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Dr. Juerg Steffen, FIMC, Chief Executive Officer at Henley & Partners
For much of the past century, governments could largely treat their wealthiest residents as a relatively fixed asset — rooted by businesses, family ties, and limited international mobility. That assumption is becoming increasingly outdated.
The growth of global investment migration, international entrepreneurship, and cross-border wealth has made it easier than ever for individuals and families to choose where they live, work, invest, and build their futures. As a result, jurisdictions are competing not only for capital, but also for the entrepreneurs, investors, business owners, and skilled individuals who contribute significantly to economic growth, innovation, employment, and prosperity.
Understanding the factors that shape these decisions is therefore becoming more important. Wealth mobility is no longer a niche issue affecting a small number of affluent families. It is now a significant feature of the global economy and an increasingly strategic consideration for countries seeking to strengthen their competitiveness in a more interconnected world.
The question is no longer simply where wealthy individuals are moving, but why are certain jurisdictions attracting them — and what this reveals about the qualities that make countries compelling places to live, invest, build businesses, and create long-term value.
Wealthy families are drawing their own conclusions from this changing environment. In a world characterized by geopolitical uncertainty, policy change, and economic fragmentation, many are no longer relying on a single jurisdiction for residence, investment, or long-term planning. Instead, they are increasingly building what might be described as ‘sovereign portfolios’ — combining residence rights, citizenship options, business interests, and assets across multiple jurisdictions to create greater resilience, flexibility, and optionality.
The Gulf illustrates this trend particularly clearly. Over the past decade, the UAE has established itself as one of the world’s leading centers for internationally mobile wealth, underpinned by a combination of business-friendliness, international connectivity, investor confidence, and long-term institution-building.
Recent geopolitical developments have, however, reinforced the importance many globally mobile families place on resilience and optionality. Rather than relying exclusively on any single jurisdiction, they are increasingly combining established bases of residence, business, and investment activity with additional residence and citizenship rights elsewhere as part of a broader long-term strategy to mitigate emerging risks and create new opportunities.
This is the sovereign portfolio in practice: not a replacement for one jurisdiction, but a deliberate diversification of access, opportunity, and security across several.
What many of the destinations gaining ground have in common is a deliberate effort to compete for internationally mobile wealth, talent, and investment by combining investor access, policy predictability, economic opportunity, and, in some cases, tax efficiency. Above all, they offer something increasingly valued by globally mobile families: certainty.
Italy is the clearest case. Its regime for new residents offers a flat charge on foreign income over 15 years, no foreign wealth tax, and firm grandfathering — an architecture few others match. When the lump sum rose to EUR 300,000 on 1 January 2026, demand remained resilient and increasingly concentrated among ultra-high-net-worth families, reflecting the continued attractiveness of a predictable, long-term framework relative to the potential tax exposure they may face elsewhere.
Much of the interest in Italy comes from the UK following its non-dom reforms, while Greece and Switzerland continue to attract attention as alternative European destinations as other programs on the continent close, narrow, or become less competitive.
Beyond the UAE, Saudi Arabia has emerged as one of the most significant new entrants, attracting capital through Vision 2030, economic diversification initiatives, and the return of Saudi-origin wealth. Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman are also broadening their offerings as competition for internationally mobile capital and talent intensifies.
The jurisdictions facing growing pressure are not in crisis. In most cases, they remain prosperous, attractive economies with significant structural strengths. However, a combination of policy changes, shifting dynamics, and growing uncertainty around their future direction has prompted some internationally mobile individuals and families to reassess their long-term positioning.
The UK remains one of the most closely watched wealth mobility markets globally. Concerns around competitiveness, predictability, and policy direction have intensified since Brexit and accelerated following a series of policy reforms affecting internationally mobile individuals and families. The abolition of the non-dom regime, changes to inheritance tax treatment, the closure of the Tier 1 Investor Visa, and a broader climate of fiscal and policy uncertainty have collectively reshaped the UK’s value proposition for globally mobile wealth.
Parts of continental Europe faces similar dynamics. France came within a single vote in October 2025 of adopting a citizenship-based taxation measure, while wealth-tax proposals remain part of ongoing fiscal discussions. Spain has ended its Golden Visa program while retaining its wealth tax. Germany continues to debate wealth taxation and faces significant inheritance and exit-tax exposure, prompting a growing number of affluent families there to consider securing an international foothold. And Norway’s wealth tax has also generated visible relocation activity among some high-net-worth residents.
Governments across Europe face legitimate fiscal pressures and difficult policy choices. However, the increasing mobility of wealth means that changes to taxation and regulation can influence behavior more quickly than in the past, particularly when internationally mobile individuals and families have access to credible alternatives.
The deeper signal is not simply movement itself but the widening range of viable destinations available to internationally mobile families.
Asia illustrates this particularly clearly. Japan continues to attract Chinese wealth, while Thailand has emerged as an increasingly relevant regional alternative. Singapore remains one of the world’s most attractive destinations for globally mobile wealth, even as family-office thresholds and entry requirements become more selective.
On the outflow side, South Korea is seeing growing interest in international diversification as founder families and business owners assess the implications of inheritance taxation, succession planning, and long-term competitiveness.
However, it’s worth pointing out that wealth mobility decisions are rarely driven by tax considerations alone. Business opportunities, education, lifestyle, succession planning, access rights, regulatory certainty, and long-term geopolitical considerations increasingly form part of the equation.
The USA continues to embody one of the most interesting dynamics in global wealth mobility.
It remains the world’s largest private wealth market and one of the most powerful engines of wealth creation, supported by deep capital markets, entrepreneurial culture, and long-established investor migration pathways. At the same time, it also represents one of the largest sources of outbound migration enquiries received by Henley & Partners.
These are not contradictory trends. They reflect two different groups making two different decisions. Some are drawn to the ample opportunities available within the USA, while others are seeking additional residence or citizenship options as part of a broader international diversification strategy.
For many, this is not a decision to leave the USA but to create optionality. Access itself has become a strategic asset, valued not only for where it leads today but for the flexibility and resilience it may provide tomorrow.
One finding stands out from this year’s Henley Private Wealth Migration Report. Wealth mobility is becoming increasingly responsive to policy change, with decisions that may once have taken years to influence behavior now often having an impact within months or even quarters.
New Zealand offers a clear example. The relaunch of the Active Investor Plus Visa has generated hundreds of applications within nine months compared with little more than one hundred over the previous two and a half years. Responses that might once have unfolded over generations are increasingly visible within reporting cycles.
The implication is not that wealth moves solely in response to tax policy or migration programs. Rather, globally mobile individuals and families are becoming increasingly sensitive to changes in competitiveness, access, predictability, and long-term planning conditions.
Historical reputation alone is becoming less decisive than it once was. Increasingly, jurisdictions must compete through a combination of policy competitiveness, investor access, institutional quality, stability, and long-term predictability.
The jurisdictions that successfully attract and retain internationally mobile entrepreneurs, investors, and families are likely to enjoy important advantages in the years ahead. Equally, those that overlook the growing importance of wealth mobility may find it increasingly difficult to compete for the capital, talent, and enterprise that contribute to long-term economic prosperity.
As the global leader in residence and citizenship planning, Henley & Partners is best placed to advise you and your family. Contact us for a free consultation.
