With the UK announcing new tax rules for foreigners living in the country, the government has been careful not to damage the country's appeal to wealthy foreigners.

The "non-dom" tax status "plays an important role in allowing those from abroad to contribute to our economy", says George Osborne, the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Along with the UK, Portugal, Switzerland, Israel and France have special tax rules to attract rich foreigners, with Cyprus recently announcing plans to introduce the concept of "domicile" into its taxation system.

Countries which try to draw in wealthy foreigners are starting to offer more than just tax concessions. Several countries, including many EU nations, have started to sell residence permits, while a few even offer passports. The number of citizenship by investment schemes have surged since the recent financial recession, with Cyprus even going as far as to offer foreign investors full citizenship as compensation for the loss of their bank deposits.

The Caribbean island of Antigua offers one such scheme, marketing itself to prospective citizens as a tropical island "with some 365 beaches of clean turquoise waters" that offers visa-free travel to 130 countries. Another selling point is that it only requires its new citizens to visit for five days every five years. Since the scheme started in 2014, Antigua has sold more than 500 passports to mainly Chinese nationals, bringing in $65.9m in much needed revenue.

The International Monetary Fund confirmed that citizenship by investment programs were seeing "a surge in clients from China, followed by Russia, and a steady rise in clients from the Middle East, although to a much lesser degree. A significant number of citizens from "advanced countries" were also using these schemes mostly to maximise their tax savings, it said, with several countries citing "their favourable tax treatment in an attempt to attract high net-worth clients seeking global tax planning".

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The content of this article reflects the personal insight of Attorney Colin Singer and needs no disclaimer.