Ovata's work spans the full lifecycle of a cross-border move — from the first conversation through to settlement, structuring and ongoing stewardship. Each pillar is led by a senior principal and underpinned by the same standard of execution.
Residence planning is the foundation of nearly every Ovata mandate. We advise on more than a dozen residence-by-investment programmes and conventional residence routes across Europe, the Asia-Pacific, North America and the Caribbean, matching the principal's circumstances, capital and intended life pattern to the right jurisdiction.
Our written eligibility assessments are explicit about trade-offs: residence requirements, tax exposure, family inclusion rules, programme stability, and reputational posture. Where a programme is moving — and many are, regularly — we say so. Where a cheaper or faster programme would do the job equally well, we say so. The advice is the advice.
For each programme on which Ovata maintains active capability, we work with named local counsel in the relevant jurisdiction. Ovata coordinates; local counsel files. The principal speaks to one person — their Ovata advisor — throughout.
Citizenship is a different decision from residence — longer-tail, more political, harder to reverse. Ovata advises on three citizenship pathways: naturalisation following a residence programme, citizenship-by-investment in jurisdictions that maintain a legitimate programme, and citizenship-by-descent for families with documented ancestry in a relevant jurisdiction.
The advisory is measured. Post the European Court of Justice ruling in Commission v Malta, the boundary between residence and citizenship has been redrawn in Europe, and the political risk attached to "investor citizenship" programmes worldwide is now structurally higher than it was a decade ago. We brief principals on that risk in plain language, and we will recommend against a citizenship route where residence would equally serve the family's goals.
Where citizenship is the right answer — for mobility, for succession, for the family's longer-term plan — Ovata sequences it carefully alongside the residence question.
For families with an existing family office, single or multi, the residence question rarely sits in isolation. It touches succession planning, holding-company structures, the family constitution, and — increasingly — where the next generation will be educated and based. Ovata works directly with the family office principals and their existing advisors as a specialist input, not a replacement.
In parallel, Ovata maintains a confidential channel for private banks, multi-family offices, law firms and accountants serving cross-border clients. The channel is referral-led and aligned: the introducing party stays at the centre of the client relationship, Ovata delivers the technical work, and the family experiences a single coordinated team. We do not poach.
Engagement terms with family offices and channel partners are bespoke and documented up-front.
A residence move that is well-executed from an immigration perspective and poorly-executed from a tax perspective is a worse outcome than no move at all. Ovata works alongside qualified local tax counsel in the relevant jurisdictions to ensure that the structuring of a move — the timing of departure from the previous tax residence, the holding-company architecture, the trust and succession plan — is coordinated with the immigration timeline.
Ovata does not provide tax advice itself. We orient: we set out the questions that need to be answered, identify the qualified counsel best placed to answer them, and ensure that the answers are integrated into the wider plan rather than arriving after the move is complete.
Holding-company structuring and substance build-out for the corporate vehicles through which clients hold their international interests are an extension of this work.
A residence permit is the start of a move, not the end of one. Schools, banking, healthcare registration, language tuition, household relocation, drivers' licences, residency administration — the practical work of moving a family across borders is substantial, and routinely underestimated.
Ovata provides relocation logistics either as a fully managed service or as a coordinated network. For families who want to handle the practicalities themselves, we provide curated introductions to vetted school-search consultants, relocation managers and banking contacts in the destination jurisdiction. For families who want the whole move handled, we project-manage end-to-end.
Discretion is the point. The right relocation is one the principal hardly notices.
Residence is not a one-time transaction. Permits need to be renewed. Children turn eighteen and need to be transitioned to their own permit. Spouses are added. Second residences are planned. Tax positions evolve. Reporting obligations need to be met. Ovata maintains a continuing relationship with every client family for as long as the family wants one.
The ongoing-support engagement is typically light-touch: an annual review with the family, calendar-managed renewals, named-counsel liaison for filings, and proactive flagging of regulatory changes that affect the family's position. When something needs to happen, it happens; when nothing does, the file stays quiet.
The lifetime-stewardship engagement is what makes the rest of the work worthwhile. It is also where the channel-partner relationships and the family trust we have earned compound.
If you'd like to discuss a residence question, a family-office mandate, or a channel-partner relationship, the right next step is a private call.