Questions to ask your lawyer and tax adviser before choosing a route

An investment-linked move touches several areas of regulated advice at once: immigration, contracts and property, companies, tax and the investment itself. No single summary can cover them, and in most cases no single professional can either. The people who can answer the important questions are licensed lawyers, tax advisers and regulated financial professionals — usually in more than one country.

Their time is valuable, and the quality of what you get from them depends heavily on the quality of what you ask. This article offers a structured set of questions to take to those conversations. It does not answer them; the answers depend on the jurisdictions, the programme, the investment and your circumstances, and only the right professional can give them.

General information only. Nothing here is legal, tax or investment advice, and nothing describes the rules of any country or programme. Use these questions to prepare for advice from qualified, appropriately licensed professionals in each relevant jurisdiction.

Before the first meeting

Advisers work best from a clear brief. Before you meet anyone, prepare a short written summary that covers:

• Your objectives, ranked, and who they involve. Our guide to clarifying your objective for an investment route can help.
• The people concerned: who would relocate, who would be included, and who would only be affected indirectly.
• Where things are now: where each person lives, works and holds citizenship or residence today.
• Your assets and structures in outline: businesses, property, investments and any holding companies or trusts.
• What you have already read or been offered, with the source.
• Your source-of-funds position: how far your records are organised, and where the gaps are. See documenting your source of funds.

Bring copies of anything you have been asked to sign or pay. A professional cannot assess a document they have not seen.

It also helps to ask, at the start of each engagement, what the adviser is and is not covering, in which jurisdiction they are qualified, and how they charge. Clarity about scope prevents the most common gap: each adviser assuming another is dealing with a question that, in fact, no one is.

Questions about the route and its conditions

These are questions for a professional authorised to advise on immigration in the relevant jurisdiction, and for a lawyer where legal effect is in question.

• What is the current official basis for this route — which law, regulation or programme document — and when was it last changed?
• What status would the route lead to, and what does that status allow and require in practice?
• What conditions apply before a decision, and which continue afterwards?
• Is there any presence or residence condition, and how would it apply to my actual pattern of living?
• How is the status renewed or maintained, and what could cause it to be lost?
• What happens to an application, or to an existing status, if the programme is amended, suspended or closed?
• Which parts of what I have been told can you confirm from the official text, and which cannot be confirmed?
• What is the official procedure, and what does the authority itself say about steps and timing?

Ask for answers in writing where possible, with references to the official sources relied on. Terms change, and a dated written answer is far more useful later than a remembered conversation.

Questions about the investment and the exit

These belong with a lawyer for the contractual and ownership questions, and with an independent, regulated financial adviser for the question of suitability. Neither should be the party selling the investment.

What you would actually own

• Who exactly is the counterparty, and how can their identity, standing and authority be verified?
• What precisely would I own or be entitled to, and what would I not?
• Who would hold the asset, in whose name, and under whose control?
• What documents would establish my ownership, who issues them and how are they registered?

Obligations and costs

• What obligations would continue after the investment — maintenance, reporting, management, conditions linked to the programme?
• What categories of fee and cost exist at the start, during the holding and on exit, and what are they in writing?
• Are any payments non-returnable, and if so, which?

Exit

• When and how could the investment be exited, and what restrictions or conditions might apply?
• What happens to the investment if the migration application is refused, or if the programme changes?
• What happens on the death or incapacity of the investor?

Suitability

• Separately from the migration question, is this investment suitable for me, given my objectives, other assets, liquidity needs and attitude to risk?
• What are the main risks — market, liquidity, counterparty, currency, legal — and how would they affect me?

That last group deserves emphasis. A programme accepting an investment means only that it meets the programme's criteria. It does not mean the investment is sound, fairly priced or right for you. That judgement requires independent advice.

Questions about tax, in every relevant country

Immigration status and tax position are separate questions, and how they interact depends on the laws of each country involved and on your circumstances. A move can raise tax questions in the country you leave, the country you move to and any country where you hold assets or run a business. These are questions for qualified tax advisers in each jurisdiction concerned.

• How might a change of residence or status affect my tax position where I live now, and where I may live?
• How would my existing companies, holdings and structures be treated after a move?
• How might the investment itself be treated — on acquisition, while it is held and on exit?
• Are there reporting or disclosure obligations that would arise from the investment, the move or the transfer of funds?
• How should the timing of a move, a sale or a transfer be considered from a tax perspective?
• Do the advisers in each country need to speak to one another, and who will coordinate that?

Be wary of any summary — including from a party selling an investment — that presents tax as simple or favourable without advice specific to you. Tax outcomes depend on details that only a qualified adviser can assess.

Questions about family members

Family questions sit across immigration, legal and tax advice.

• Which family members could be included, on what conditions, and what would each need to provide, according to the official terms?
• What happens to an included family member's status as their circumstances change — for example as children grow up, marry or move?
• How would ownership of the investment be structured within the family, and what are the legal consequences of each option?
• How might inheritance and succession be affected by a move or by the investment, in each relevant country?
• Does any family member hold another nationality or status that could be affected?

Never assume that family members are automatically included. Inclusion is set by each programme, and its conditions must be confirmed.

Questions to ask about the advisers themselves

It is reasonable — and wise — to ask professionals about their own position:

• In which jurisdiction are you licensed or regulated, and for what kind of advice?
• Are you independent of any party offering the investment or programme, and do you receive any payment linked to my choice?
• What exactly is included in your engagement, and what is excluded?
• How will you document your advice?

An adviser who is reluctant to answer these questions has told you something important. Our guide to warning signs when evaluating programmes and intermediaries covers this in more detail.

Bringing the answers together

The answers you collect will come from different people, in different forms and sometimes in different languages. Keeping them organised is half the value of asking:

• One question log, recording each question, who it went to, the answer, the date and the source relied on.
• Open questions marked clearly, so nothing is lost between advisers.
• Contradictions flagged, so that they can be put back to the advisers concerned.
• Documents filed with the answers they relate to.

Where answers conflict, do not choose the more convenient one. Put the conflict back to the professionals and ask them to resolve it.

How Wobridge coordinates rather than replaces

Wobridge works at the planning level. We help you prepare the brief, organise documents, frame these questions, keep a single record of what each adviser has said and identify what is still open. We can help you find the right kinds of professionals and coordinate between them.

We do not give tax, securities or investment advice, and we do not replace a licensed professional where one is required. Legal questions are handled by Wobridge's lawyers within their areas of expertise (immigration law and international commercial law), working with partner lawyers in the relevant country where local advice is needed. Keeping that line clear is part of what makes coordination useful: every regulated question goes to someone qualified to answer it.

Summary

Before choosing an investment-linked route, take structured questions to licensed professionals: about the route and its conditions, about the investment and its exit, about tax in every relevant country, about family members and about the advisers themselves. Prepare a clear brief, ask for written answers with sources, keep a single question log and resolve contradictions rather than choosing between them. Keep the migration question and the investment question separate, and make sure each is answered by someone qualified to do so.

If you would like help preparing your brief and coordinating the questions across advisers, you can talk to Wobridge about investment migration.