Narayan AmmachchiEl Salvador hopes to draw the attention of foreign super talents by offering 5,000 free passports to scientists, engineers, doctors and other highly skilled professionals.
President Nayib Bukele unveiled the program via a post on X, adding that the passport holders could also be granted voting rights.
Although the 5,000 future passport holders would account for less than 0.1% of El Salvador’s population, President Bukele expects the economic impact of such a small group to be considerable.
“With less than 0.1% of our population represented, granting these professionals full citizenship, including voting privileges, poses no issue,” he stated on X. “Despite the small number, their contributions will have a huge impact on our society and the future of our country.
We're offering 5,000 free passports (equivalent to $5 billion in our passport program) to highly skilled scientists, engineers, doctors, artists, and philosophers from abroad.
This represents less than 0.1% of our population, so granting them full citizen status, including…
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) April 6, 2024
This isn’t El Salvador’s first shot at using migratory documents to attract foreigners, particularly from the cripto realm. In late 2023, the country launched the “Freedom Visa Program“, offering visa privileges in exchange for foreign investment.
El Salvador finds itself under a drive towards transformation. President Bukele’s crackdown on gang violence, though heavily critisized for its high levels of agression, seems to have worked, taking El Salvador’s homicide rate to very low numbers and making the country one of the safest in all of the Americas. This has led to a revival of El Salvador’s tourism sector.
The country has also been working on its fiscal policies. Federal authorities stopped taxing remittances, which represent a crucial a part of family income in many households across the country.
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