Migration trends shifting for millionaires to and from United States

By Anayat Durrani

More Americans are chasing a different American dream outside of the United States as the country is losing some of its allure among migrating millionaires.

The net inflow of high-net-worth individuals to the U.S. dropped 86% in 2022 in comparison to pre-pandemic levels. Net inflows of millionaires to the U.S. in 2022 fell to just 1,500, compared to between 2013 to 2019 when net inflows of millionaires ranged between 6,400 to 10,800 annually.

For the first time, Americans jumped ahead of all nationalities applying for residence and citizenship by investment programs, with Henley & Partners saying it received more inquiries on record in 2022—a 447% increase from 2019, per a new wealth report by H&P in partnership with wealth intelligence firm New World Health.

The report shows that rich Americans are increasingly seeking a back-up plan to future proof their wealth and settle their families in other locales.

Andrew Amolis, head of research at New World Wealth says wealthy Americans could be leaving the U.S. for a variety of reasons, such as retirement, an expected increase in U.S. taxes over the next few years, rising crime rates, issues with the US healthcare system and rising insurance costs.

“Information sharing between banks have made it difficult for HNWIs to keep their money offshore. Some HNWIs are simply moving to where their money is, for example, Switzerland,” says Amolis.

HNWIs increasingly seeking global mobility options

Wealthy Americans are being drawn to golden visas and migration programs. Nuri Katz, founder of citizenship-by-investment services firm Apex Capital Partners, says wealthy Americans are looking into alternative citizenship as a hedge or insurance policy. He says many HNWIs understand that the U.S. is going through political and economic turmoil and are unsure what kind of upheaval it could lead to.

“These individuals want to know they will be able to leave the country and will be assured that they will actually have a place to go where they are welcomed as citizens,” Katz said.“The wealthy are concerned that their assets can be attacked by either the government with higher taxation or by civil unrest and they want to make sure they have an alternative where they can go in case they actually need to leave the country to protect themselves.”

Amolis says popular destinations for outgoing American HNWIs include Switzerland, Portugal, France, Italy, Greece, Mexico, Caribbean Islands, Australia and New Zealand.

“Migrating HNWIs from the world over are increasingly preferring Australia to USA. This is a trend we have been tracking for some time,” says Amolis.

He says Australia overtook the US as the top destination for migrating HNWIs in 2015 and that inflows into Australia have exceeded the US since. Possible reasons for this, he says, include that Australia is safer than the U.S., the country has no estate duty and for its public healthcare system.

“In the US, getting healthcare insurance can be very difficult for incoming HNWIs, especially for older HNWIs,” says Amolis.

Top investment immigration options for Americans include the Portugal Golden Residence Permit Program followed by Malta’s investment offering, which grants citizenship by a certificate of naturalization to foreigners and their families making contributions to the country’s economic development.

Future migration trends for wealthy investors 

The year 2023 is projected to be a record-breaking year, with 125,000 millionaires migrating abroad and “practically doubling in number the 64,000 high-net-worth individuals who migrated in 2015,” Mehdi Kadiri, managing partner and Head of North America at H&P, wrote in the report.

Despite the mass migration, the United States remains the world’s largest wealth market with $65.4 trillion in private wealth and comprises 32% of global wealth and 36% of high-net-worth individuals worldwide. There are 770 billionaires in the U.S., 9,630 centimillionaires and 5.3 million high-net-worth individuals. The US also has the world’s two largest stock markets—the NYSE and the Nasdaq—and has nine of the top ten of the world’s largest companies by market cap, per the report.

Millionaires are moving around within the U.S. too. Big cities like Los Angeles, New York and Chicago are losing millionaires to smaller and mid-size cities in Arizona, Texas and Florida. The fastest growing U.S. cities for millionaires are Austin at 30,500+, followed by the cities of West Palm Beach, Scottsdale, Miami as well as Greenwich and Darien in Connecticut. All of the cities experienced a 70%+ millionaire growth over the past decade.

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