International Man: Today, the political risks are growing rapidly. Having a ‘Plan B’—a second residency, offshore assets, and a bolt-hole are crucial. But the global situation has changed substantially: immigration everywhere is more strict, and the options are becoming more limited.
Is the original idea of a Plan B dead? Or is it just the execution getting more expensive, bureaucratized, and surveilled?”
Doug Casey: It’s not dead. In fact, it’s more important than ever. But it’s definitely getting harder to effectuate.
I’m not a fan of Teddy Roosevelt’s very progressive and Statist political views, but he had some wise thoughts. He said, “Do the best you can where you are with what you have.” And that’s true in considering your Plan B.
There’s a very negative trend in motion, worldwide. Everywhere, the size of government is growing. Before WW1, almost no country had income tax, estate tax, sales tax, or anything but excise taxes and duties. Everywhere, including the US, the State took less than 5%, or at most 10%, of GDP.
But now—certainly when you include state and local taxes—governments take 40%, 50%, or even 60% of GDP. This is a worldwide problem. The trend has been in motion for over 100 years, and it’s accelerating. Not only that, but governments are now working together to corral their subjects, making an effective Plan B much harder. The answer is not to act like an immobile houseplant, hoping for the best. Acting like a houseplant is not a good survival strategy for a human.
International Man: Across the world, we’re seeing tighter immigration rules, longer processing times, and more ‘soft barriers.’ Do you see this as a temporary political cycle—or the start of a long-term shift where governments deliberately make the global movement of people and capital harder?
Doug Casey: One reason it’s getting harder is because for the last few decades, there’s been mass migration from poor countries to rich countries. The poor countries, not just coincidentally, are usually politically repressive. It’s natural that people want to get out, but that doesn’t mean that richer and freer countries should let them in. If too many migrants with alien habits, language, race, religion, and culture settle in some places, the result will be civil war.
Canada has a very welcoming immigration policy, taking in about 500,000 new permanent residents per year, plus hundreds of thousands of “temporary” residents. Most of them are from the Indian subcontinent, and it’s already changed the nature of Canada. About 25% of its 41 million people were born abroad. I’ve long joked that there’s nothing wrong with Canada that importing 40 million Nigerians wouldn’t cure. It’s not much of a joke, though, because although 40 million is only 20% of Nigeria’s population. It would totally, radically, and permanently change the nature of Canada. And not for the better, if you value Western Civilization.
Of course, it’s considered politically incorrect to make laws discriminating against migrants. That accounts for the soft barriers. But it’s clear something must change, unless you don’t mind Minneapolis resembling Mogadishu, or Toronto becoming Calcutta. Once aliens enter a country, as Trump is finding, and Europeans already know, it’s almost impossible to get rid of them. At the same time, everywhere in so-called democracies, there are forces encouraging these people to migrate because they generally vote for leftist governments, which give them lots of freebies. Many in the West have a self-destructive psychology.
In the long run, demographics—not the economy, political theories, or military adventures—shape the world. There’s a certain inevitability to the current trend. If we look far into the future, today’s political borders will have pretty much vanished, as will most racial and ethnic groupings. I suspect Olaf Stapleton’s “Last and First Men”, one of the most cosmic novels ever written, will prove prescient—but that’s another story.
International Man: International diversification used to sound like an offensive play, giving people more freedom, opportunity, and diversification away from their home country.
Now it has become a defensive necessity. If moving money across borders and opening accounts has become a compliance obstacle course, what does practical diversification look like in 2026?
Doug Casey: Governments everywhere are acting in concert, helping each other to control their citizens. George Carlin was right: It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it. The upper reaches of governments, big business, academia, and media are populated by a self-contained new elite class. They’re the types who attend the World Economic Forum.
From a practical point of view, if you’re an American, it’s now almost impossible to open a bank or brokerage account in a foreign country unless you have a residence there. That’s not because it’s illegal under US law, but because Americans are more trouble and liability than it’s worth for the financial institution.
And it’s only going to get worse as digital currencies are instituted. AI will make international controls more pervasive. Already, just transferring money for legitimate purposes requires a bank to ask lots of questions to ensure that you’re not an Enemy of the State.
I suggest that if you’re going to diversify internationally, do it now. While it’s still possible, it’s hard to open a foreign bank or brokerage account, but there’s one excellent alternative. That would be to open an account with a group like SWP Cayman, where you can store gold and silver. But do it now, while it’s still possible to transfer your dollars outside the country.
International Man: St. Kitts & Nevis pioneered modern citizenship-by-investment (CBI) and is often described as the oldest CBI program.
In 2026, under rising international pressure, it’s shifting away from ‘write a check’ citizenship toward residency, participation, and long-term engagement. What does that signal about the broader trend of internationalization options or CBI programs?
Doug Casey: It’s good to recall that passports are a method of State control. In past centuries, you could enter almost any country simply by presenting yourself as a person of means and good character. Passports were intended to act as an introduction to the local ruler in case you encountered a problem. They were once a plus, but they’ve turned into a minus. They’ve been transformed into slave cards, showing who owns you.
Up to the early 1990s, I often traveled on my World Service Authority passport. The WSA was founded by Gary Davis, who was a US bomber pilot during World War II. He was so disgusted by what he did during the war that he burned his US passport in Paris. It was a major scandal, not only because he’d been an American officer, but because he was the son of Meyer Davis, a famous bandleader. But then he found he couldn’t leave France and travel anywhere without a passport. So he formed the WSA and printed up his own passport—a good-looking document similar to those of the United Nations.
I got to know Gary in Washington, D.C., and I used a WSA passport successfully in half a dozen countries and unsuccessfully in another half a dozen. It was a fun adventure in places like Morocco, Egypt, or Rhodesia, when I was turned away after interrogation. But now, a WSA passport is of little use, because governments everywhere are hooked up via the Internet. And as I said earlier, they’re all part of a club, and they don’t like outsiders breaking their ground rules.
One way to avoid using your government’s slave card—which can be taken away from you at will, because every passport says that it’s the property of the government issuing it—is to acquire a second one.
Starting in the 1980’s, small semi-make-believe countries, basically rocks in the Caribbean, realized that printing up passports was a great way to generate cash for themselves—and their officials. But major countries won’t let them subvert the control aspect of passports much longer. So if you’re thinking about a CBI passport, act now. You may be grandfathered. The alternative is to get a passport in Europe through family lineage. Or perhaps in a Latin American country, the traditional way, by buying property and spending time there.
International Man: If we assume that this trend will continue: capital controls, more reporting, restrictions on residency and travel, what should people looking for a Plan B be considering?
Doug Casey: Citizenship in most countries, especially the US today, is a liability, not an asset. Government is not your friend. In fact, it’s a predator with many criminal characteristics.
The fact that you’re even reading this now shows that you’re a potential Enemy of the State. Those with libertarian, free-market, or classical liberal views are viewed with suspicion by the powers that be. Right now, you’re just an eccentric. But when the going gets tough—when the economy collapses, or the war in the Ukraine, or the impending war with Iran, or other places, gets out of control—that’s going to change.
Therefore, the answer to the question is: Stop considering whether you should do something. Act now before it’s too late.
Reprinted with permission from International Man.
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