Syrian passport in a country with no Syrian embassy, some people advised Mr Akkad to apply for asylum in the United Kingdom or another European country. But as a successful executive who frequently traveled across the globe, he did not consider himself a refugee nor want to put his life on hold for a lengthy asylum process. Temporary travel papers could be easier to get than a new Syrian passport, but he said these would only get him back to Syria and a war he had no intention of seeing.
To his immense relief, Mr Akkad eventually found his passport among his belongings. But the experience shook him: in a world where Syrian passports open few doors and can be viewed with outright suspicion in many western countries, Mr Akkad decided he needed a second citizenship.
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