Dubai: A growing number of residents in the UAE and the rest of the Middle East region are spending thousands of dirhams to obtain a second passport.

One of the popular passport programmes in the market, the Malta Individual Investor Programme, is attracting a considerable interest from residents in the region, including UAE expatriates, with around 30 to 40 per cent of the applicants coming from the Middle East and North Africa (Mena).

According to Marco Gantenbein, managing partner of Henley & Partners Dubai office, Mena residents are the second-biggest investors of the Maltese program after Russians and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) residents.

“The trend of citizenship and residency through investments has significantly changed over the last few years. We have seen a growing interest from Middle East residents in obtaining a second passport,” Gantenbein told Gulf News.

Malta has just been declared one of the world’s top ten retirement destinations in 2015. The Annual Global Retirement Index by internationalliving.com ranked the country in the seventh position due to its warm weather and low crime rate.

The country’s citizenship-by-investment programme, rated as the best in the world by Henley & Partners, has already attracted more than 700 applications since its launch early last year, with more than Dh4 billion ( 1 billion euros) already committed to  the island nation.

Those who are interested to acquire a Maltese citizenship through the investor programme are required to invest at least Dh1.4 million (350,000 euros) in a property for at least five years, or rent an immovable property for a minimum of 16,000 euros a year over the same timeframe.

They are also required to contribute 650,000 euros to Malta’s National Development and Social Fund and fulfil other investments and obligations.

“The level of interest remains strong and the programme continues to see a high demand from the Mena region. We are pleased to see that many of the early applicants are now starting to make ancillary investments, outside of the [Malta investor programme] within the country,” said Gantenbein.

He said many residents in the Middle East are acquiring a second passport as they look for other alternative places to live in given the instability in the region.

“The main drivers for citizens in Mena are well beyond money. Most applicants in the Mena region are looking to invest in countries more substantially for security and safety reasons,” said Gantenbein.

The pursuit of providing a better education for their children is also encouraging Mena residents to secure a second passport.

“Being a Maltese citizen opens up the horizon for children and an international education for example, as being a [European Union] citizen provides the right to live, work and study in any of the EU countries. And then of course, there is the added benefit of mobility with the visa-free-travel that these passports provide.”