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　　Why citizenship is now a commodity

　　国籍为何成为如今生活必需品?

　　On a recent flight, I was idly flipping through the inflight magazine, when I came across an unusual advert promising “a unique strategy to safeguard your future prosperity and security.”

　　在最近一次的航行中，我无所事事地翻看了一本航空公司杂志，看到了一则非同寻常的广告，这则广告承诺“给你一个独特的策略来保卫你未来的繁荣和安全”。

　　The advert was plugging what it called “citizenship by investment.”

　　这则广告在推销所谓的投资获得公民身份。

　　I’d heard of citizenship-for-sale initiatives in the past, and – prompted by the ad – I briefly wondered whether a second citizenship beyond my American one was something I might need. Is this something that people other than the uber rich are considering, and for reasons other than tax optimisation? And if so, why?

　　过去，我听说过出售公民身份倡议，受到广告的提示，我突然想知道除了美国公民身份，拥有第二公民身份是否是我需要的东西。这是除了巨富以外的人正在考虑的事情吗?除了优化税率以外，有其他这么做的原因吗?如果有，为什么呢?

　　“The global rise of populist movements, together with an ever-increasing sentiment towards the creation of insular societies have all contributed to the unpredictability of our rapidly changing world,” explained the advert.

　　广告解释说：“民粹主义运动的全球崛起以及对建立岛屿社会的不断增长的情绪，都构成了我们瞬息万变的世界的不可预测性。

　　As more countries tighten their borders and paths to immigration, a new industry is working to bypass those restrictions – for a hefty fee.

　　随着越来越多的国家收紧移民的边界和路径，一个新的行业正在努力通过付出巨额费用绕过这些限制。

　　Investment citizenship programmes are not new. They’ve been around for decades, primarily as a way for countries to boost their incomes. Canada and the Caribbean island of St Kitts and Nevis started theirs in the 1980s and the US and UK began similar ones in the 1990s.

　　投资公民身份项目并不新奇。它们已经存在几十年了，这主要是国家创收的一种方式。加拿大和加勒比海圣基茨和尼维斯岛在20世纪80年代开始，美国和英国在20世纪90年代开始了类似的项目。

　　The specifics of different investment citizenship programmes vary by country. They allow foreigners to invest in real-estate projects and businesses, buy property, or to donate money directly to a country’s government in exchange for a visa or passport.

　　不同投资公民身份的计划细节因国家而异。这些项目允许外国人投资房地产项目和企业，购买房产，或者直接向国家政府捐款，以换取签证或护照。

　　St. Kitts and Nevis launched its initiative in 1984, one year after the fledgling country claimed independence from the UK. The aim was to get more money flowing in from entrepreneurs who saw value in tropical beaches and low taxes.

　　1984年，初生的圣基茨和尼维斯在宣布脱离英国独立后的一年，启动这项提议。目的是为了获得看到热带海滩和低税价值的企业家更多的流入资金。

　　It only attracted a few hundred participants in the beginning. But, by 2009, backed by a marketing campaign, passport holders of the island nation were given visa-free access to the 26 Schengen area countries and demand increased rapidly.

　　起初，这个项目只吸引了数百位参与者。但是截至2009年，在营销活动的支持下，岛国护照持有人可免签证进入26个申根地区国家，需求迅速增长。

　　The industry has seen huge growth in recent years. 2014 marked the first year that the US ran out of immigrant-investor visas before the end of the fiscal year.

　　近年来，这一产业快速增长。2014年标志着美国首次在年底前发光了移民投资者签证。

　　Wealthy, private investors from emerging market economies are driving the trend, according to The International Monetary Fund.

　　国际货币基金组织(International Monetary Fund)表示，来自新兴市场经济体的富裕私人投资者正在推动这一趋势。