The tiny central Pacific nation of Nauru is selling off its citizenship to help fight the effects of climate change.
Since it launched the Nauru Economic and Climate Resilience Citizenship Program late last year, it has had a small but steady flow of applicants keen to buy a passport.
The cost per applicant started at NZ$178,000, but with additional fees was closer to NZ$237,500. While the scheme had offices in Nauru, Hong Kong and Dubai, the citizenship programme’s HQ was in Auckland.
Kiwi Edward Clark, who has a background in finance, heads the team.
He said the first applicants to gain citizenship under the programme were a German family driven by a desire to contribute toward climate change mitigation initiatives, but Clark explained the motivations for people exploring alternative citizenship was broad.
There was the American, who applied because of what he saw around him, as political volatility. "Many might be needing it for mobility purposes," said Clark.
"A Nigerian family, a banking professional recently moved to the UAE and set up a business there and for him, the Nauruan passport enabled him greater mobility for doing business globally."
Nauruan citizenship gave visa-free access to places like the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.
So far, citizenship had been granted to around 20 people under the scheme.
Clark was not concerned about the small numbers. The first year, he said, has been about gaining credibility in the growing "citizenship by investment" market. Much of that, was about re-building Nauru's reputation in the industry.
When Nauru ran a similar programme in the early 2000s, it was eventually revealed that among the new Nauruan passport holders was Al Qaeda and the Russian mafia.
Now Russia and a host of other countries, including North Korea and Iran were excluded from applying. Clark, who has held roles in Asia investigating finance crime, said he was confident the programme will get the right people.
"The programme itself may attract people who are criminals or bad actors to apply but we have really robust due diligence controls in place."
CBI, or citizenship by investment is a growing industry. The popular St Kitts and Nevis citizenship programme was set up by the same law firm advising the Nauruan government on the programme managed out of Auckland. Vanuatu also sold citizenship.
Clark said while new citizens are sure to receive a warm welcome in Nauru, successful applicants are not required to go there.
Nauru, the third smallest country in the world, was isolated and without a tourist industry.
Last century it was mined for its rich phosphate deposits which enriched New Zealand and Australia's agricultural industry but left the higher areas of the island arid and uninhabitable.
It's hoped the Nauru Economic and Climate Resilience Citizenship program will contribute toward the nation's plan to restore some of that land not exposed to sea level rise.
"We're trying to help the government diversify their revenue streams to develop the island," said Clark.
This month, the Nauruan government revived another revenue stream: running detention centres for the Australian government. Nauru will receive AU$408 million to resettle around 350 detainees in the new deal confirmed last week.
But the new citizenship programme was focused on promoting its potential benefits, with its CEO pointing out that alternative passports could assist Olympic hopefuls.
"I'd love to see an applicant apply for citizenship so they could participate in the Olympics. Bring it on I'd say."
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Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of New Zealand On Air
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