Spear’s Review

Describing himself as a strategic thinker, Philippe Amarante is the Middle East managing partner at Henley & Partners. Operating from the firm’s busy Dubai office, he also acts as head of government advisory for EMEA.

Amarante has seen increased demand for citizenship in the countries his team covers, namely ‘the entire belt from Morocco over to Pakistan, including Egypt, Israel and the GCC countries’. Geopolitical factors and global economic instability are driving this interest: ‘Even a strong passport can be a liability,’ he tells Spear’s, and clients from all backgrounds are looking to ‘derisk their citizenship’. 

Well-equipped to advise high-net-worth individuals on maximising opportunities for their families, Amarante explains that many clients are already doing business in the countries where they are seeking citizenship. ‘The ideal scenario is that the citizenship or the residency is the result of an initiative that the family or the individual would have done anyway.’