BVI vs UAE (Freezone)

JustAnotherNomad said:

I’ve heard that Panama for example publishes the names of new citizens, and the foreign embassy workers study those publications carefully.

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is there anything public about it or where did you get that information from?

sonato said:

is there anything public about it or where did you get that information from?

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I don’t remember where I read it. But apparently there is some government publication where they make public announcements - and who has received citizenship is one of the things that’s contained there. If true, it shouldn’t be hard to find. Maybe ask the Panamanian embassy?

JustAnotherNomad said:

I don’t remember where I read it. But apparently there is some government publication where they make public announcements - and who has received citizenship is one of the things that’s contained there. If true, it shouldn’t be hard to find. Maybe ask the Panamanian embassy?

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Who aquires a panamanian passport as a banking passport? Nobody because there exist other passports which you can aquire faster.
Usually panamanian residence card is used for this. Names of residence card owners are not published.

What you are talking about are some carribbean islands. They publish the names of their new citizens in a paper.

Plavivoz said:

What you are talking about are some carribbean islands. They publish the names of their new citizens in a paper.

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I read this about Panama. But it was just an example. I just meant to point out that you shouldn’t be so sure that your home country won’t find out.

JustAnotherNomad said:

I read this about Panama. But it was just an example. I just meant to point out that you shouldn’t be so sure that your home country won’t find out.

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I totally agree with your point of view. This is playing with fire. There are better ways in 2020 anyway.

Plavivoz said:

I totally agree with your point of view. This is playing with fire. There are better ways in 2020 anyway.

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what are the better ways if you don't mind to tell me ?

Plavivoz said:

Who aquires a panamanian passport as a banking passport? Nobody because there exist other passports which you can aquire faster.

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sorry, again, what are the better passports?

offshoreavatar said:

That’s a good example thank you. I’ll have to think about that! Cheers

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Hey @offshoreavatar,
You still here?
i'm in a similar situation to you.
did you managed to open BVI / UAE company?
can you suggest a provider for forming one?
i tried to DM but it seems i cannot

The UAE is by far the better retail setup.

VP BANK (BVI) is the only from the BVI Banks that opens you an account nowadays without being resident in the BVI. However VP Bank (BVI) is focusing on wealth management only and you can't utilise them to faciliate day to day transactions - also the min balance is 100.000 USD.


"We are primarily focused on financing, investment management, custodial and securities trading accounts for our clients. Please note that we are not able to facilitate high levels of payment transactions/pass through accounts, and do not offer credit card services at this time. "

So it depends on what you are looking for an what do you want - for investment / passive holding companies give it a try but FORGET the BVI in 2021 if you want to have decent reliable retail banking with 0 Balance Requirements and day to day transactions. Nothing beats the UAE in terms of straightforward setup and having an active trading business - it's what Hong Kong was 5 years ago. Not to mention the difficults in transacting around with a BVI bank account.

PS: there is Bank of Asia (BVI) they are running on an EMI as well as all the Dominican Crypto friendly banks that actually popping out like mushrooms so if youare fine with banking on an EMI - you can get something done with a BVI company as active trading company but the fees are most of the times % and you can easily setup something in Dubai after you use such an EMI for 1 year.

So you suggest better UAE over BVI right?

burden said:

So you suggest better UAE over BVI right?

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For an active trading business with day to day banking operations that needs to be transactional - for 100% go with the UAE.

If you are looking for wealth management then BVI can still be an option depending on what exactly you are looking for - basically you should only stick to the BVI if they provide some legal framework or regulations for some special requirements of your business.

I personally wouldn't stick to anything in the Caribic and especially not in the tarnished jurisdictions like BVI/Cayman if your field of business is not typically dealing in this jurisdictions - means in practice if you are running some fund - look into the Caymans but don't look into the Caymans in 2021 to run an E-Commerce Business or Social Media agencie.

Furthermore time will tell how all the british overseas territories handle the public UBO register that is planned: