An organisation that aims to drive best practice in the expanding business of high net worth immigration - "golden visas" - has expanded into the Middle East, and Asia, UK and the US are next on the list.

A Geneva-headquartered group that sets standards for citizenship-by-investment – sometimes known as “golden visas” – has opened offices in Dubai, represented by Citizenship Invest. More offices are planned, including in Asia, it says.

The Investment Migration Council, it says, seeks to set standards globally and interact with professional groups, governments and international bodies involved in the world of investment migration. A number of jurisdictions, such as the UK, Malta, Portugal and Spain, operate residency and citizenship programmes in order to attract investments from high net worth individuals.

“I strongly believe that the IMC brings to the industry a regulatory structure which was long needed in order to have a more professional and honest framework which will primarily benefit citizenship applicants,” Veronica Cotdemiey, chief executive of Citizenship Invest, and IMC regional co-ordinator, said. “The Middle East is one of the strongest regions in the world for investment migration applicants, therefore in this region the number of professionals related to the industry is very high and they are mainly concentrated in Dubai,” she added.

IMC chief executive Bruno L’ecuyer said: “Dubai is the first of our overseas stations outside of Geneva to open, from here we go to Hong Kong, London and New York by the end of 2015.”

To see a feature about the market for "golden visas", click here.

Last year, Hong Kong suspended its scheme for attracting HNW individuals (see here) and Canada took a similar step in 2014. Typically, governments have used such schemes to encourage inward investment, although the issue of wealthy foreigners buying properties in some states, such as the UK, has come a hot political issue amid fears about rising residential prices. (Recently-issued data shows sharply rising Chinese demand for UK visas, for example.)