A Lebanese executive in Dubai hoped he could return to his country due to the economic collapse and got tired of waiting so long to get a visa for his business trips, so he paid $135,000 to buy a foreign passport.
A month later, he received a package containing his and his wife’s passports issued by Saint Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean.
Gad and his wife can now travel to more than 150 countries, including Europe, without the need for entry visas.
The new document is a quantum leap in Gad’s life as the Henley Passport Index ranks the Lebanese passport as one of the worst in the world in terms of ease of obtaining visas, and today it has become almost impossible to renew the passport due to the fact that supplies have run out. and lack of funding in a country in crisis. The economy has been choking since the fall of 2019.
Today, many wealthy Lebanese, most of whom work or invest in the Gulf states or Africa, are rushing to buy passports or obtain residence permits in other countries after losing hope that Lebanon will leave the country any time the violent economic collapse. While the Lebanese, in particular in the Gulf countries, numbering almost 350,000 people, including 100,000 in the Emirates, they are stuck in diplomatic and political tensions that cause them to fear losing their way of life.
As for Lebanon, where more than 80% of the population is below the poverty line, only a few can acquire foreign passports.
As a result of the economic collapse and explosion in the port of Beirut in 2020.
The number of Lebanese clients for the Swiss consulting firm Legacy, which employs José Charo, has quintupled.
