Dangerous Liaisons: Money and Citizenship 9 In Malta, recipients of the golden passport will be vetted in accordance with a discretionary ministerial act that puts in place little transparency and accountability. Government officials have made clear that applicants can expect an expedited treatment, meaning that they will not have to ‘stand in the queue’ like everyone else. In addition, the names of golden passport recipients would remain confidential, making it close to impossible ever to know to whom the polity has sold a precious part of its soul. This last provision has raised the ire of the opposition. Their concern is that concealing the identity of those who gain membership by literally purchasing citizenship makes it so that ‘Maltese [a]re now being denied the right to know who is Maltese’3. The secrecy provision was eventually withdrawn in the eleventh hour, but the basic structure of the programme remains intact: privileged and fast-track naturalisation, allowing ‘any Tom, Dick and Harry … [to] buy a Maltese passport without ever setting foot on Maltese soil.’ A recent survey4 shows that the vast majority of the population opposes the sale of citizenship in principle, and rejects this scheme in particular, detached as it is from any residence or other requirements that would establish ties with the passport-­ granting country and society. Beyond Europe, those seeking a new passport can look to St. Kitts and Nevis, where economic citizenship can be purchased for as low as $ 250,000 (for a lump sum) or $ 400,000 (if monies are directed to a real estate project), and issued within months. They might also consider Antigua and Barbuda, which is the latest in a growing list of countries to roll out a citizenship-­by-investment programme or the Commonwealth of Dominica. Whereas ordinarily the law requires significant residence periods for those seeking naturalisation in these island nations (fourteen years in St Kitts and Nevis, seven years in the Commonwealth of Dominica and in Antigua and Barbuda, respectively), the residency requirement is reduced to merely seven days – a short vacation under the tropical sun – or even waived altogether for those who purchase their fast-tracked passport. The citizenship-by-investment programmes that I have just described fall into the category of what we might call unfettered cash-for-passport exchanges. No ‘nexi’ between the country and the passport recipient are 3 4 ‘Updated. Mario de Marco: “Opposition will not support prostitution of Malta’s identity, citizenship”’, Malta Today, 9 November 2013, available at https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/31325/opposition-proposeschange-of-name-to-individual-donor-programme-20131109#.Ws3jxHK-nZs ‘Contentious citizenship scheme approved’, Malta Today, 12 November 2013, available at https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/31402/contentiouscitizenship-scheme-approved-20131112#.Ws3i9XK-nZs