Originally founded in the 1970s, Henley & Partners was re-formed in 1997 through the combination of a private client
immigration consultancy and a corporate and family services company. In the late 1990s and through the 2000s, the firm advised wealthy
businesspeople and individuals move their businesses and families around the world, largely through the acquisition of residence and citizenship from Austria, Canada, Hong Kong, US, Switzerland, and
St. Kitts and Nevis. Early on, the company's focus was on advising wealthy people how they could lower their taxes through acquired residence. Following the restructuring of the St. Kitts and Nevis
citizenship program, Henley & Partners began to aggressively promote the new scheme. Henley organized large-scale conferences where it promoted its services and connected buyers of passports to sellers. In 2012, Henley & Partners designed Antigua and Barbuda's Citizenship-by-Investment Programme (CIP) under a government mandate. In 2017, the
Government of Thailand appointed Henley & Partners to handle the international marketing of the country's residence program. The program, which is Africa's second
investment migration program, requires investors seeking Namibian residency to make a real estate investment worth US$316,000 at specific locations in the country. The program allows the right to live, do business and study in the country. In November 2024, Nauru launched its citizenship by investment program, which is officially named the Nauru Economic and Climate Resilience Citizenship Program (NECRCP). The government of Nauru mandated Henley & Partners to design, set up and run the program, and act as an agent for the program. In July 2025, The Government of the Maldives contracted Henley & Partners to develop and implement the country’s first residence by investment program, and build an investor visa framework specifically linked to real estate acquisition. As part of its services, Henley provides domestic public relations services to governments that enter into passport sales programs, helping government parties to deal with opposition parties. Henley has also lobbied at the EU level. Henley was paid a 10% commission ($25,000) for every donation to the SIDF. In May 2014, the
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a warning that St. Kitts and Nevis had granted passports to foreign individuals who had abused the Citizenship-by-Investment program sponsored "for the purpose of engaging in illicit financial activity." In November 2014, Canada announced it was requiring St. Kitts and Nevis citizens to obtain a visa from 22 November 2014, due to concerns about “identity management practices within its Citizenship by Investment program.” Following the announcement, the government of St. Kitts and Nevis initiated a recall on all biometric passports issued between January 2012 and July 2014, and replaced them with new passports which showed the holder's place of birth as well as any previous name changes. Canada subsequently reinstated visa-free travel by air for eligible St. Kitts and Nevis citizens. Observers have had persistent concerns about the lack of transparency about SIDF, which was set up by Henley & Partners. The IMF said in 2014 that the SIDF needs to make "substantial improvement in its reporting to enhance the transparency of its operations." At the same time, Henley entered into at least three agreements with the
SCL Group or its affiliated companies to help each other in the Caribbean region. However, the public tender was not competitive. Arton Capital, a competing firm, filed a judicial protest, appealing the decision to award the contract to its competitor, claiming that Henley & Partners provided consultation to the government on a similar program before. Arton Capital settled out of court in 2015. The citizenship-by-investment program and the relationship between Henley and the Malta government was criticized at the time. The program provides citizenship to foreign individuals and their families who are believed to contribute to the country's economic development. The country later introduced more stringent conditions for acquiring citizenship, such as proof of residence in Malta for at least 12 months. The launch of the IIP in 2014 drew criticism from opposition officials, who claimed the program could open a back door into Europe for criminals. It was reported at the time that officials believed the screening process would be compromised because Malta had outsourced the vetting of citizenship applicants to a single company. In May 2018,
English PEN released a public statement about concerns around the libels cases, from senior government officials of Malta and Henley & Partners, faced by Caruana Galizia's family and
The Shift News, an independent media outlet. The company representatives told a European Parliament delegation that was investigating the
rule of law in Malta, "The point of the email was to ask the government if they would be ok with a legal action H&P was planning to take (which can have political repercussions). In 2021, thousands of the firm's emails and documents were leaked. The documents also showed that Henley & Partners knew of government's plans to launch a citizenship-by-investment programme two months before the public tender for a company to operate it was announced. As the European Union had clashed with the Maltese government over the programme before, the leaks were seen as strengthening the EU's case against it. In 2025, the
Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that Malta's citizenship-by-investment scheme violated EU law. The court said that EU member states cannot grant citizenship in exchange for investments, as "this essentially amounts to rendering the acquisition of nationality a mere commercial transaction." Henley criticized the ruling, saying it undermined national sovereignty. By 2025, Henley had netted almost €56 million from Malta's passport scheme. Henley & Partners denied these allegations, asserting that Low was never a client and was specifically rejected as such in 2015. Leaked documents in 2021 revealed that Henley referred Low to a third-party agency in Cyprus. Henley received €710,000 indirectly as a result of a subsequent
real estate transaction involving Low. == Publications ==