Definition of Foreign Investor: Nationality of Corporate Entities and

The graduate paper is aimed at considering the definition of “foreign investor” by examining the nationality of legal entities and the doctrine of “piercing the corporate veil”. The main objectives are the following: Examination of the definition of foreign investor in Russian legislation, international agreements; Analysis of the criteria which are used nowadays to determine the nationality of legal entities and study of the process of its’ planning; Analysis of use of the doctrine of “piercing the corporate veil”; Analysis of methods used by common law countries who apply the use of the doctrine of “piercing the corporate veil”. The paper consists of introduction, three chapters, seven paragraphs, conclusion and reference list. Based on this research the following conclusions were made. Firstly, the foreign investor is defined by national legislation, bilateral and multilateral investment agreements. For example, Russian Federal law “On foreign investments” states that the persons who can be foreign investors are the following: foreign legal person; foreign organization which is not a legal person; foreign national; a stateless person; international organization; other states. In bilateral and multilateral agreements, the definition can differ because of the different objectives pursued by the agreement. Secondly, various criteria are used to determine personal law and nationality of a legal entity: incorporation, control, place of business and settlement. Applying the only criterion can be ineffective. For this reason, the mixed criterion is used. Thirdly, the doctrine of “piercing the corporate veil”, which implies a derogation from the principle of limited liability, applies to the relations containing a foreign element including international investment relations. For the applying law to be determined, 3 methods were elaborated: personal law of legal entity, of beneficial owner and law of the country of court.