It is now common practice to establish trusts in tax haven jurisdictions. Not many clients, however, are aware of the advantages that UK-established trusts can bring. The idea of a UK trust is especially attractive when beneficiaries and settlors are located in Europe or other onshore countries and do not wish the transfer of property to be associated with tax havens. Moreover, the law of England (under which the trusts get incorporated) confer the confidence and security of the UK legal system. A trust established in the UK offers reliability and reputation to its owners.

The first trustee of a trust established under the Law of England and Wales must be a UK-resident individual or company. In most cases, the trustee is a professional and licensed UK trust services provider. Contact Confidus now to set up your trust.

UK trusts are generally established in order to fulfil a certain goal (a few examples are listed below). For simple cases where assets are to be distributed to the beneficiaries after the settlor’s death, a UK trust will not be the best solution, as such a straightforward task is better handled in other well-known trust jurisdictions (see Panama private foundation for asset protection). A UK trust may be used for the following purposes:

Accumulating a diverse portfolio of foreign assets into one system for better organised, unified and professional administration. This solution also minimises your exposure to estate taxes and cuts out unnecessary estate duties and requirements.
As a tax-exempt holding structure. A trust serves as a good holding vehicle, especially for clients with several companies in different countries, offering a tax-free and confidential holding structure.
Reducing the burden of exchange control regulations and minimising exposure to inheritance taxes and other types of property taxation in your place of residence, and breaking the association or attachment between the owned assets and the heirs’ place of residence.
Achieving confidentiality with respect to the ownership of the assets. Throughout the UK, a trust’s legal documents do not need to be made publicly available. This provides anonymity and confidentiality for the settlor and the beneficiaries.
Avoiding forced heirship regulation, which your country may apply to your assets.
Guaranteeing the settlor’s plans for the future in case of death or incapacity.

The EU Blue Card is sometimes compared to the US Green Card. The blue color is said to be the color of the European Union flag, for this reason the map should be blue. Its purpose is to give non-EU/EEA citizens a work and residence permit. It offers people the right to fit into the socio-economic landscape and embark on a path that leads to permanent residence in Europe. Put simply, people can live and work in Europe without restrictions if they have a Blue Card.

Purpose of introducing an EU Blue Card
It was introduced by the European Commission in 2007, proposed and implemented in 2009 and issued by 25 countries that are member states of the EU. According to Eurostat data, in 2016 most work permits issued were registered in Germany (more than 17,000), France (more than 700) and Poland (more than 600).

The second purpose of the EU Blue Card is to make Europe a more attractive destination for professionals from outside the European Union. A special EU Blue Card program has been created for all EU member states with the exception of Great Britain, Ireland and Denmark, which invites highly qualified people to the EU states. This scheme aims to make Europe the world's most popular migration destination.

This can be guaranteed through equal salaries and working conditions for foreigners, freedom of movement within the Schengen area, socio-economic rights, favorable conditions for family reunification, permanent residence prospects and freedom of association. Obtaining the EU Blue Card has several main advantages. These include very high chances of a permanent residence permit, which entitles you to any kind of employment under easier conditions, equal rights and equal opportunities to work in Europe's largest economy and a huge business market, and easy travel opportunities.

Prerequisites for applying for a Blue Card
Although the same basic criteria can apply to all 25 member states of the EU, there are smaller additional criteria that are determined by each member state for itself. In principle, the Blue Card can be applied for if three main requirements are met. These are: non-EU nationality, educational or professional foreigners (highly qualified or skilled workers, researchers, students and trainees) and with an employment contract or binding job offer (seasonal workers, internal transfers). A person can be considered a highly skilled worker if they have an employment contract of at least one year and if they can meet the conditions listed below. If a person is able to meet these mandatory requirements, they will be given an online profile in the EU Blue Card network, which has a dual function – to consult foreigners with employers to offer them an employment contract and to allow foreigners to change their employment contract to submit applications.

In recent years there has been a shortage of workers, which is noticeable in areas such as medicine, technology, computer science (IT), natural sciences and mathematics. This means that foreigners who work in the areas mentioned usually have a better chance of receiving the EU Blue Card.

In addition, a person who is self-employed or an entrepreneur can receive the Blue Card if they have sufficient financial resources, have a business that has a positive impact on the economy of the host country and can generate an economic interest that is active in the host EU -Member State is low.

When applying, it is important to consider the time frame it will take to gather all the required documents. It usually takes 4-6 months to prepare all the required documents. Some countries arrange appointments with the relevant embassies or consulates in foreigners' home countries, others offer online applications that can be filled out by foreigners themselves or their employer or a law firm. It is expected that after applying, the person will have to wait up to 3 months for the processing to be completed.

A Power of Attorney is a legal document that gives someone power of attorney to act on behalf of the company. Typically, the Power of Attorney document carefully details the transactions and processes for which the individual is being granted power of attorney, rather than providing a general mandate that would allow the power of attorney to act with complete freedom.

A power of attorney gives legal authority to a person acting as an agent. For a company, this authority may include the ability to access financial accounts, sell or place new orders in securities, and write checks, although the agent may also perform a variety of other activities to keep the business running. For security reasons, a POA document should strictly restrict the agent's activities or access to specific accounts.

Powers of attorney can be used effectively in the normal course of business or only in certain circumstances - such as when the business owner is unable to make decisions or has no access to the business accounts.

Pros and cons of POA authorization
The primary benefit of having a business power of attorney is that you have the security of a contingency plan in the event the business owner or other authorized representative is unable to perform their duties. Authorizing a representative to act on their behalf prepares the company for unexpected situations and allows important business decisions to be made in a timely manner. If the business owner has not granted anyone legal power of attorney, there is always a risk that at some point they will no longer be able to make important business decisions or carry out essential transactions, which can lead to enormous damage to the company and its reputation. Not having an authorized representative can result in not paying salaries on time, not servicing business loans or mortgages, not paying third-party vendors, and losing potential contracts.

The benefit of being able to authorize someone to act on behalf of the account holder comes with the peace of mind that you can trust the authorized agent with access to your business account. Therefore, you are strongly advised to think carefully before granting someone a POA and giving him or her access to a bank account and the ability to make important business decisions. The person you nominate as an agent has unsupervised access to Company funds, which could potentially increase security risks if the nominee acts in interests other than those of the Company.

Confidus Solutions list of banks in Latvia contains 10 banks.

You have several options for bank account opening in each one of the banks listed below.

Select a bank
Swedbank
SEB Bank
DNB Bank
PrivatBank
ABLV Bank
Luminor Bank
Baltic International Bank
Citadele Bank
LPB Bank
BlueOrange Bank

Australia and Oceania is a region in the Pacific Ocean, south of Indonesia, the Philippines, China and Japan. It is a very diverse region in most respects — culture, economy, industry, etc. This variety of economic environments allows for a broad spectrum of possibilities for company formation, from powerful economies like Australia to smaller islands with special tax optimisation plans, such as Vanuatu.