You do not need citizenship. Detachment within the firm is sufficient. Employees then remain citizen of their home country. This way a Russian firm in Berlin can bring Russian citizens to their subsidiary in Germany without requesting German citizen rights. Best, tz

In this context dual citizenship is an interesting case. Dual citizenship would facilitate a reverse of the "braindrain". Many African countries do not allow dual citizenship and thus African who have migrated and obtained a new (US, European country passport) have to give up their African nationality, as do their children. This makes it difficult for them to go back to invest...

Thank you all very much for your answers!

@Gerdien: That is a very interesting topic you are raising. This phenomenon is rather new, as the interest of the African high potential in their own countries of origin starts to grow because of the economic development and potential most of the African countries starting to have. But doesnt that have more to do with the regulations of the countries giving their own citizens priority when it comes to investments, ownership and other governmental ownership? The perfect example for that would be the Gulf countries. 40 years ago nobody in the Gulf Region was interested in the citizenship in UAE, Bahrain and Qatar. Now things have changes and these countries are very, very strict and sometimes dont even grant citizenship to people who are only half from there. But I am sure that this could be an interesting tool for African countries in the future in connection with the huge problem of "braindrain".

@Pierre: The definition of Foreign Direct Investor is not limited to corporations only. There is very detailed definition from OECD which clearly defines that also private investors can act as foreign direct investors. The massive interest of private investors from the Middle East towards Dubai made the greta development of this amazing metropole possible. I would even say that the residence policy of the Dubai government, granting all real estate investors and their families residence visa to live in Dubai was the most important reason for the amazing inflow of investment into this city. This lead to great demand and to further investments through institutional investors. This also means, that not every direct investment must lead to a set up of a corporation...but correct me please if I am wrong.

Mazdak, Gerdien.

I agree with Pierre that FDI inflows into any given country do not necessarily have to do with granting Visas or citizenship to investors. This might work for countries like Qatar, UAE, Kuwait for a number of reasons. There are many reasons why some poor countries, say in Sub-Saharan Africa MIGHT FAIL to attract FDI inflows due to political risk (civil war, poor or weak governance, time inconsistent policy arrangements), high inflation rates, under-developed financial markets, high foreign debt burden, very poor investments in primary, secondary and tertiary education (low human capital development), very low investments in health infrastructure, low investments in physical and institutional infrastructure (water, electricity, telephony), etc, etc, etc. Foreign Direct Investment just like any other capital flows will NOT FLOW into a country scoring very low on most of the points raised above EVEN IF IT GRANTS CITIZENSHIP TO FOREIGNERS. These Arab countries have strong links with the US, JAPAN, EU and Saudi Arabia and other rich Arab countries. They might be using their limited oil reserves (if any) to properly invest in "AN ATTRACTIVE ENVIRONMENT" for these foreigners to feel comfortable to settle there as citizens.

Remember investors are always finicky characters who are VERY VERY CHOOSY in where they put their capital, be it FDI or Equity Porfolio Investment.

Barnabas Kiiza. Makerere University

Some other countries also grant residence permits if foreigners invest a certain amount: e.g. Latvia (have a look at a short overview of minimum amounts required from this link: https://www.rietumu.lv/en/residence-permit ). For e.g. Russian business people it is a good chance to invest and move freely within the Schengen area.

 Visas have an undisputed impact on FDI and trade.  I attach my study of Turkey's case with about 190 countries. Why don't countries use visas to support FDI? First, for security reasons. Second, they aren't aware of the impact. e.g. how much visas affect trade or FDI. More studies needed.

I enclose my recently published article.

Best regards,

Engin Akman