BRIDGES expert
Corporate Lawyer, BRIDGES
I build the client’s business after the status is granted: a company in the new country, shares, contracts, moving the proceeds of a business sale. So the new passport or residence works for the business, not just for travel. Twenty-five years in corporate law, at BRIDGES since 2018.
Path
Salzburg, Munich, Moscow, Dubai. First a corporate practice in Munich, then the Moscow office of an Austrian firm and Dubai, now BRIDGES clients’ businesses.
Born in Salzburg into a family that owned a small hotel. From childhood he saw how a family business lives on contracts and trust.
Faculty of law, specialising in corporate and private international law. Thesis on moving companies between EU member states.
Five years in corporate practice: incorporating companies, share deals, shareholder agreements.
Seven years at the Moscow office of an Austrian law firm: structures for entrepreneurs from Russia and the CIS entering the EU market. There he learned Russian and understood how BRIDGES clients think.
Corporate practice in Dubai: free zone companies, holdings, business bank accounts. He worked with entrepreneurs from India, Egypt and the CIS.
Corporate lawyer at BRIDGES. Matters where a status is needed for business go through Robert: the company, shares, contracts and the legal transfer of money.
Approach to cases
Six rules Robert applies to a client’s business.
An EU passport or residence is the right to open a company, an account and work on the market. We plan at once how the business will use it.
If a programme allows investing in a real business rather than a non-refundable contribution, we consider that route first.
Not where registration is cheapest, but where clients, the bank and tax work for the business.
A shareholder agreement, rights to the share, an exit procedure. Signed before the transfer, not after a dispute.
Currency control, tax at home, bank requirements. We build a route that is legal in all countries at once.
As many companies as the business needs. Every link can be explained to the bank and the tax office.
Talks and media
Robert speaks at conferences on business, investment and citizenship. You can book a meeting in advance.
Upcoming conferences
Robert online
Beyond work
At BRIDGES I make sure a client’s new status works for their business. I love matters where a year after the passport the client sends news: opened an office in Europe, signed a first contract.
I am from Salzburg, spent seven years in Moscow and six in Dubai, and now live in Budapest with my wife and son. Moscow taught me Russian and patience, Dubai taught me speed.
In summer I help my parents at the family hotel in the mountains, in winter I ski. I read Russian literature in the original and collect old maps of Austria-Hungary.
Situations
These are the questions clients most often bring to Robert.
Case stories
Bulgaria · citizenship
Kristina needed a Bulgarian passport not for show but for business: doors open to an EU citizen are closed to a foreigner or take years to open.
After citizenship by descent was granted, I built his business structure in the EU: a company on a citizen’s terms, accounts with SEPA access, contracts with partners across the single market.
Outcome: A company in the EU and accounts on a citizen’s terms
Egypt · citizenship
For an entrepreneur client it mattered that the money worked rather than went as a non-refundable contribution. The Egyptian programme has a route through a business project overseen by the state investment authority.
We chose a project from 350,000 dollars, checked it and set out the client’s share in contracts. Plus a non-refundable contribution of 100,000 dollars, and the client received both a passport and a working asset.
Outcome: Egyptian citizenship and a working business asset
Malta · citizenship by merit
An Indian SaaS founder sold his stake for 4 million dollars and paid tax at home. But he could not move the money: the Indian central bank’s currency limit, a hold at a bank in Dubai and questions from the US tax authority, where he holds a green card.
I built a legal route through all three systems: every transfer within its own country’s rules, with documents for each bank. In parallel ran his Maltese citizenship by merit matter.
Outcome: Capital moved legally, the road to Maltese citizenship open
Reviews
Client reviews from matters Robert ran: who the client is, where they are from, which programme - and a link to the full case.
HaoEntrepreneur engaged in trade with ChinaI travel to China for business all the time. Robert built the Dominica passport around my real route and business, and the trips became easier.
Read the case
ArjunInvestorRobert found commercial land in New Cairo and set up the deal to fit the programme. An Egyptian passport and a growing asset.
Read the case
MeiEntrepreneurI wanted to run a business in the US. Robert built the route: a Grenada passport, then an E-2 investor visa. The road to America is open.
Read the caseMaterials
BRIDGES knowledge base materials signed by Robert: companies in the EU and the UAE, moving a business, citizenship through business investment.
BRIDGES sections
Team
A matter is never run by one person: the legal position, the filing, the documents and the work on the ground each have a named owner.
INITIAL ASSESSMENT
We will design a solution for your case, choose the country and the right status, and take the whole process through to the result.
